Practically speaking, home schooling isn’t a viable alternative to public schooling. That simple. Either two incomes are needed to keep the family going, or one/both parents don’t have the educational background necessary to teach above third grade level, let alone middle school.
Certainly it is. It's being done very successfully by hundreds of thousands of families with millions of kids each year across this country. The test results confirm its success.
Either two incomes are needed to keep the family going,
Both irrelevant points.
Most two income families I know live way beyond what they need. I know of none which HAVE to have two incomes to make it.
or one/both parents don’t have the educational background necessary to teach above third grade level, let alone middle school.
Which indicates an abject failure on the part of the public education system to adequately educate the kids going through it. Any person who's successfully been through high school should be capable of teaching what they learned.
And an education degree means squat.
My best friend and my s-i-l both have degrees in education and both told me that it did not teach them how to teach or do anything to make them better teachers. As a matter of fact, my best friend said that she would have been better prepared to teach high school math had she been able to get a math degree, the quality of the math education courses was so low. And she graduated from a SUNY school that specializes in education.
You also neglect to factor in that parents are capable of learning as they teach thier children.
Homeschooling worked great in this country for centuries. No reason it can't now.