First, it will be helpful to recognize that there are differences among the three general categories you’ve listed. These differences may be in terms of philosophy, curriculum, rigour, or policy. Some of these things will overlap between the public and private school universes: it is quite possible to have both “traditional” and “progressive” schools in either the private or the public sector. There are “liberal arts” schools in the public sector, and there are “vocational” schools in the private sector. One should also bear in mind that the term public school can include charter schools and various tax subsidized alternatives to the traditional neighborhood school.

Having said that, the public school is tax subsidized so the student’s family doesn’t have to pay tuition. Generally there are some fees, but they tend to be small. Public schools are required to accept all students that live within their “neighborhood” area, can typically reject students from outside that area (geographic segregation), and have to justify expelling a students that is disruptive or maladjusted to the school. All races and socio-economic groups must be treated in an egalitarian fashion, which often results in confused values and watered-down curricula. The curriculum in a public school can be set at the state level, the school district level or the school level, and is often driven by political forces. Public schools, as a socialized institution typically disconnect the family (the education consumer) from the producer (the school) economically, eliminating the feedback that a market can provide; as a result, the legislative bodies over schools typically enact “accountability” measures. These typically have mediocre success, and always result in administrative overhead that removes resources from the classroom.

The private school is usually funded through a combination of tuition and donations; a trade off must exist between the resources of the school and the cost to the family. (Some of these schools offer assistance and scholarships to those in need.) Those that can pay more are apt to attend better schools, resulting in better educations for their children. Since the school is dependant on the payment of tuition, these schools are directly accountable to the families that pay to send their children and must satisfy them. Paying the tuition also results, typically, in a higher motivation to succeed in the student. Private schools can be either religious or secular, though there are more religious schools than non-religious. As a result, private school curricula often reflects the values and ideaologies of the sponsoring organization. There is concern that such schools may not provide an appropriate balance in representing other viewpoints. Private schools tend to be more elitist than their public counterparts. Private schools tend to emphasize academics and generally don’t have athletics and other non- or extra- curricular programs unless there is a source of funding for them, usually in the form of donations. Private schools are not geographically segregated and typically don’t provide student transportation, with the result that it is often necessary to commute fairly large distances to deliver and pick up students. Schools are free to determine their own admitance policies and can reject or expell students that don’t fit within the schools business model. Curriculum decisions are made by the school, its sponsoring organization, and must be responsive to the demands of the market. Nevertheless, the private school patron must accept the offering from a particular school or take his or her business elsewhere.

There are too many different variations of “homeschool” to list individual pros and cons. In general terms, homeschool is a decision to take personal responsibility for the education of the child. Every “pro” for one person could be a “con” for someone else, but that someone else may choose a different path which will negate the whole issue anyway.

A typical critic of homeschool will argue that there are fewer resources available to the homeschool student than there would be in a school environment or that homeschool children are not as well socialized as their schooled peers. On the other hand, a typical proponent of homeschool will claim that there are more resources available and that homeschooled children are better socialized because they aren’t subject to the artificial reality of age segregated classrooms and the other non-real-world conditions that exist in the school — especially public school — setting. The reality is that the availabity of resources and the level of social education is dependant on the individual situation.

The real answer to you question depends on what you want in the education of your child.

Public school is a less than basic mass education. There are too many children in the classroom for the teacher to properly teach at each childs level and therefore many children fall through the gaps and are left behind. The 3-4 hour a night homework lets us know that the kids are not being taught everyhting they should be in class. If I am going to have to sit with them for 3 hours a night why not just do all their schooling myself, and give them some time to be kids. The socialization you will hear others talk about is almost always negative—sexually active pre-teen girls, bullying, favorites, popularity strifes, smoking, drugs, alcohol, and so much more. The sports in public school cost way more than sports through a commuinty setup or church team, and only the best ones get picked in school-not so in other teams since everyone gets a chance.

Private school can be good. Extremely expensive tuition and books and most require to provide uniforms to their liking.They too can become over crowded and hinder the one-on-one time with students. There is still alot of homework and the sports are extremely expensive as are trips and lunches. Children can become snooty and better than others.

Homeschooling allows the parent to tailor the learning to their child’s needs. No one is left behind or falls through the gaps. One-on-one time is plentiful and the child can ask the questions needed without being ridiculed by other students. Socialization is not a problem with psorts, church activities and playdates, sleepovers and such. Homeschoolers have all the same extra curricular activities available to them, we just have to look. We have co-op classes together with other homeschoolers and they do science projects, music, drama, spanish, latin, cooking, quilting and so much more. Parents set the speed, parents choose what is taught, parents are in charge of their own children-not some government who has no idea what is best for my child!

EDIT* Anyone that says they have seen homeschooled children and they are weird or unsocialized, I have seen hundreds upon thousands of public school children shooting up schools, making drugs, and sitting on death row because of some horrific crime, compare those statistics and see which looks a little better. Homeschooled children come from a place of love.

One of the pros of public and private schools is that they teach children socialization skills. The cons of that can be that they also pick up on other things that maybe you don’t want them to. Homeschooling to me is the best route because you can protect the child from all the ugliness that goes on in the schools today and also you get to decide what the child will learn. Although, if I did send my child to school, it would be a private and christian one because I want my child to learn morals as well as all the other subjects. In public schools, there are so many children and not enough teachers, therefore children aren’t getting enough attention and it’s hard for the teachers to see all that is going on behind the scenes.

homeschooling is the best choice you are the teacher and you are forming your child with 30 children in each class many are over looked past forward only to get a much bigger problem in the next grade or two when the don’t know it private schools are good but can be very expensive I have home schooled for two years now it was and is the best decision I ever made and you know if you get on a program like mine we have every thing schools have except the nonsense check us out at www.k12.com good luck

Public school has more social opportunities, but it’s easy to get lost if you’re shy. Also, it can distract you from your work (which is technically why you’re there). There’s also not as much individual attention.

There’s usually not as much to do in a private school, and it has that everyone-knows-everything-about-everyone thing, which I personally don’t like too much. The good thing is that, since there aren’t as many kids, each kid can be involved in more activities. In a public school you’re lucky to play one sport, but in a private school you can play a sport, participate in student council, and participate in Beta Club, which will look fantastic on a college application. The bigger the private school the better. If you can afford a large private school, it’s great.

Home school really depends on the parent. I have an aunt that home schools all 4 of her kids, but she makes sure they have other things to do. Her son is in boy scouts and all of her girls take ballet and piano classes. They’re also very involved in church. Basically, if you’re going to home school make sure that the kids have social opportunities.

Public school, positive: since public schools must accept nearly all students, children will learn to deal with the most different types of people. Teacher qualifications are public record & available on request. Under No Child Left Behind, Title I schools must inform parents if their children are being taught by teachers who are deemed by the state as not meeting Highly Qualified status. Teachers must continue their education to keep their license. Most teachers care about their students. Special education services must be provided for those students who qualify. Most costs already covered by taxes.

negative: In some schools class sizes are large. Some schools have safety issues. Some schools are not fully staffed with qualified teachers. Some teachers shouldn’t be there. Certain special ed. services may not be offered close to the home of the student.

Private school, positive: can be selective, so can accept children with more involved parents. Most teachers care about their students. May offer special ed. Likely to have smaller class size. May have more individual attention for average and higher level students. May offer scholarships.

negative: may not offer range of options of public school. Not required by state to have highly qualified staff. Some teachers shouldn’t be there. Not required to offer special ed. Not required to accept all students. More expensive.

homeschool, positive: Individual attention. You know the teacher’s qualification. You know the curriculum.

negative: Requires large amounts of time & commitment. You must know your own limitations as to what you can teach. You must provide for socialization opportunities. More limited exposure to other points of view & styles of teaching. Some people aren’t suited to homeschool.

Public = Normal

Private = Very Normal

Homeschool = Social Rejects

Public school-kids experience a more real-world like setting, meeting other kids from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. A decent education.

Private school-it can be a superior education, but do your homework! Since private schools don’t receive federal funding, they have a lot more leeway about what they teach and don’t teach.

Homeschool-DON”T DO IT! Your kids NEED the social experience of school. Putting them in other activities is not enough. I have met enough home schooled people to know that there is definitely something you learn at school that homeschool cannot teach you about how to interact with other people.

public school and private school are both good if you want to socialize your child, public school really isn’t as bad as everyone thinks it is. there are more extra curicular activities at public and private schools,

homeschool has many draw backs, make sure that you can teach yourself and have a degree, i am a teacher and too many times we get kids who are homeschooled then their parents get tired of it and bring them back to school only to find they are grade levels behind, if you do homeschool work closley with the school district to make sure kids are on target. home school children while they can be really smart often have absolutley no social skills. to me that is a major draw back what good is intelligence when it can not be convied with others.