Home schooling, practiced as an alternative to both public and private schooling, is on the increase. This booklet provides an overview of the home schooling movement's statistical and demographic background. It also describes the legal context in states across the United States; the advocacy groups that are involved; the reasons why parents home school their children (religious orientation, hostility to public education, and political orientation); and the results of research on home-schooled students' achievement. Educators' concerns about home schooling and the movement's growth potential are also assessed. The booklet offers 10 reasons why home schooling is not desirable: (1) Most parents do not possess the necessary educational skills; (2) students need to interact with and work together; (3) students need to learn how to relate to people of different cultures, races, nationalities, and religious traditions; (4) students should be exposed to and learn how to confront different ideas; (5) the textbooks published for the home-schooling market are inadequate; (6) support for home schooling fosters the fragmentation of American culture; (7) public schools foster unity, a common culture, and common goals; (8) the public schools are more likely to become the dumping ground for the poor and disinherited; (9) the Christian influence in public schools will be diminished if Christians depart in large numbers; and (10) flight from public education will not help solve the problems of public schools, which deserve to be strengthened rather than denigrated. One table and 144 endnotes are included. Appended are: suggestions for further reading and home schooling organizations. (Contains 84 references.) (LMI)