Why don't you go find "From the Extreme to the Mainstream" by Patrick Basham. It is a publication of the Fraser Insitute in Vancouver BC that gives a summary of the research up through, perhaps, 2001. Basham is now with a DC think tank.
I have no doubt that homeschooled children taught by educated parents are superb to public school students... but that's not what unspun said.
There is a copious amount of research on home education out there. As a matter of fact, there is an organization whose reason for existence is to compile and conduct research about home education. Here's a link to NHERI:
http://www.nheri.org/
The most compelling research I've seen to date is the Rudner study from the late 90's. That's the one that was commissioned by HSLDA. Here's a link to the actual study:
http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v7n8/
For what it's worth, I think the academic objectivity on home education research is becoming questionable. Anytime you get into a politically controversial area or one where the research has obvious economic implications for those conducting the research, you have to stand back and look at the research with something of a jaundiced eye.
From my own perspective, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence out there to suggest that academically speaking, most home educated children are flying past their peers who attend the government schools.