pat:"Your numbers are interesting, but you're working from a negative viewpoint and making assumptions based on your own experience."
To play "devil's advocate" means to point out the other side of the issue. I have neither a negative or positive view of homeschooling in general, only some pragmatic observations about parents who've tried homeschooling and either succeeded beyond all expectations or failed miserably. The poster asked "is it possible." I see a lot of people in my line of work, including many homeschoolers, so I thought I'd just throw out some food for thought.
About 1/3rd of the homeschoolers I know are "successful." The parents who did wonderfully were dedicated stay-at-home moms(or in one case, a dad) who, for various reasons (frequent military moves, religious reasons, dislike of "consumerism" values, lousy school systems, etc.) decided to homeschool. Their kids have a structured 6-hour day, they use a formal curriculum (frequently borrowed from a regular school they respect such as Waldorf or religious-based but could/did not wish to attend), and they also spent additional time bringing their kids to extracurricular activities and sports for socialization. The kids usually studied year round and, in most cases, graduated a year or two ahead of their class and moved right on to college. The parents biggest challenge was incorporating appropriate science hands-on lab work into their curriculum. These kids all went on to top-notch colleges. Every one of the parents had that wonderful, beautiful patient temperment (that I envy) where they could spend all day with children repeating the same math lesson over and over again and never grow discouraged, and every one of the kids had that wonderful quiet disposition where they could sit still all day listening to mom/dad teach.
Another 1/3rd I know tried it for a number of years, but gave up and sent their kids to a regular school, either private or public with additional homeschooled "enrichment" at home. They tried hard, but constantly chasing down lesson plans, enrichment opportunities, socialization opportunities, not to mention dealing with children with less-than-patient temperments made them toss in the towel. Not having enough hours in the day because both Mom and Dad both needed to work (even if mom only worked part time) was always a significant cause of failure, although some parents just plain realized they didn't have "the gift" (that perfectly patient temperment with children). In most of these cases, not only did they throw in the towel, but when they tried to mainstream their kids they discovered their kids were significantly behind their public school peers in several major subjects (frequently math and science) and needed remediation. I fear our poster might possibly fall into this category were she to try to work and homeschool Lil'Pumpkin. Doesn't matter whether she works part-time or full-time, when you work and homeschool you serve two masters and serve neither one well.
The last 1/3rd not only failed miserably at homeschooling, but they were so rabid about the subject that they wouldn't listen or pay attention when it became obvious their kids were falling behind. Homeschooling was about them being able to beat their hands on their chest and shout "look at me ... I'm a martyr for my kids..." For various reasons, the kids would be years behind their peers, curriculum was scattered or nonexistent, marriages sometimes fell apart, DSS would occasionally step in, quite a few kids needed to go to counseling because there were other issues of dysfunction in the family, and there were a variety of other problems I've seen. I worry when I hear parents talk about homeschooling to "minimum" school requirements. Isn't the entire point of homeschooling to give our kids -more- than what the traditional school is offering, not the minimum?
I don't homeschool because I don't have the temperment for it. I -do- have the temperment to step into "second teacher" role. Hubby -does- have that wonderfully endlessly patient temperment, but we can't survive on just my income, so we are left with keeping a sharp eye on what our kids are being taught in school, what the research is showing the holes in the curriculum are, and filling in the gaps at home. In addition to 6 hours at school, our kids get an hour per day of some sort of exercise/sport program, half an hour directed to practice their music lesson, two hours of homework (or more if needed), they get sent outside to play for at least an hour of free play (usually whining "we waaaannnttt to come iiiiiinnnn"), a half-hour bedtime story, and a 10-minute family "silly song."
