99% of the population thinks homeschooling is mom sitting at the kitchen table teaching everything to her children. In fact, for more than 80% of homeschoolers, their mental image of homeschooling is probably the same.

Let me offer a slightly different view, and define it this way: "Homeschooling is parents deciding and directing the education of their children". Deciding and directing the education, not doing all the educating.

When our daughter, Stephanie, was about 12 years old, she had been homeschooled for 5 years. She came to us an announced that she wanted to take a foreign language this year. We assumed she met French or Spanish, but she revealed she wanted to learn Hebrew ! Hebrew ! What do we know about Hebrew ? Nothing. But, we didn't have to learn Hebrew for her to learn Hebrew. By the end of that week, we had enrolled her in the bar mitzvah course at the local synagogue, and she took Hebrew there.

The assumption for most people is that they have to know it to teach it to their children. Not quite true, since the parent doesn't have to be the one to teach it. Consider this -- suppose my child wanted to take violin lessons, and I don't know anything about violin. Does she have to wait for me to become proficient in violin before she takes lessons ? Of course not. We simply find a suitable instructor and she takes violin lessons. Same with art. Same with foreign language, even Hebrew. Well, what about Math, English, Science, or History ? Why not ?

When my homeschooling son was ready to take Algebra, he took it at the local community college. One course as a community student, he didn't have to "apply" for college admission. He simply registered and took the course. See the point ?

Too often parents dismiss homeschooling because they have a limited image of what homeschooling is. They have the mistaken idea that they are not qualified. "How could I ever teach Chemistry or Physics?" they ask. And they make their decision about homeschooling based on their limitations. The reality is that when you use the resources available in the community, there are very few limitations. The parent doesn't need to know it -- the parent needs to know how to find it. That's homeschooling.