In the past, the main reason given for homeschooling was religious beliefs. Today there is a growing demand for secular materials so it's not just the religious bringing education to new levels at home. This is a growing trend for people all over the U.S. and even the world for a variety of reasons.

So what's your reason for taking your child's education into your own hands? Did you consider other options first?

 This is a link to an interesting article titled on the homeschool movement through the past 30 years or so.  It is secular in nature, but very interesting and enlightening.  http://www.gentlespirit.com/GS6n03/v6n03b.htm

We began homeschooing because my son hated school and would probably have been acronymed.  I felt like he was the type who could fall through the cracks.  He is now 21 and it was a good choice for us.  We are Christians and so we always mostly Christian materials.  Really, homeschooling is such a lifestyle choice, and it just fit our family.  I'm glad we chose it.  We did put the kids in private schools on a couple occasions and I worked there for tuition while they attended.  I never felt like they got a better education in school, but it was nice to have the responsibility taken off my shoulders for a little while though. 

I will be a first time homeschooling mom this coming school year.  My reasons are these:

1. 30-32 kids per classroom.. way too many

2. My son has been in remedial reading since 2 grade (he will be in 6th) and not an end in sight.

3. Distractions with other kids  talking, not being on task.

4. Bad influences

5.  Teachers who didn't care for him, they liked him but didn't push him or corrected any homework, took too long to answer email.

6. I have freedom to teach what I want and he can go at his own pace.  He will have more time for other things (work, scouts, church)

 My children are really second generation homeschoolers even though my husband and I didn't consider ourselves as such for many years. When the two oldest grandchildren were two years old, my mother-in-law began a campaign for homeschooling. Neither my husband nor I had good experiences and we were both self motivated learners. This really appealed to me but my husband wasn't sure.

 I gathered as much information as I could. Without the internet, this was a much harder thing to do. I wanted to offer my children a sound education and a safe environment to learn from. I wanted them to love the pursuit of knowledge. Values and standards were important to me as well, I didn't like the idea of the largest influence in my children's life being a system that didn't know them at all and a teacher who had them one year out of their lives. I wanted to be able to specialise their educations to fit their needs.

We did consider private school but to sum it up, we decided I could offer as good an education at home for much less. So my husband agreed to a trial period of a year for Kindergarten. I was not half way through the year when he came home one day and told me we were homeschoolers permanently. The office manager at his workplace was having issues with her children and it wasn't something he wanted to subject our own to.

 Pat, I am reading the article you shared and it is interesting. My in-laws initially chose to teach around school or the term we use today, afterschool. My Mother-in-law sent her children to school knowing how to do basic things. I am of the mind that they were all ready for first grade when they began kidnergarten. But who knew anything about homeschooling back then?

My husband was taken out of school at twelve and even though he was being educated, it was considered dropping out. Then I "dropped out" in high school and completed those educational years through a correspondence course at home. It wasn't until a few years ago that I realised that just because society says this is so does not make it such. We continued our educations at home in a manner that suited our learning styles and needs.

That being said, isn't it very odd that in the early eighties homeschooling was illegal when it wasn't so long ago that schoolhouses had one room, school attendance was often only a few years and some just stayed home.

Yes Brandy, it is odd!  I began homeschooling in ...hmmmm let's see....1992.  The books I got from the library were several years old and one had a whole chapter dedicated to what to do if they try to put you in jail!  We really thought we were doing something dangerous!  We prayed about it for 6 months before we made the leap.  It was so wonderful to find out that there was a homeschool group in our county, full of people as crazy as we were!  Living in NY made it much more challenging than in Indiana, but still, it was not the law that made it challenging.  What grades are your kids in now Brandy?  In August we begin Ross's last year and our final year of homeschooling. It is bitter sweet.  He already has most of his required credits done (actually, maybe all of them) so it will probably be a fun/light year for us.  He started high school in 8th grade, so he is still young.  It will give him a little time to work and decide on what he wants to go to college for. 

 One author who was instrumental in our decision to homeschool was Raymond Moore.  I really liked his books and his perspective.  Has anyone else read his books?

I think their grades translate to 11th, 7th and preschool. 

 No I haven't. I am more of a start early with structure with a mix of classical, literature rich and hands on educator.

 We started homeschooling in 1981. We had started our first two kids in private school, went to public school then homeschool. My DH was traveling preaching and singing and the kids missed him. After two years, we moved to Mass and we were threatened with jail if we didnt get the kids to school . I took the kids and went to Vermont. My DH moved 3 months later when his job ended.

WE continued to homeschool for two reasons. We were Christians and wanted the kids to have a stong Bible education and we wanted them to be kids. I wanted my 12 year old DD to be a 12 years old, not 21.  The next three were homeschooled with two years in Christian school.DH taught to pay for it.