Reminding you that I am not from the U.S.
So, some of my questions may sound weird !!

Yeah, I am just wondering ( what is homeschooling ). I see the word here and there and do not understand it fully.

Do you teach the kids at home only , and how do they do the exams and get their certificates ??? Or is it just a few extra hours of tutoring after "real" schools ???

Thanks

Generally all the teaching is done at home, although some kids do participate in sports and extracurricular activities through a regular school. Someone else that actually has kids will have to tell you more, I don't know anyone that was home schooled.

All the academic work is done at home or a local tutors. Athletics tend to be a hodge podge of go-outside-and-play and formal sports and training programs.

Locally, home schools are considered private schools. Parents can either act as a de facto private school, enroll in a independent study program from a private or public school, or, if they are credentialed, can act as a official tutor.

What make home schooling so contentious is the parents who act as a de facto private school need to be deemed capable of teaching by a private school administration, and they have to teach the mandated courses. Parents who home school for political or religious reasons tend to resist these requirements because they disapprove of the madated curricula.

Some states have specific tests that every student must take, homeschooled or not. It's highly variable.

the best outcome is when a group of stay at home parents form a group, and in turn teach their specialties... shuttle kids between them... one English (language arts), then math, science, social studies...etc... as commented, some of the religion based programs have a canned curriculum..

additionally there are charter schools that receive funds from the school district (in Florida there is a rather complex formula, but around $6000 per student)... the charter schools go through an evaluation by the home district for approval...

I was a 30 year public high school teacher, and was not impressed with any home school program... it is pretty hard to justify a $600 microscope, $100 electrophoresis gel, $1500 analytical balance, not to mention a relatively cheap $125 triple beam balance and glass ware...

agree with the last comment.
when highly organized with multiple parents and several kids it has a better chance of working well. on the other hand, when conducted by one (or two) parents who do not have broad knowledge and tend to be reclusive personalities - it's a social & educational disaster.

Pete2

In the US, rules vary dramatically from state to state. Some states want full oversight, some practically require you to incorporate as a private school and others are very liberal and don't even care that you exist. In New Jersey, where we homeschool, it is very simple. Good overview here:
http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp

In general, grade school is not hard, once you brush up on your long division. High school can be more challenging just because you want to be able to document things well enough for college application purposes.

It’s not for everyone, and results may vary (just as with traditional schools) but it is certainly nice to have the option. Most of school is just learning how to learn.

You can find a lot of information on the internet on homeschooling -- more thorough than what individual ETS posters would give you. Here's one example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling

Here is the curriculum we used in addition to classes the public school offered for home school kids. Their web site has explanations of homeschooling.

http://www.calvertschool.org/

This. For example, in Virginia, there's a state-curriculum that the parents go by, including tests. Sports tended to be local leagues and whatnot.

No idea on the other 49 states, since this is all discussions I've had w/ parents.