They're crazy. Sending the boy off to school saved our sanity.

Smart people.

I have known quite a few parents that have homeschooled. I frankly don’t understand the need. This seems to be mostly an American phenomena. I grew up in Canada and the U.K. and never heard of this. However, I’ve seen it in Texas become more common. I’m very vocal of my support of public school and volunteer hundreds of hours every year. I always tell these parents that despite my Nursing degree and my ex being a software engineer, we were not qualified to be teachers. That’s why there’s an education degree.
The homeschooled kids that I have met have been socially awkward with delayed language/communication skills IMO. There’s a reason that the schools are bigger as the kids get older. It preps them for college, jobs and to be a productive member of society.

With me it depends upon the parents.
While you have those with "religious" beliefs....or something along those lines....
Who well...barely can read and write themselves.....are now "teachers?"
Then you have the ones who actually do care about the quality of the kids education, and are members of organized home schooling groups.
These organized groups work to make sure the child is educated EDUCATED.
Met both kinds.
And let me tell you...the one's who keep the kids locked down at home...and they do....when they take those kids out....they just run rampant..... I mean...it is an OUTING.......
Where as the others, they strive to get the kids as well rounded an education as possible.
So it is a mixed bag.
Sadly, the ones who feel they have to "hide" from the world and keep the kids on a leash...well.....the end result is a child with little social skills and abilities....with a limited education.
There use to be, I don't know if it is still around, but a college here in Texas that offered High School on line.
When the kid finished the school...they did get a real High School diploma. And the kid got acceptance to the college. Mind you this was over 10 years ago. BUT...the kid did have a valid education.

I personally know at least 1 person who is homeschooling her daughters. She's kind of crazy as in she thinks GMOs are 100% bad and has to eat organic, thinks everyone is gluten intolerant, she's either anti-vaccine or extremely wary of vaccines, takes medical advice from chiropractors and online "doctors" who have no or very little medical credentials. She pretty much believes anything on the Internet from people who are full of bullshit.

There's also a Russian family that I've met who homeschools their kids because they are anti-vaccine

I'm not sure the question can be answered separate of the excluded variables. The methodologies and motivations are the basis of my opinion. Some parents, I respect their choices or the specific needs of their children being addressed, but some parents home-school their kids because they're crazy and prefer to indoctrinate their children to their personal perceptive bias as a control tool.

It really depends on the parent. Some parents use it as a way to let their kids do anything they want, while others want their children to succeed in life. I know a woman who calls my mother at 3 AM asking for help homeschooling her child, but the girl knows nothing. She is 14 and doesnt know basic multiplication. Many parents want their children to learn the truth, and not the bogus stuff people put into history and science books.

I am suspicious of the most of them. Most lack the knowledge and skills to provide a good education. Others want to indoctrinate their children into a single,total system ideology or world view (possibly religious,r political, and a combination.