I certainly do not want to argue and we are talking about abit different things here also since I am stuck with USA schools and you have Canada and Europe schools to consider also. But my long post/rant here is based on my experince and opions on home schooling vs. public school for anyone wantng to read it.
I do not beleave the below. Although it may be true in your case, not in general is my opion.
"The problem with homeschooling is that while it works well in theory in practice there is no substitute for interaction with others in a group. It's about developing social skills, factual knowledge and mental abilities.
We can provide some of that, but not all of that. There are very few children living in this area and in Europe at age 12 he would be getting 'subject teachers', who are a lot more knowledgeable than I am in their specific fields."
On the part about "more knowledgeable than I am in their specific fields"
Certainly it may be that way in some schools, but it is my experience about half the teachers know to assign the lesson in a book, check the answers turned in by students with the answer in the back of the book! Memorize the words they should say for the lessons and examples provided in the book. I am not joking about this at all!
I recall the forth grade class my daughter was in, one question on a test was wrong, but she had the correct answer. When I asked her about it, she said no one in the class got that one right. I went to school and talked to the teacher, she argued with me the book was correct and the students were wrong. She did not know how to do the work and get the correct answer either and avoided it, and me best she could.
I had to find another teacher that could actually do the work and then have her called to the office and told to correct the test grades to the new answer.
I WAS PISSED!
My daughter still had an A but it did raise other students grades on that test that barely had a lower grade, border line grades. And this was only 4rth grade work!
I have corrected teachers many times over the years, many realize the mistake right away if pointed out to them, or sometimes I have to show it in detail, other books, several other teachers etc..
And I am dumb as a rock myself. How many answers did I NOT get corrected??
When I was in high school myself many many years ago, I was showing the teacher how to do work on an engine and sometimes giving him the correct answers in a small engines repair class. I didn't learn anything there, and only thing I knew on my own was from working on my own cars. Still don't know how to fix a lawnmower, though I could figure it out or read a manual. I got all A's in the class though.
That part about "there is no substitute for interaction with others in a group. It's about developing social skills," is from my point of view a load of crap! I say this from experience here. That was one of the things that got shoved at me constantly when I wanted to home school my daughter from the start. Was one of the reasons I gave up and let her go to school, big mistake!
First, that was not so hot when I went to school either in a bigger city. After elemtary reccesses end there is no socail time in shool. Sure you can break the rules and talk in class and be told to shut up and socailize on your own time. So ya you got that 5 minutes if your lucky to talk to all your friends that ride other busses to the other side of town that you never see except at school. Big deal!
So then you get home and socailize with the kids living around you that you never see at school 
And just what was that your own time stuff supposed to be? 1 hour to school, 8hrs at school, 1 hour home, 3hrs or more homework. Duh, that's 13hrs or more! Where is this MY TIME crap supposed to come in at, while I sleep?? 3hrs for everything in MY LIFE, food, bath, family, mow the yard, etc.. and 8hours to sleep.
Then you have like around here, nice place, nice people, average or above schools, pretty good as far as pubic schools really. Home school is what I SHOULD have done!
It just is not all that great, kids don't always welcome outsiders, here most have thier own little "CLICK" and if you weren't born here you barely fit in at all with the locals. Daughters first school classmates, their somewhat friends, but no-one invites her places, seldom spends the night at others kids houses, has been invited to very few birthday parties, etc... So what Socail group, interaction? Sitting in a class being told to shut up and read the book when they speak to each other, the 2 minutes they run from class to class? That great 45 minute bus ride with kids you don't ever see but on the bus and live to far away to play with, and your told to sit here and be quite too!!
My Kid is very good kid, and we are all born US white people and in a mostly white area, but it's still basic discrimination type of thing because she was born in North USA not 10 miles away. People is people to me, black white, mexican etc... were all the same, so the part I mention of white is not prejudice talk, just pointing out we are the same as them, not racail diference etc.. which should not matter anyway.
Just not born here in town. Though she went to school there since kindergarden with the same kids in every class. Small school, one class for each grade.
This part of her never being invited anyplace and such got me pissed off, first time she decided she wanted to change schools I rented a house just to get her in that school! No other real reason, just to have the address. She has probably done more with those new friends in the last 5 months than her other school friends in the last 8 years already. I mean as far as them asking her to do stuff with them. We always had kids going with us when WE wanted to TAKE THEM places.
Now to put this in a bit more perspective for the last 8 years, we have had some of those kids over for the night, taken some to amusement parks, roller skating, theater shows, etc... I always pay for the extra kids stuff too, don't mind it, they don't need money with us for food tickets or such, just if they want alot of junk souviniars and such they buy for themselfs, and I buy some of that stuff for em too.
Every little thing my kid is giving them stuff and inviting them to do things. Nothing in return though. It's not that I expect a return, but I expect her to NOT be the only kid in class to never be invited to a party. Snobs are glad to receive, but otherwise ingore. At least that's the way it feels at times. They have friends over all the time, parties, etc.., just my kid is rarely invited to do anything with them, but other kids are often.
I spent Thousands on other kids in the last 8 years or so taking them places and doing things, my kid is the last to be invited for anything, even a birthday party, but she is still dumb enough to take them the present and give it to them at school 
Now there she is dumb as a rock!
4 years they have a party and you don't get invited? 5th year they get no present!
I finanly put my foot down awhile back and set a rule, if there is a party and you ain't invited you ain't giving a gift! Period!
Kinda like calling the neighbor "Hey were having a big party, we don't want you to come, but could you run to town and pick up the beer for us".
She had one friend that does invite her over to spend the night sometimes, she has been here many times also, gone with us to Branson MO for theaters and amusment parks and we even took her about a week and went to Ohio to a BIG amusemant park and camping for 2 days and nights. I don't care that they never take my daughter anywhere, they don't have much money I think, and they don't do anything themselfs.
I think the only time that girl does much is when she goes with us, well all that is fine, those 2 are good friends, she invites my kid over to her house sometimes for the night.
Now, as far as kids she has done alot more with, the ones that invite her places too, she has met them at skating rinks, church,state park, even strangers at amusemant parks where I got to know the parents and we had mutual interests etc... and got to be freinds.
So where is all that " interaction with others in a group. It's about developing social skills," stuff comming from. NOT SCHOOL, but every day life in general.
Group stuff, gangs, drugs, sit there shut up and read, that is school group stuff.
The majority of kids are NOT on the ball team, chearleaders, band or other group things, only a few are. And beyond elementary school they are NOT given recces time to go play and interact either, it's class, class, class, lunch, more classes. And the home work takes away from personal time that they could go somewhere "for interaction with others in a group, developing social skills, factual knowledge and mental abilities".
While being home schooled not only can a child get a BETTER education than a public school provides in most areas, they can also learn facts of life through actaull experience, hands on training, visiting places in person ocasionally, not just read a book about them, etc... Depending on the parents, time, money, etc..
Most public school kids see pictures of Mt Rushmore, mine has been there, Niagra falls too. Someday the Grand Canyon maybe. That is learning much more in person than the book reading in school. If it weren't for school she would have learned about the cival war by visiting battle grounds, museums etc.. Dinosaurs too same way. While traveling she could be reading the same school books so she would have had 2-3Xs the education she has now. But NO, I was talked into putting her in public school and we are tied down 9 months of the year so she can learn far less stuff in a much longer time.
Even for people who never travel anywhere, you can teach a kid in a couple hours far more than they learn in an entire school day. Plus they can get hands on experience and put the knowledge to practical use as they learn it. What better way to learn math is important and put it to real use than figuring out the angles and decimals and fractions needed to measure and cast a stator? What better way to learn about motors and generators etc.. than building a working gennie? Right there, Science class and math in one
Science fair at her school was a joke, stick pennies in vinager and see what happens and 10 or more kids doing the same thing! Never did she do the motor running from a battery spinning a second motor lighting a bulb, showing how they are built inside and how they make power when spun etc.. Nope, stupid pennies or a pot with a flower in it stuff. Ok for 1sr 2cnd grade, stupid for 5th 6th.
At age 4-5 my daughter knew alot of fractions! Yes that young, why? Because she helped me working on cars, handing me tools. She had to learn what 1/2", 7/16" 9/32" was, 1/4" rachet etc... Often I would try to trick her, I need half a 3/8" socket, she would had me the 3/16" after thinking a minute. Now she don't know what a pipe wrench is, explained it to her when I needed one the other day, she couldn't find it, I did, it was laying in plain sight, she said oh that thing.
She learned to count to 100 very early while traveling acrossed country, and spelling some pretty large words too. Not everything has to be written to learn it, talking while traveling is very good to, rather cross country or to the local store and back.
Games are great for learning, I used to also write 20 math problems on paper, some extremly hard for her level. She got a penny for each correct answer and 25 cents if she got all 20 of them right, she would get those hard ones 90% of the time so she could have the extra nickle.
All of which she forgot by the end of 2cnd grade! When school started she did not have TIME for me to be teaching her, it was all busses, school and homework time! She had straight A's in everything, now she was down to a C in math this last school period
Partly because of the school change, she should have had a B, still not good for her.
I would have her doing Trig by now, and on the way I would have learned it too
That's all stuff no-one mentions when they WANT the kids to go to public school!
Take computers for example also. I let my daughter have a slumber party at my office with a few of her new school friends. She camcordered them dancing and fun stuff and I recorded some for her. Now SHE should be making her own DVD's by now, but no, she won't let me teach her how. Heck she can't even rip and copy the ones I make yet
Too busy with school homework, cheerleading, or other things. So I made the DVD and printed it for her friends, I could not get her to make the cover either.
So finnally I gave her blank cases with disks inside and said that's what they get, I ain't doing the covers. We were going to take them to her freinds the next day and it was late already.
She sat down, ran the dvd on her PC, captured the images, edited them, made covers, fancy text, sized to case, printed, cut and inserted the covers in the case. Maybe an hour tops for all of them. The most time was deciding what images she wanted and finding them on the dvd! Her friends were as amazed by the covers she made as much as by the actaul DVD inside.
I think at school now they have taught how to change the desktop background and maybe advanced as far as menu colors
So where did she actaully learn something usefull? All of her computer education is from home! She can do alot of stuff!
Most her friends with home computers available can play games or surf the net, still more than the school has taught
I ain't so smart myself, but there is nothing in school she has learned she could not have learned at home better and in less time, there is far more she could have learned at home, but the school is holding her back, just not enough time for both!
In many places there are home school groups also, often they meet a few hours aweek or so and help each other. Maybe one person is super in math, another in windgennies
So the kids still get the group socail stuff but better than public schools and the education is normally far better than any public school.
A nasty borring public school is nothing more than a very low security prison with home release at night, like a work release from a real jail. And every day our children get treated more and more like convicts instead of students. Is it any wonder so many have so many problems in life? If you are trained to be a convict, well... breaking the law is what your supposed to do right? I mean is that not what a convict is, someone that was convicted of breaking the law? So that is what many of them are trained for and that is what many of them do. Rather streets gangs, or a few doing drugs, it's the public schools creating most of those problems. That's your socail interaction in many larger areas, even some smaller areas too!
Well, that's my rant. Hopefully the schools your kids go to are better than the average schools, many are better, many are worse. My kid goes to a decent one and the one she did go to was decent also. But teachers are dumb as a rock often.
Oh ya, then you have those that pick favorites, like teachers that love the kids on the ball team and choose them for everything and pick on the ones that are not on the team. Another reason I took my daughter out of the first school this year. Nice lesson to teach kids eh, be meen to the ones not on the team. Discrimination comming from a public school teacher. Let the ball players talk in class all they want and just say be quite once in awhile, assign 500 word report to any student that sneezes and is not on the team. Ya basically, maybe not quite that bad, but that's the way it was in 2 classes for a few students that weren't basketball players. Boys or girls, not a team member not really welcome in class I geuss.
If I had it to do over, my daughter would never have gone to one and she would be designing websites and authoring her own original DVDs right now, instead of me authoring them for her. She is pretty good with the camcorder I gave her, but she does nothing with the footage she tapes
Wish I had a camcorder myself. I gave her my digital camera too, it works better for her than it did for me
