Children who are schooled at home interact with fewer authority figures than those who attend public school. Instead of having to work under the authority of teachers, coaches, principals and other school administrators, home-schooled children are only accountable to their parents. Their parents may hold them to higher standards than would a teacher who has a class of 30, or they may be more lax in discipline than a traditional teacher would be. Either way, home-schooled children learn fewer strategies for functioning under authority than traditionally educated children do.
Public schools offer students more than just a basic education. They also give students access to a gym, art supplies, a science lab, sports teams, theater auditions, musical groups, counseling and sometimes private lessons. Students who are home-schooled will have to look harder to find these facilities and opportunities, and in many cases the families will have to pay out-of-pocket for services that a public-school educated child would receive for free. Depending on the family's income, this may mean that a home-schooled child has fewer extra-curricular opportunities.
Families who home-school may face criticism from friends, neighbors and extended family. While homeschooling is becoming more mainstream, it is still far from normal, and parents who don't enroll their children in a traditional school may be judged by those around them. Children may be labeled as weird by their peers, and parents may be accused of making the wrong choice. This can be hard on both the parents and the students, depending on the thickness of their skin.
Not all the negative aspects of homeschooling are for the students -- parents who decide to home-school their children are taking on a many-layered responsibility. Each state has its own rules and regulations for homeschooling, and parents must commit themselves to researching and following these rules. In addition to the stress of having the sole responsibility for the child's education and any impact it may have on the family finances, homeschooling also means that the parent does not have her days free to manage the other aspects of her life.