[demnomo]

I agree with you, totally. On related threads, I have posted that homeschooling is not for every family situation. The fact that homeschoolers are able to choose from a wide variety of educational options is a plus. My husband has pointed out that to us homeschooling is not just having our child sit at a kitchen table learning to read and cipher. It's more like an a la carte educational experience without the government redtape and controls that would hinder many student's (and teacher's!) mind and body development.

I have met a few homeschooling parents who failed to recognize that much of their child's educational material came from an institution of learning. They would go on and on about the evils of institutionalism, (and they have much to gripe about) without realizing the value (used wisely, of course) that some "institutions" may offer. Many homeschoolers will be going to institutions of higher learning such as colleges and universities. Hopefully, those children will be able to deal with the good from the bad and take advantage of the possibilities. I hope that my son will. :)

In athletics, my son enjoys fencing, snowboarding and tennis. He hated mandatory P.E. when he went to public school. He played goalie for a youth soccer and hockey team for a few years, but now he is on a fencing squad and devotes most of his time to it. (One older kid on his squad just received a fencing scholarship from Stanford University.)

My son has homeschooling and public school friends who play more traditional sports on Little League, Pop Warner, and Boys and Girls Club basketball teams. We have yet to meet any homeschooler who plays on a public or private school team. I know that they are out there.

There are also loads of kids with ambivalent parents who wouldn't get any educational motivation at all if it were not for public and private school sports that include academic criteria. That fact alone is a good thing to come out of an educational institution--especially when the parents are uninterested in their child's education.

[glory]

It's more like an a la carte educational experience without the government redtape and controls that would hinder many student's (and teacher's!) mind and body development

Yes, this is my philosophy as well. And if this is what xzins was talking about, than I agree with him. I just think that the institutions are more effective when you can pick and choose your courses than adhering to the one size fits all. I don't think many homeschoolers, save for some very hermit types, think it's wise to shelter thier children completely from community interaction and the benefits of some of the services offered by that community and it's "instituations". Heck, marriage is an institution and I would like my children to participate in that;-) I think xzins and I both may have misunderstood each other since I acknowledge I did not put together the textbook on my desk, but I am able to utilize it, imo, in a more useful way than the ps parent who can not control what is taught from it and when or even if it is used.