My years in the public school system is what caused me to change my perspective on homeschooling. This is why after 7 years of teaching in the PS I decided to quit and stay home with my daughter. My goal was to learn to homeschool and much to my surprise it was easier than I ever imagined.

All things must be learned. There is no class or professor who can teach you how to teach 20+ children at their own pace and in their own particular learning style. In fact, no one can teach you how to determine these things with a child you have just met and hardly spend any one on one time with. These things can only be accomplished by someone who knows the child and who spends a great deal of time with them. Parents are highly qualified.

I am a bit surprised by your reasons. They don’t seem well thought out or researched. I hope you’ll give it more thought.

***1.) I am available to stay home and commit many hours to not only instructing my child, but researching subject material, curriculums, and assessments.

Well, that depends. It depends on how your approach and your curriculum (or lack thereof). There are also families who feel that they cannot handle all of the instruction and utilize DVD or online curriculum. The possibilities are endless, which is what makes the flexibility of homeschooling amazing.

***2.) I have effective teaching skills and know how to guide my child through the learning process.

See my answer to #1, and throw in a little “know where to go for help, assistance, support, and encouragement - nothing a simple google search on homeschooling won’t fix.” I grow in my teaching skills every single year, just as school teachers do. In some subjects I learn first, so I can then teach. Sometimes we learn simultaneously. That is absolutely okay.

***3.) I convey accurate subject material.

You didn’t directly address this in your extended answers. Sounds as though you are hinting at creationism, etc. Guess we should second guess our private schools, as well. Feel free to correct my assumption.

***4.) I understand the academic needs and abilities of my child.

See answer to #2.

***5.) I can provide activities for my child to participate in that work on their socialization skills.

This is the oldest argument against homeschooling that has long been shown to be a myth and misunderstanding. I’m afraid that you have not had time to be reading current studies on home education. That could possibly be caused by all that forced time in learning teaching methods, strategies, learning disabilities strategies, attending heavy content area specific classes and studying for that stinkin’ Praxis examination.

***6.) I fully believe in home schooling and hold responsibility for my child’s education.

Ummm … I’ll give a hearty okay! Much easier and less scary than saying “I fully believe in public education and know how they so highly hold themselves responsible for my child’s education.” Some of them do. Some of them don’t.

Pardon my sarcasm and humor. I appreciate the fact that you are at least giving the subject consideration. However, your view was so terribly skewed that I fell out of my chair.

As a home educator, I could write an article about all the things I would imagine to be challenging about teaching in the public schools. However, since I’ve never actually *been* a schoolteacher, it would just be a bunch of hot air.

If you want to write about the concerns you have as a public schoolteacher with homeschooling, by all means feel free to do so. But you need to be honest with your readers about your traditional school bias and don’t pretend that you actually know something about the challenges of homeschooling!