I homeschooled my oldest 1st-5th grade. It was an absolutely fantastic experience for both of us. He learned at his own pace, was able to focus on one thing at a time (which worked better for his learning style than going from one 40-minute class to the next), and did not have to deal with a lot of social bs that he was not emotionally ready to handle.
I got the "but what about his socialization?" question 400 times a week. It never worried me, because I never isolated my child in a house without contact with other human beings -- nor do I know any other homeschoolers that do this. On the contrary, he learned to relate to other people
as an individual rather than a flock animal. We would do a Biology project, and work with our 70-year-old neighbor lady in her garden, looking at the development from seed to plant. We would talk about the life cycle of salmon and spend a day at a hatchery. We would do statistics projects together with other homeschool families, counting cars on the highway and comparing our results. We would go orienteering with other homeschool families, etc.
The transition into middle school in 6th grade was rough -- but mostly because he couldn't understand why the other kids were not focusing on learning, but were goofing off and disrespecting the teacher. He went on to have a 3.78 GPA in high school and hold a leadership role in his high school community.
Homeschooling was amazing and awesome for us. But I have two other kids who have been in public school from K on. They fit fairly well into the public school system, at least where we live, where we have plenty of optional/alternative programs. For them, homeschooling would not have been ideal.
I think the most important thing to realize is that
children are individuals, and what works for one child might be a disaster for another.
The best resource I found was the Home School Legal Defense Association, here:
Homeschool: HSLDA-Home School Legal Defense Association If you click on the top where it says "About Homeschooling" you can see what's required in your state. Depending on where you live, you may not be required to do a darn thing, or you may be required to have a teaching degree.