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[quote=Anonymous]OP, thanks for the sincere and non-judgmental question.  There are many reasons, and not all who home school are extremist, religious zealots trying to keep their kids away from the evil world.

I know many people who homeschool.  I don't and probably wouldn't, but I understand and respect their choice.

Here are some specific reasons I have heard, from some reasonable, intelligent, educated families:

Military lifestyle.  Many of us move every 10 months to 3 years.  In my spouse's career, we average around 2 years at an assignment.  This lifestyle can result in very inconsistent education for the kids so a lot of military families choose to home school.  Every state has different requirements (Think 3 different states in a 4-year high school career.  Each state requires geometry in a different grade, but never the grade in which you were stationed at that location. Imagine the kind of senior year catch up and academic holes that situation would bring.).  Many military bases are not located in communities that offer high quality education, and a military salary usually does not support expensive private schools, especially if a family has multiple children or is lower ranking, so they choose to homeschool.  I know of several military families who usually use traditional schools, but choose to home school in this city because of the wealth of resources that are available.  Homeschooling also offers military families flexibility to deal with the unpredictable job requirements, and a sense of continuity and stability for the kids.

Health and well being:  I have a very good friend who homeschools her children due to health concerns of one of her children.  Her kids are intelligent, well behaved, socialized, articulate and a joy to be around  My sister decided to homeschool her son with Aspergers, because the school system was not meeting his unique intellectual and social needs, and because he was starting middle school and becoming aware of the bullying and being ostracized by the other kids.  The large junior high was just not the best place for his needs to be met.  He is flourishing socially when you compare it to how he was prior to homeschooling.

Academic:  A family member attends a well-respected school district.  This district adopted a new math curriculum designed to raise the state mandated test scores of the lowest performing students.  They were making similar changes in other core subject areas.  After one year in this program, my highly gifted niece’s math state achievement scores dropped a significant amount from the 98-99% she usually achieved.  Many other high achieving students saw similar results. They home schooled for a year to bring her back to an appropriate level, and put her back into traditional school the following year.

Values:  Many home school families do home school their kids for religious reasons.  Not all of these people are judgmental crackpots.  Many homeschool their younger children to give them a foundation centered on their family’s core beliefs.  Once that foundation is built, many send them to public or private high school.
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