According to the survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, "the most common reasons that parents give for home schooling their children are moral or religious reasons, a desire for high educational achievement, dissatisfaction with public schools' instructional program, and concerns about school environment, including safety, drugs, and peer pressure-(Bielick, Chandler & Broughman, 2001, 10)
In light of the rapid growth of the home schooling population, critics and supporters alike have been closely following this controversial form of education providing in-depth analysis of the advantages and disadvantages to home schooling.
One of the main areas of concern is whether or not home schooling programs provide the student with a comprehensive education experience which is ideally strived for within the public school system. Critics have expressed concern over the fact that parents are not certified teachers and do not have the proper resources in order to provide an unbiased and extensive background on many of the important school subjects (Lyman, 2002, 31). But, being that home schooling is not a new phenomenon, many home schooled children have obviously received an adequate enough education in order to graduate from college, attain a profession and be productive members in their communities. Supporters of home schooling argue that not only does home schooling provide a sufficient education, but it is far better than any education that could be achieved in the public school system. As declared by a former home schooled couple who are continuing the tradition with their own children, the one-on-one advantage, direct parental involvement and a customized education should be of the utmost importance in education, and actually tend to be the first things dismissed in the public school system (Lyman, 2002, 31). Therefore, like this family, many parents are taking matters into their own hands and accepting full responsibility for their children's education.