[Wayne Luke]

What passes for home schooling here in California are actually charter schools that provide you with books, materials, curriculum and standardized tests. You simply become the teacher instead of sending your student off to class. You still have to take the children to the charter center at least once a week and the charter center grades the children based on their test scores. Now you can elaborate on particular subjects and keep to the basics on others but you still have to follow the state mandated curriculum.

Personally, I would not home school. I have worked from home for most of my children's lives and it would be too disruptive and I wouldn't get anything done. I am far less productive when they are "off-track" than when on. Add to this that I probably don't know certain subjects as well as their dedicated teachers (middle school and higher) such as English, Literature, probably even math. School is taught faster now. By the time kids graduate now they are expected to have a year of trigonometry. Whereas when I was in school, not many took math classes past basic geometry. I was the first graduating class that actually has a calculus class on the High School campus. Not to mention the fact that I probably wouldn't be able to teach my kids the Advanced Placement courses they need to get their first year college courses out of the way before high school graduation. Then there is socialization, extra curricular activities, student government and many other things that are really needed on today's college applications. Sending them to school provides all of this a lot easier.