"Just because most homeschoolers are "amateurs" (no teaching degree) doesn't make homeschooling somehow a shady option."
I wholeheartedly agree!
Ponder this: Up until the age of 5, most kids were raised by "amateurs". Should we try to turn them over to the pros from 0-5 now, too?
My kids' teachers were amazed at how well they could read before entering school. They were totally puzzled by this. Some thought the kids were "spontaneous readers", as if they somehow just intuited how to read.
My big regret is that I didn't homeschool all the way. I was blessed with mostly excellent teachers when I was a kid and I have a few teachers (very good ones) in my family. I am shocked to see how public education has deteriorated since I was in school.
Uh, yeah, probably there are a lot of liberal educrat types out there who think so. It takes a village, after all.