So what are the common reasons parents do the homeschooling thing?

Don't forget, Parental Unit is a control freak who needs to approve every single little thing that enters Junior's tender mind.

smooches Gus just because

Oh yeah I see that too Theo. That type has issues with the notion that Johnny might make a friend they don't approve of too.

Gah! Stupid Science magazine.

For US$10 you can have access to one article from Science for the next 24 hours from the computer you are currently using.

So I can pay $60 to read all the articles I want to read from a single issue of the mag... Bastards!

tommyrot, I think have access through work. Remind me monday and I'll see if I can grab the text for you.

Most of the homeschooled kids I knew were such because their parents were off-the-grid hippies living in the middle of nowhere in the Gila or something. Or rather militant pacifists living in a military town.

There comes a point in autumn when you have to trick yourself into uncoupling the equation of dark with night, or else you never, ever get your errands done.

Yeah, I don't do this so well. Errands end up on weekends.

Freakin' little early bird. I have no idea where he gets it.

wait 'til he starts school

and speaking of . around here there is a bunch that do it for religious reasons. and I have met some that do it because the school system is not good. Idealy , if some one was going to home school - I think there is a lot of value to going to school in the earlier grades. and as the child doesn't fit for some reason ( Laura's situation is a good one) and learning isn't happening - it sounds like a really good idea. I think in cases like my DH. he was way ahead of the classroom, almost before he walked in. and to this day -he tends to be pretty self disiplined when it comes to learning anything. So he could have done a self- study thing and gotten a lot more out of it then he did in the formal classroom. For me - that would have been bad.

Thanks, sarameg. Will do.

OK, here is the really important issue...

t smooches up on Laura in a way that says "Spouses? We don' need no estinking "spouses"

Actually, the worst reason I saw for parents to homeschool - is that both had a terrible time when they went to school. and I got to say though their kids are smart and nice - the two girls I know best - are just a little too sheltered from the real world. R- the oldest hasn't realized she can stand on her own. S is a little better. Sadly, I think they have caught mom and dad's fear of people without the experience to back it up.

Random observation: sparrows are vicious little suckers. Outside the store, two of them had a third down on its back, and they were trying to steal whatever was in its mouth. Dang. Little sparrow muggers.