Home schooling versus public schooling..

What can you contribute to this? Any thoughts, experiences, etc..?

Sorry Breezey, I've never really experienced either, as I went to catholic school for both elementary and high school.
I can see benefits for both though, since home schooling can be more intensive and customized to each students needs and interests, whereas public school can be more social, in the proper context.

Well, it seems that there are tons of ways for even home schooled children to socialize. Parents of the home schooled children plan field trips and other things... with other parents of home schooled children. They all meet and do things as a group.
I was thinking home schooling just might be what some parents need to take back the control many schools seem to be taking away.
I am thinking it would also give a parent more say in what a child is taught, how the child is taught and the child would have the one on one time to learn that many schools just can't give.

What was Catholic school like? My mom said it was awful, but things could have changed between that many years?

In UK there are different connotations. Home schooling is generally frowned upon by the authorities because of the lack of socialisation, and they like to control everything. Its generally reserved for pupils who have been excluded from our state system and in these particular cases the prognosis is not good. I have some sympathy for the caring parents who choose that route though. A school environment and "socialisation" can corrupt in the worst possible ways. We're lucky, our children are particularly bright. They were both reading and writing before we waved bye bye to them on their first day at the village infants school. The headmistress was delighted! Her target was to reach that stage before they moved up to a junior school. Junior school proved to be more of a problem and great challenge. The younger adopted a policy of blend in and coast through, the minimum effort approach. Even so she did well. The older took everything they threw and spat it out in pieces. She grilled them for every morsel of knowledge they possessed and more. It wasn't long before they moved her up a year in with the older kids. By the time she reached the class for the biggies she had exhausted all the schools educational resources and we were getting complaints that there wasn't a book in the school she didn't know backwards. We were getting swipes about "encouraging" her (who me?). Being a year ahead the school threw in the towel and suggested that she went on to secondary school, I think they were relieved at the prospect of some peace. The Local Education Authority dug in its heals, "they knew best, it wouldn't work, and they wouldn't sanction it". The school objected, we threatened, and in the end the LEA agreed but entirely on our responsibility as parents.
And so it continued a year in front. It did no harm! Star results all round.

They both have degrees, the older a double in maths and philosophy, all the socialisation of university.  

In our circumstances we struck the right balance,  I'm not saying it would be right in every case. Home schooling would need more hours than there are in the day for us.

Public schools in UK are the fee paying variety, very different! I went through our state school system, no complaints on that score.  I then got a rare scholarship into one of the top  public schools. I wouldn't recommend it! Its a totally different planet for the incomprehensively rich brats. Children are dumped into a university style environment from the age of 7. The school is policed by the kids themselves, including being allowed to use the cane. The masters lecture and provide an "overclass" of academic organisation. The social side is guaranteed to corrupt and bring out the worst aspects of human nature. Focused on cramming it didn't suit me, it wasn't my scene.

Living in the country, our children were very lucky to go to a small school.. 14 students that ranged from prep years to grade 6. They were all in the one classroom and had one teacher who was brilliant with all age groups. The younger children learned from the older ones. Nature studies played a huge part of their schooling, with a regular visitor of a kangaroo that was a neighbours pet, that especially liked to come into the classroom when the door was left open on a hot day... and the farmer, Mr. McDonald, directly across the road.. his prime pig used to wonder into the yard on occasion, till he was cooked up for a neighbourhood bbq for Christmas one year... (the pig.. not Mr McDonald.... Once a week the children would integrate with the larger country school (60 or so children) that was about 20 minutes drive in the bus away, which prepared them for going on to the larger schools in their senior years. Great friendships developed that last even now. And they excelled in their education having pretty much one on one attention. The parents took a great part in the school. ALL the parents were on the school council and all of the Mum's would take it in turn throughout the week to come in and listen to the children read.. In the last 2 years before our 4th child finished primary school, the numbers decreased to only 7 students and so the government closed our friendly little school that had run for over 125 years. It was all over the local newspaper.. the fight we put up to save our little community. It even hit the "big smoke" papers when we took our cause to the big city and protested on parliament steps... The laws to be won... we lost our school as did other local small rural schools, that had also decreased in pupils, lost their battle.. and slowly but surely the wider community atmosphere was lost.. children were forced to integrate into the lost society of too many students to one teacher. . but the children and parents have very fond memories they keep forever and the government can NEVER take that from us. A couple of families turned to home schooling. The children did well, but did miss their peers and have since said that they would have preferred to have gone to a larger school.. but there were those that were quite lost in the big system and found it very hard to fit in. We were lucky that 3 of our 4 children were ok with the changes, but our second son was one who lost interest in school and just did what he had to do..

This is progress??? It seems everytime we have a change of government in UK they change the education system, and now there is a plethora of different types of schools all running different systems.

Just to give you some idea, a "must have" for every inner city school now is a metal detector to discourage knives being brought in. Most schools have a security fence surrounding them, and no adult gets inside without a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check.

Physical education is largely neglected as a lot of schools sold their playing fields off to housing developers as soon as government saw this as a means of saving them money and encouraged the practice along with Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs). The schools have expanded so much to accommodate the influx of immigrants that they have traded with the housing developers for extra school buildings.

It seems that home tuition is looking more and more attractive for those few parents who have the dedication.

When home schooling and public school are discussed here... most times... the only thing people can really point out is that public school offers students a way to socialize. After seeing what socializing is going on and what students are doing... I am still waiting for ONE good reason public schooling is better!

People don't even seem to take an interest in what their children are being taught or learning or what things the people in charge of their children are allowed. Sometimes.. the schools and the people working in them have more rights over your children than YOU do.

It takes great dedication to home school.. and I take my hat off to those who do this..
On the other side of the coin.... There are those parents, sadly, that it's best that their children DO go to a school.. At least they get some kind of education.... There are always two sides... or more.. to one story and one size does not fit all.. Praise goes to those who do have the dedication, skills, time and patience to home school their children.

Its very sad that modern life precludes the choice for many these days. Roles were very different when I was little. Dads went to work, mums stayed at home and looked after the children and ran the domestic scene.

Now everyone HAS to work. Babies are shipped off to child minders within weeks so Mum can get back to earning and get money (to pay the child minder). Not working is being turned into a social stigma by the politicians. Even so, housing is becoming unaffordable for  "normal" people.

Where are we going?

Where are we going P?... We can only wonder where the system will end up.. Nowadays they cram the children into the classrooms with one teacher and expect them all to keep up.. Pity the ones who need that extra bit of help. It's all about money..

It rather sounds as though we've decided home schooling isn't such a bad thing but requires a lot of dedication.

It seems it is unanimous.