<p>The way I see it is that experience interacting with other kids isn't necessarily that much a plus. Experience interacting with one particular child -- knowledge of his or her needs, interests, strengths, learning style, etc. -- is something homeschooling parents have and would seem more important. The teaching of a group cannot be as individualized as the teaching of an individual. Further, if a kid doesn't understand a subject at home, the parent addresses the problem. Usually, in regular schools, the class just moves on. Conversely, when a kid could accelerate learning in a particular subject, it is much easier to do it at home than to try to get a regular school to do so.</p>
<p>Certainly, what tests and studies that have looked at homeschooling in the US finds that those students, on average, do significantly better than others. There is certainly no indication that the regularly schooled are better educated. I am just talking averages here -- obviously there is a range of achievement in every type of schooling.</p>
<p>Of course, for any individual student, the best education may not be homeschooling. There is no one size fits all. (My daughter was in private, then public, then homeschooling; my son in public, then private schooling. Where they went depended on their needs at the time.) I would point out that often, if a homeschooling parent feels a particular subject would be better handled by someone else, it is. All the homeschoolers I know have had at least some outside classes.</p>
<p>Perhaps you have problems understanding all this because you are from a country that actually HAS a definite curriculum that must be covered? That certainly isn't true in the US. In my state, the "curriculum" is rather fuzzy and particular knowledge hasn't been required much. Now they are moving to having several knowledge-based tests -- even though they keep dumbing them down, they still have a problem with significant percentages unable to pass them. When the tests become mandatory for graduation (we are now in a phase-in period where kids take the tests, but they don't affect graduation yet), I don't know what they are going to do. Right now, it seems they keep on delaying implementation of the final stage.</p>
<p>Frankly, it seems like in the US, parents are more likely interested in their children obtaining certain factual knowledge than many teachers are, given the pedagogical ideology in vogue in teacher's colleges. Hence, the importance of standardized exams for college admission, rather than strictly looking at grades. My daughter didn't even have any grades except for a couple college classes and had no difficulty gaining acceptance to several selective schools. Even with those in regular schools, there is lots of outside tutoring going on, because the students just aren't getting it. Also a significant number of students need remedial classes once they are in college (I saw this statistic the other day -- I wish I had kept it!) Grades allow for comparisons of students within a school, but have limited use in comparing students at different schools or judging if particular subject matter has been mastered. </p>
<p>As far as public perception goes, there are probably negative opinions held by some segments of the population with respect to every alternative method of education. Homeschoolers aren't negatively seen by colleges or employers, so I don't really see the importance of the fact that there are people who don't like that educational approach. For every individual that thinks that homeschoolers aren't educated very well, there seems to be someone who thinks that they are able to do better because everything is individualized.</p>