We homeschooled our kids for a number of years, and it was great - instead of sending the kids out with strangers at an early age, we got to do different activities, be involved with what they were learning, stress important aspects of learning rather than grades grades grades, and build a relationship that would be harder to build in a get-home-at-3:30, in bed by 9 setting.

Overall they learned much more, got more exposure to projects and research, learn more about self-sufficiency and scheduling, and could still do social activities with other homeschoolers or various classes in the afternoons. The mad rush out of the house every morning was avoided, as was the 20-30 minutes to school, saving quite a bit of sanity. Study was individually paced so weaknesses could be worked on before moving on. We used some Montessori method for hands-on tools to imprint concepts visually and contextually.

It was difficult, especially to be prepared. Not every homeschooling family did such a good job, and for this I credit my wife - left to my methods it would have been a disaster, but with her, the portfolio of work done at the end of the year was quite large.

Montessori is known for a bit lackadaisical attitude to everything, while we pushed a bit more in terms of output and performance. The transition to regular schools was easy for 1, difficult for the other (including reasons far beyond homeschooling, and we still do a fair amount of tutoring). Academically they're fairly advanced compared to peers (though we still stress understanding over grades, and interests in activities and healthy social life can take precedence over academics), and their ability to analyze situations and present topics seems well developed, as is sense of humor.

We're not religious, which seems to be the main concern about home-schoolers, so no problems discussing evolution, detailed information about the body, sex, reproduction, bodily functions, impact of humans on global warming, comparison of religions, and other standard topics, including a lot on world cultures and trade economics and history and math (including more in-depth understanding of why, basics on proofs, etc. - certainly not "avoiding algebra").

At the same time, I was able to do more with "engineering" and how a lot of things work inside functionally, and they have reasonable grasp of 4-5 languages, still expanding, which makes them good budding world citizens, and they seem to be moving well towards independence and self-sufficiency, with some complaints here and there, including the standard smartphone addiction.