Looking for disadvantages of Home-Schooling

Question:
for a seminar about multimedia learning, I search interesting Homepages, wich can tell me something about the disadvantages of home-schooling. In germany we don't have home-schooling, so I searched the Internet and found only pages wich are for home-schooling. But, I think, there must be problems, because the most children in the USA go to normal schools.

Answer:
Years ago, I used to think there must be many disadvantages because otherwise, more people would homeschool. I felt I HAD to work outside the home to give my kids more in life. Suddenly our kids were getting into trouble. Hubby and I were getting phone calls from schools, neighbors, etc., at work and we realized ONE of us needed to be home whenever our teenagers were out of school - also making daycare for the younger ones unnecessary. I took a job opposite my husbands shift so one of us would always be home. Better - but still not great. Now we could never do anything as a FAMILY because one of us parents was always at work. So... we shifted priorities. I quit work - we became increasingly poorer... but it was all worth it. Our older three eventually grew up and moved out. Our younger two were still in public school, but Mom was home everyday when they got out of school. Much better. BUT... when our fifth grader began complaining about not having enough time to do scouts and her theater work... and her studies... and her projects and reports... we started looking at her schedule. She had already quit scouts and only had her theater work (which she loved) as an extracurricular activity. Her school day and homework (fifth grade!) was taking up more than 50+ hours a week! More hours than her father worked at his job! No wonder she had no time to do what she wanted! My first grader (who was repeating the first grade) was not much better. He was working over 45+ hours a week on just school work, homework and remedial tutoring via the special education program. This wasn't including chores, family time or just plain old 'be a kid' time. So I looked into homeschooling in earnest. I have only found the following drawbacks to homeschooling... and I'd much rather live with the happy, involved children I have now, struggle financially, and live with these disadvantages... than to change them.

Disadvantages? The house is messier because more people are home all day. Actually, not messier - more cluttered? The walls have marks on them from World and U.S. maps project; calendars everywhere, posters of the planets; models hanging from the ceiling. There is an ongoing K'Nex construction project going on at my kitchen table and mold growing in the refrigerator (different types for my sons microscope 'explorations'. There are 3 ferrets and 2 guinea pigs living in the kids bathroom (which no longer serves as a bathroom). (This isn't including the animals that are NOT living in the back bathroom - 2 dogs, a bird, many fish, a rat... I think that covers it.) My backyard has been turned into an obstacle course, complete with a balance beam, uneven parallel bars, a rope swing, a tree fort and a teepee (all made by children). The mudroom has turned into a library - usually with the current books in use just piled up at the end of the day. The public library books get stacked in the living room on a table - unfortunately, instead of 2 or 3, there are usually about 20-30 at any given time. (Oh, and the painting project on the sunporch was laid aside today so that we could make a run to the library to get even MORE books.) That's another one - one project will often get laid aside for a day or two to do something else. There are more dishes used. Oh not because there are more people home, but because the kids help cook more often. They haven't quite mastered the fine art of "a dash of this and a dash of that" - they still use every single measuring cup in the house to get their fractions just right. Dinnertime is less organized. Instead of a set dinner time so kids can get to bed early in order to get up early for school, we now start dinner when Daddy calls and says he is on his way home from work. (His hours are variable, and it takes him an hour to get home.) This way, the whole family can sit down at the table and eat together. Bedtime? What bedtime? Um... it's supposed to be at 8:30... I think... I've forgotten now. All minor people in the house are IN bed at 8:30 (usually), but no one goes to sleep much before midnight. There's reading time - always good for an hour or two. Then some child usually starts chattering about the current book, their day, the next days' plans, etc. Disadvantage? Dad would like some alone time with Mom before HE has to go to bed. We go through a LOT of paper, crayons, glue, pencils (and pencil lead), pens, papier mache, clay, plaster, nails, wood, flower/vegetable seeds, potting soil, pom-poms, ribbon, staples, thumbtacks, paint... and fruit and juice. Mom's afternoon nap usually gets interrupted by phone calls concerning field trips, play dates, scout meetings, lessons.

Now, if you ask me about advantages... I could probably be a little more succinct.