Because the experience public school provides is an exceptionally low bar considering class sizes/ratios, commuting to and from school, etc. Also, we can pour resources into our kids public schools can’t or won’t. The data also shows homeschool outcomes to be at parity or superior to public school outcomes. We only have two kids though, and my partner is a stay at home parent. We also rely on Modulo, among other resources, for structuring education delivery.
Schools provide some of the most critical parts: consistent access to peers and a parent free learning environment. Both helped me break out of a cult-like group that my parents were knee deep into for decades.
Home schooling can have an academic advantage where parents are intelligent, well educated, above average in patience, and value education for their own kids.
IME it's more likely one of the home schooling parents had some bad experience(s) in traditional schools and are overreacting.
What you mention isn’t a schooling problem though, it’s a parents problem. And all children are free of their parents eventually. You can’t outrun bad or apathetic parenting regardless of venue, ask a public school teacher to confirm.
Sorry to hear you had a bad homeschooling experience and you disagree with the data with regards to success rates (there are roughly 3.7 million children being homeschooled currently in the US). It works for many, I’m sure there are folks it might not (you mentioned some sort of cult situation in your case;
I don’t believe this is typical except perhaps if you consider religious reasons for homeschooling).
The average person with no training in teaching or education isn't going to do better than the average person with said training.
Your stats aren't all that meaningful for the following reasons. What percent of homeschooled kids meet the criteria for "structured homeschooling"? Without this information it's not a meaningful stat.
There is also selection bias going on. They tested reading, writing, arithmetic. Did they test algebra? Did they test biology? I'll bet a fair number would fail at questions regarding evolution or have a skewed view of historical facts.
Home schooling can have an academic advantage where parents are intelligent, well educated, above average in patience, and value education for their own kids.
IME it's more likely one of the home schooling parents had some bad experience(s) in traditional schools and are overreacting.