Appreciate the reply. Perhaps my view of homeschooling is all hyper-religious families who tend to be the evangelical type, as a whole I see that population of people as lacking empathy, critical thinking skills, etc.

I just don’t see the need for homeschooling as it just perpetuates this evangelical religious fervor. Besides, we live in a society of different backgrounds, religions, and ethnicities. Schools are a good place to meet people who are different than you.

not the person you replied to, but someone with similar opinions: of your 3 examples, only you are still working in the community you presumably grew up in and live in. homeschooling can make it difficult to feel tied to your local community; often, they are perceived as "other" and feel themselves separate, at least the ones I've met. you may all feel driven to work for "communal good", but it seems like it's often done as an outsider to the community. there's no "communal empathy" because you(generally, the home schooled) aren't part of the community.

I have awful social anxiety - when I was little it was just called "painfully shy" - and my mother considered home schooling as an alternative. my grandmother was an elementary school teacher in the local public school system, and said the most valuable thing they taught in school was how to navigate socially. everything else can be taught outside school, but it's extremely difficult to give kids the opportunity to learn societal norms and how to deal with peer groups when they aren't interacting with people outside their small group on a daily basis. I'm honestly not sure how well I'd function in society as an adult if my mother hadn't listened to my grandmother. I learned a lot of my social skills at school, more than I could in church or clubs where the peers were fewer and our similarities greater.