Hi- I understand that you're asking for parents to share their thoughts here, but I feel as though I can offer some insight from a homeschooling-student point of view that may help you.
1. Why did you choose homeschooling for your child(ren)?
My mother opted to remove me from public school as when she was faced with the decision, she understood that doing so would best suit my personal needs.
Being amidst students that were crude, careless, obnoxious and disruptive, and teachers who were either power-hungry, irritable, unqualified for their job, or just didn't care- I found I was in a toxic environment. This environment not only hindered me academically and socially, but also damaged me emotionally. She saw this in me and made the decision.
2. What was lacking in public/private schools that lead to this decision?
For the sake of post length, I'm just going to give a few examples.
Freedom- I function best when given choices, options, a SAY in what I'm going to learn and when I'm going to learn it. A rigid schedule of going to a building every morning for x days a week, to be forced to try to learn at the arrangement of some schmo who thinks I should learn x subject at x time at x pace, does NOT benefit me in the slightest.
Quality teachers- I shouldn't be able to frequently point out misspellings and grammar errors made by my English teacher, yet this was often my experience. I shouldn't be subjected to a teacher that often voices that he/she
doesn't like kids, yet I've had many of these. I shouldn't have a history teacher who couldn't teach his/her class anything that didn't come straight from a book, yet my history teachers all seemed to be completely dependent on theirs.
Diversity!- I seem to have absolutely nothing in common with other 15 year olds in my area. (I say in my area because I have found like-minded 15 years olds from other countries that I correspond with, but I digress.) 18, 20, 23, 25 year olds from my area? Yes. 15 year olds? No. In public school, I felt hopelessly isolated. Sure, I was physically surrounded by hundreds of kids my age, but in my way of thinking, I seemed to be in a completely different world from them.
Personalized learning- Because the public school system tosses me into a huge class of randomized students only segregated by age, my class time is wasted because Mary and Bob and Li didn't understand yesterday's history lesson, so instead of covering new subject matter like I'm ready to do, the teacher goes over yesterday's lesson instead. Or because most of the class flew through yesterday's math lesson, the teacher refuses to personally help me when I'm struggling because everyone else is ready for the next lesson- so I fall behind and never really grasp the subject in question.
3. Greatest benefit of homeschooling?
I'd have to say
time. I now have as much or as little
time as I need to accomplish an assignment. I'm not wasting
time by having to get ready in the morning or commute to and from a separate building. I now have more
time to partake in enriching trips to the museum, aquarium, zoo, etc. with my family. I have more
time to experience meeting people in a real-life, natural setting. I have
time to spend doing things I love- I can now garden, draw, paint, take long walks with my dogs, write letters to pen-pals, cook delicious meals, learn foreign languages, read countless novels, study unconventional subjects like dog psychology and mythology, find new and interesting music from all over the world..! (Before this was all time spent going to and from school and doing homework; rinse and repeat)
4. Greatest limitation of homeschooling?
Many people I encounter don't seem to take it seriously. I'm either assumed to be sheltered and brainwashed or condescendingly asked if I'm ever "going back to a
real school".
5. What are your thoughts on homeschool laws/regulations?
Since this was supposed to be answered by parents, I'll just say that I'm not sure of my mother's opinion on them.
6.
If you have children that are post high school, how does homeschooling affect them now (in college, job)?
I am the only homeschooler of my mother's two children.