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Home schooling your child is a big decision. There are many reasons children are home schooled. Some of them are legitimate reasons such as religious convictions, wanting to be more involved in the raising of your child, rescuing them from social or academic problems in public or private school that are only getting worse after efforts to improve them. Some not so good reasons are having a more flexible schedule for yourself, you don't like the personality of a teacher, and you want to isolate your child from society for fear of bad influence.

Some of the latter reasons are not good because they may teach your children to be lazy, run away from problems, or not learn to live in a world where we have to live with people who are different. Education should be your main concern. Education includes learning academics, learning social skills, and learning self discipline. Without these things your child will most likely not succeed in life. Public and private schools introduce these things with class time, social clubs, and athletics.
If you are wondering whether or not your child can receive all these things and be home schooled the answer is yes. Home schooling does not mean your child is stuck at home by their selves and will grow up weird. It does mean a little more work and creativity for the parents. Instead of dropping the kids off at school to get all they need, you have to plan and monitor these things yourself. And since you are "on your own" you have to seek out curriculum, social and athletic clubs, and plan your own field trips. It will be a full time job, but it will be so rewarding knowing you took such an active roll in shaping your child's life.
There are plenty of statistics to help ease your mind about home schooling.
First of all you are not alone. One of the most recent study showed between 700,000 1,200,000 children were home schooled. This number is rising every year. This number is important because as numbers increase so do your options. Public schools are being forced by elected board members to open up services to home schooled children. More companies will be producing quality curriculum, which should also help the price go down. The politicians that govern the Dept. of Education will also be more apt to listen to the concerns of home schooling parents.
So how will my child do socially? That is completely up to you. One survey shows that 98% of home schooled children are involved in two or more activities outside of

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