Put together a questionnaire of sorts and invite people to respond.
See if there are co ops that you could visit or other support groups.

People can’t defend homeschooling as a whole. This is the same reason you can’t make a “case against homeschooling” as a whole.

You know, I sense a pattern here. Combined with your claimed shock at the response when you, to quote George Costanza, “let fly like Mussolini from the balcony,” the above statement leaves me wondering if this whole cyberspace thing is a little new to you. For future reference, far too few people acknowledge any expectation of confidence in emails sent to hostile parties. Good or bad, that’s well known reality. If you view a communication as being in confidence, it’s best to make that clear right away, and if no commitment to that effect is forthcoming, break off the communication, ESPECIALLY when there’s conflict.

First of all, I resent my personal emails being shared publicly. Most people, I’d say, would consider that a serious invasion of privacy, or at least unethical.

Second, I do believe in God, but a very different version than the Judeo-Christian God. I say I’m agnostic because, when Americans have this kind of conversation, “believing in God” almost exclusively means the Judeo-Christian God.

Inspiring misguided blood boiling since 1979,

Jesse

I am happy to read your emails, and possibly meet, but I have dealt with enough insults, assumptions, and aggression over the last few days. I am glad to have a progressive dialog about HSing with you, but only under a different tone.

God bless,

Jesse”

Jesse, I considering ranting a bit myself in response to your series of blogs…then I read this email from you posted by Mimi….

You know in your original blog – The case against homeschooling – you wrote: “(Personally I’m agnostic, but I’m just saying…)” How can you impart blessings from Someone you don’t believe in?

Thank you so much for proving that you haven’t a clue about what you’re saying so I can save my intelligent retorts for a more credible debate.

Read, read, read….

I recommend John Holt and John Gatto to start. Gatto is great (www.johntaylorgatto.com) and his POV is a career teacher, but I think John Holt (www.holtgws.com) is more of an analytical and research oriented person. His books include:
How Children Fail
How Children Learn
The Underachieving School
What Do I Do Monday?
Freedom and Beyond
Escape From Childhood
Instead of Education
Never Too Late
Teach Your Own
Learning All the Time

As Orpheus said in The Matrix…
Free your mind!

It’s my belief that, more or less, all teaching systems are equal in philosophical strength and organizational intention. What makes the difference in a child getting a good education is how well, and with how much passion, the teacher and the administration enact their system.

In other words, as long as we have faith in the act of teaching, and as long as we believe in the way we’re doing it, our students will learn, be it in private, public, home, unschools, or in a cave using pebbles and grunts.

- Jesse

Article I wrote in response with a comment that gave me the realization that I am not alone. http://homeschooling.families.com/blog/teachers-vs-homeschoolers-an-analogy