Q and A
From the same website as Jesse Scaccia’s incendiary homeschool-bashing post, come a few honest questions (excerpted from a much more open-minded post than Mr. Scaccia’s) from one Alistair Bomphray:
How do you balance being both parent and teacher to your child?
This is something I never even thought about, until I was asked this question by non-homeschoolers. I guess as a homeschooler, I conceptualize learning and parenting in a different way from a school teacher or a non-homeschooling parent. It is all part of the same parenting package to me. Even though we do have structured lessons, I don’t take off my “mother” hat and put on my “teacher” hat for those times. I am always both my children’s mother and their teacher, just as I have been since birth. I helped them learn to walk and talk and feed themselves; now I am helping them learn about multiplication, ancient Rome, reading, and the digestive system.
How do you incorporate technology into your lessons?
Again, it’s not something I consciously think about. It just happens organically. From an early age, my kids have been playing games on sites like www.noggin.com and www.NickJr.com. We use www.starfall.com for reading lessons, and speech practice for my son, who has verbal apraxia. The kids have inherited my husband’s World of Warcraft addiction, and love to play WoW as well as other video games. They type on the computer, they create artwork with painting programs, they Google for information, they watch YouTube videos… my eight-year-old is easily as computer-literate as I am, and moreso than my parents.
How do you go about teaching a subject you know very little about?
I learn it along with the kids. I am not pouring facts into an empty vessel, I am facilitating learning. Most of the knowledge they gain comes not from me, but from books, videos, and other media. Right now my oldest is finishing second grade. As we move on to more advanced work, if I cannot handle a subject myself I will find another way: a private tutor, a homeschool co-op, an outside class, etc.
How much homework do you give? Is it even called ‘homework’ when it’s assigned at home?
I don’t give homework. Or, on the other hand, all the work I assign is homework. 
Are you asking whether I give assignments to be done independently, outside of “school time,” as extra practice? Not really. But we don’t really have official school hours. We have assignments that need to be completed, and we get them done during the course of the day. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon. Sometimes I will read some of the material aloud at bedtime. If my kids need extra practice on something, such as math facts, they will get extra practice. But I don’t really think of it as homework.
Do your students have to take the same standardized tests as mine? If so, how much test prep do you do each week?
Each state has its own laws governing homeschooling. In NC, homeschooled students have to take a nationally-normed test every year between ages 7-16 (IIRC), and we have our choice of several tests. My daughter took the Woodcock-Johnson test this year. We didn’t do any test prep, unless you count telling my shy daughter she had to answer the questions and that shrugging and saying “I don’t know” or “I don’t wanna talk about it” did not count as answers, to be polite and answer “yes, ma’am” and “no, ma’am” to the test administrator (we are Yankee transplants to the South and I’m always worried about making a good impression), and that I knew she’d do great.