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From what I've seen, the majority of homeschooling happens because nutty, super religious parents don't want their kids exposed to the evils of public schools. The majority of the rest (which is a small percentage) just think that they can do better than what's usually a failing school system and can't afford private school.
On another forum, someone asked about a friend's homeschooled kids, three of who seemed to simply be maladjusted, spoiled, antisocial brats. The last one was younger and showed multiple symptoms of severe OCD and a severe autism spectrum disorder (not to diagnose over the Internet, but if anyone I know had a kid who showed half of the symptoms, I would urge the parent to see a specialist in developmental disorders because something is clearly wrong.) The parents did the lessons for the day, then left their free-range kids to themselves.
The latter is the kind of thing I think of when I hear "homeschooled." I think it can be a valuable tool if public education won't cut it and private schools are out of reach, but I think it also conditions children to be too dependent on their parents and will lead to difficulty in breaking away when they're adults. Most importantly, children need to socialize with other kids, and not just homeschooled ones. There are some things that are part of the cultural mindset that kids can only get in school, depriving them of shared experiences hinders their ability to relate to others now and later in life. If you do it for the right reasons, it's fine, but way too many people are allowed to fuck up their kids' lives and social development because they can't stand the thought of exposing them to the outside world.
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