Originally posted by Lokrian
If a person gives up work to home school, they are giving up an amount of income that even on the conservative estimate would be far in excess of the total cost of educating a child in public school. This is more or less the whole point of having public schools to begin with. It frees up parents to work while a specialist supposedly does a better job teaching their kids in the amount of time the average parent could actually afford to spend.
Honestly, if this is your attitude to raising children, please never have any.

The point of public schools is not to "free up parents to work." That's utterly repulsive.

The ideal situation is at least one parent (mom or dad) home to take care of the kids whenever they need it.

The current warped situation is an utter disgrace.

Raising kids is more important than work. If you don't believe that, don't have kids.

Obviously, people get in situations where they simply don't have options. Single parents have to work. Sometimes two parents both have to work. That doesn't mean that is the ideal situation. It sure as hell is not the reason for public education.