Are parents an assumption?

Good questions by markmcb. Not to reiterate, but to emphasize, the quality and dedication, not to mention education level, of parents makes or breaks homeschooling. Can both parents work and still home school their kids?

Although Catherine addressed it, my biggest concern would be social development of these students. 90% of my after-school social interaction in high school was a direct result of that school. Clubs, sports, friendships, girlfriends, and the trouble I got into were inextricably tied to the school. Other social interraction was a result of playing sports that my school didn’t offer, or through my parents. Sure, the extracurricular activities that Catherine mentions are excellent, but what about group or team work in classes? You have to learn to deal with the other kids that are dumber and smarter than you. I’d like to think that my experiences in high school have gave me a base line to learn how to deal with people although I think milhous probably disagrees. This is a question, not a criticism.

Yes, but "smart and motivated" does not necessarily imply formal education in all the subject matter to be taught. Note the following quote from the article:

I had a similar experience, as my mom had only 2 years of college (in liberal arts) but managed to teach my sister and I through Algebra II. (On a side note, the same can be said for public school teachers as well. In preparation to begin homeschooling us, my mom obtained a teaching certificate from the state of Arizona, which consisted entirely of taking a short standardized test with questions in the 7th-8th grade degree-of-difficulty range.)

Combined with that, and more importantly:
>"Homeschooling is teaching your children to teach themselves."

I could not agree more. This is especially true from about 9th grade on. I’d say a basic grasp of the subject matter is necessary to teach in grades K-8, but after that it’s more coaching and guiding than actual teaching. So in summary, I’d say that "semi-educated" isn’t as much of a problem as you might think. "Semi-motivated," however, is a different matter. Not all parents are cut out for homeschooling, and a lack of motivation or commitment is definitely a recipe for failure.

Mark,

I can definitely understand and appreciate the question because it would seem that having smart and motivated parents would be a big factor, but I don’t really think it is. Without a doubt, there has to be motivation and encouragement on the part of the parent because children (and teenagers) aren’t prone to completely autonomous education. In that way a parent does need to be motivated. In terms of education though, neither of my parents graduated from college and my mom, although very intelligent, is the kind of person who knows much about art, literature and history etc. while having a limited knowledge of sciences and math. As I mentioned in the article, the resources out for homeschoolers are amazing and can almost completely circumvent the actual teacher. In truth, I think my mom learned almost as much in homeschooling us as we learned those years at home.

In the end, I suppose my answer would be that education and motivation are beneficial, but of the two, motivation is the only essential factor.