From the time of my college education, I have had professors, classmates, colleagues, and friends ask me to share my opinion on homeschooling, since I had experience with both models. I can not offer a yes or no vote for homeschooling. I can only offer an ever-increasing list of pros and cons, and the just as many pros and cons for the alternative of a traditional classroom. My research has added more evidence on both sides. The voices both for and against homeschooling are so loud. I hope to bring some nuance to that conversation.

While I offer my perspective as an education expert, I acknowledge that my opinions are not objective. I am a homeschooled adult and have never been a homeschool parent. My focus is on how homeschooling prepares children to be adults in the world, not on the experience of a parent getting to homeschool. And because of that, I place priority on the quality of education a child receives, over a parent’s experience providing that education. My personal experience has been balanced with a lot of reading and research, conversations with homeschool parents and homeschooled adults, and time on homeschool message boards and online communities.

Since my work is directed at parents I want to acknowledge that I’m an educator, not a parent. I have worked with kids of all ages my entire adult life, in all sorts of capacities, including as a full time live-in caregiver. But I know no amount of caregiving is the same as being a parent.

I often wonder if I would homeschool children, if I had them. My feelings change day to day, depending on what I’m reading or writing.