My point was simple from the beginning, the home schooled are only as good as the home that schools them. I'm not talking about what you would consider 'bad' parenting, there is no violence or drugs or any kind of lifestyle you'd probably disapprove of.
The parents of these kids have made them so insulated from anything outside the home and spoon fed them until they have no will or minds of their own. They begin their day with the mother reading to them for 2 HOURS! 14 and 17 year old and they sit and listen to their mother reading pure milksop to them at that age. Literally while they visited us they sat in their place till you told them to do something, till you led them by the hand to whatever it was they were supposed to do next. The brains have just been sucked out of these kids. Life is going to be MORE than a challenge for them if they ever leave the hermitage.
As usual any perceived criticism of home schooling is responded to with 'well what do you suggest' defensiveness. What I suggest is that people who home school might want to be careful that they aren't creating children that won't be able to live in this world.
I'm surprised you feel I'm defensive. I was trying to understand your ideas, while politely sharing my own. Asking for your ideas and expressing interest in same, listening to another point of view and expressing my own thoughts, is defensive? If that's the case it seems that anyone who disagrees with anyone is "defensive." :)
For the record, I agree with what you say, insofar as the homeschooled are going to be only as good as the home that schools them. I just wasn't quite understanding where your main point was at in the overall context of the conversation. I was picking up on a different shading, whether or not homeschooling is synonomous with a quality education, and suggesting that more often than not, it is, while agreeing there are exceptions. Perhaps we are not actually disagreeing on these points.