Mixing Homeschooling and Local Schooling

The Wall Street Journal has a column hereby a home-schooled teenager explaining the value of homeschooling.  She also attempts to answer the critics of it, but does make a few poignant comments.  For example, she misses being able to attend a prom. 

Note: This article is behind the WSJ's paywall, but you may be able to access it by putting "I'm Homeschooled--Hold the Pity Please" into the Google search engine.

I’m sorry that homeschooling and attendance at a local school are usually an either/or proposition.  Surely homeschooled children could benefit from being able to take occasional classes in their local schools—particularly advanced science and math classes.   They should also be able to participate in the social and athletic events at their local schools, like proms.

And wouldn’t it be great if students who were enrolled in local schools could elect to take a few courses at home?   Perhaps they want to pursue an individual English course of books and essay topics selected and supervised by their parents.  Or an individual history course that was heavy on visits to historical sites.   Even parents with full-time jobs might be able to take the time to teach one or two courses.

A mix like this would necessitate greater flexibility on the part of school districts and home-schooling parents, but I think would result in a richer educational experience for children.