Parents choose to home educate for many different reasons, some of which
may include:

Religion

Some parents are concerned that state and private schools erode the core
Christian values that are at the heart of their particular beliefs. Some
may have seen other children turn away from religion in their teenage
years, and see this as a great loss. They may blame the particular schools
that these children attended, or they may see the problem as being endemic
to all schools. They may choose to use a curriculum such as the ACE or
Light Education Ministries programmes, perhaps using these as a core
curriculum, adding extra science or maths or music depending on their
child's interests. Home education may be seen as a way of protecting their
children from the anti-Christian beliefs that many parents see as being
responsible for spiralling social problems in the wider society.

Lack of educational progress

Many parents of children who have attended state or private schools become
concerned when their children do not show the educational progress that was
expected of them. This includes gifted children, who typically do well in
the junior grades, who perhaps had basic literacy and numeracy skills
before attending school, and soon discover that school is a bore. They are
not permitted to work to their abilities, their date of birth determines
the type of work that is placed before them. Other children may have been
labelled in other ways, perhaps ADD. Some parents struggle for years within
the school system to help their child gain basic literacy and numeracy
skills, watching as their children move on from year one to year two, year
three, year four, being moved on regardless according to their age rather
than their abilities. Some finally remove their child in frustration, when
after years in the school system their children are still not reading,
writing or understanding basic mathematical concepts. Parents in these
situations will often seek out educational specialists, and read widely in
order to understand their child's particular learning abilities or
difficulties. They may tailor purchased curriculum's to their child's needs.
Often, their main priority is to re-build their child's self-esteem. This
is especially the case if the child is removed from high school, when by
this time they may have suffered years of anguish after being labelled in
some way. It is interesting to hear anecdotal evidence of ADD children
needing medication to cope with a school environment, who are then home
educated, needing no medication, and thriving.

Lifestyle

This group of parents typically feel that children should be allowed to be
children. They see children in schools as being placed under constant
pressure to meet someone else's goals. They may feel that children should
be allowed more time to play. They may feel that imposing regimentation and
time tabling on young children is not in the children's best interests.
They may feel that forcing their children to conform to someone else's
agenda, to learn according to someone else's curriculum, regardless of
their children's interest or ability, is not in the best interests of the
child. They may be uncomfortable with the idea of institutionalising their
child just because everyone else does. These parents probably do not use a
pre-packaged curriculum and may use either a natural learning or an
eclectic approach. They typically read widely, concentrating on
understanding the processes of learning. This group of parents see their
role as one of facilitator or resource provider, rather than a 'teacher'.