This is a fairly old topic, but meh..sharing my thoughts anyways
I was home schooled up until the 9th grade. Went to a private school my freshman year, and then went to a public school the rest of the time.
I loved being home schooled.. I did 2-3 hours of school a day then went and hung out with my other home schooled friends for the rest of the day (I lived in a decent size suburb so there were plenty of home schooled kids to hang out with. I also made plenty of friends in little league, boy scouts, and whatever else I did...Also my SAT scores were always in the top 10%....
Moving on to private school (Christian)...there were about 15 of us in each grade...it got really boring going to the same class with the same people 180 days a year...it was nothing special, the content was as vigorous as home schooling but dragged out to 7 hours a day..
Public school was a joke as far as academics go...I never once studied for tests or quizzes..you could do all of the homework in your 15 minute homeroom or study hall if you had one....half the time the entire class would have the same answers for homework and the teachers never cared...Now many schools allow as many optional retakes for graded assignments as the student wants...So why would you ever work hard to study? You take the test, fail it, look up the answers and take it again(Not much learning going on there).
When I was taking Spanish we sat at a table of 8 and copied off of a student who grew up speaking Spanish...Every once in a while she would get something abstract wrong (just like all of us English speaking students don't get 100% in english). The teacher never cared and we never learned anything in that class because we didn't have to....You may think that is just one teacher, but when they have to teach 25-30 students at one time and 150+ students a day, they can't give attention to all the students they need to...
As an educator (I know I don't type like one on the forums ), I still think public school is the worst option. I know there are plenty of fantastic public schools out there which is great! However, I still believe the smaller setting is way better for student learning...Some people argue that if you home school you aren't a certified/trained teacher... That is an irrelevant statement...did your parents have to be trained to teach you how to drive a car? No. Did your grandfather have to be trained to teach you how to fish? No. I saw another statement asking if you would you rather have your sick child treated by a trained doctor or yourself. Many would choose the doctor...However, in a school setting that doctor isn't "treating" just your child he/she has 25-30 "sick" students every day that he has to try to treat in a 40 minute class... So even if he is an absolutely fantastic doctor and gets to every student during that 40 minutes he is only spending 1 to 2 minutes 1 on 1 with your child...
Not much can be accomplished in 1 to 2 minutes of one on one time when it comes to education. If you have the freedom (whether it be time,money or anything else) I definitely think that home schooling is the best option. However, all of the responsibility falls on you. Home schooling really allows you to work with your child as long as they need. That 1 on 1 education is invaluable. Saying all of this there are many instances where the parent/person doing the home schooling is not doing a good job. However, home schooled parents (at least in my state) have to have a record of which lessons were taught everyday, and the students are required to maintain certain scores on state required tests/SATs...I think this is a great way that the states can see if the child is receiving the education they should be.
***My comments were based solely on an educational stand point (nothing about making friends, bullying, etc. etc.). However, there are plenty of ways for home schooled students to make friends, and they are even allowed to participate in sports at your local public school (whichever school district you reside within)...This is were it falls upon the parents again to ensure that they are involved with other students their age...