Some school districts will not permit home-schoolers to participate in their extracurricular activities. This can limit your child's access to sports, music programs and other activities.
Your child may find it difficult to make and keep friends her own age unless you live in a large community that has many home-schooling families. This can be a particularly troubling problem if your family lives in a rural setting where school is often the only place children have contact with other kids.
In a public school setting children learn how to get along with a variety of people. Home-schooled children miss out on the exposure to a group of peers. This can make it more difficult for home-schoolers to fit in with peers later in life.
Many states may impose rigid instructional requirements, or require parents to send in nine-week written progress reports, which can take their toll on parents who may not have the knowledge to deal with all of the red tape.
Some parents who choose to home school their children do so to capitalize on an academic or artistic talent. These parents believe that they can advance their child more quickly through school, or allow them to focus on a particular area of interest. In reality, the programs in many school districts provide more than enough opportunities for gifted and talented students. These opportunities may include access to scholarships, internships or study-abroad programs.
Not all children react the same to learning at home. While to a quiet, studious child may thrive at home, an outgoing, interactive child could lose interest in the learning process.