What works for your family might not work for others. God bless.

To all those mothers who "can't homeschool" (a malady which is nebulous, seldom adequately explained, and usually self-diagnosed)

? what ?  So mothers who don't homeschool have to explain why they don't or can't?  Why does it matter, as long as the children receive a catholic education?  Homeschooling has its pros/cons. 

? what ?  So mothers who don't homeschool have to explain why they don't or can't?  Why does it matter, as long as the children receive a catholic education?  Homeschooling has its pros/cons.

1. Because the proper education of one's children, including intellectual and spiritual formation, is PRIMARILY the responsibility of the parents. Baby Boomers and successive generations delegating this duty en masse to Government public schools doesn't change this fact.

2. Strictly speaking it doesn't matter as long as the children are receiving a Catholic formation. But many "I can't homeschool" moms are also "I can't afford private school" moms, and hence they send their children to government indoctrination camps public schools.

3. If a family happens to live close to one of the many SSPX private schools (for example), that's fine I guess, but my question remains: what do these moms (who avail themselves of private or public schools) do with all their resulting free time and/or money? They must have a ton of time to spend (or waste!) because I know for a fact how much time home schooling takes.

Any USA catholic who sends their kids to public schools in this day and age, isn’t catholic and certainty isn’t a trad.  Assuming we are comparing homeschool vs private sspx/trad school then...

As far as money goes it’s probably cheaper to homeschool so those that don’t, aren’t saving $ by paying for an sspx/private school.  But...some private schools are free (or tuition is provided by donors) so that’s a factor. 

It also probably takes less time to homeschool than regular school, if you factor into commute times, homework time after school and all the other wasted time that a child spends on activities which a homeschool can’t provide (school plays, field trips, etc).  

It’s much more efficient to homeschool, and pick up teaching where you left off the previous day when you can adjust teaching to one student vs 10 or 20.  

So, obviously, if parents aren’t saving time or money by sending their children to private schools, why are they doing it?  Because either 1) the mother doesn’t have the confidence or patience to teach, 2) the mother isn’t intellectually inclined enough, 3) the mother isn’t organized enough, 4) don’t know enough about homeschooling or how it works.  5) Don’t have a network of support in the homeschooling community.

Homeschooling is like running a business.  Gotta be organized, disciplined and able to solve problems on your own.  And MOTIVATED EVERY DAY.  Not everyone can do it, even if they want to.  Not everyone has the personality.  

Even 100s years ago, when private schools weren’t as available, homeschooling was rare.  Most kids who grew up on farms had minimal schooling.  Even if the town had a schoolhouse, kids had a few years to learn the basics, at most.  Homeschooling as it is now, especially with the breakdown of the nuclear family and with couples not having the advantage of living close to relatives, is a luxury because it falls on one person, the mother, to make it work.  

this is true, Pax.  AZ is the most lenient of all states.  A family from Germany came to AZ to homeschool some years ago.  We did and Thank God we could do it.  Some homeschool programs are made/set-up in such a way that a parent can work part-time.

Also we knew of a family where both worked in the hospital.  They homeschooled their children around the clock and year round.  It was not unusual for a parent to come home at 10 pm, homeschool and then go to bed by midnight.

Any USA catholic who sends their kids to public schools in this day and age, isn’t catholic and certainty isn’t a trad.

Catholics are sinners. Nobody is not a Catholic just because he or she is a sinner. Only exceptions: The sin is apostasy, heresy, or schism.

Redefining what a Catholic is, you are a heretic.

I suggest you look up the dogma in the decrees of the Council of Trent which condemns you as an exercise of expiation, and then repent.


Besides:
1.) Who are you to define whether it is a sin or not to send kids to public schools in the U.S. these days?
2.) Parents have a god-given natural right to care for their children in the way they judge appropriate.

1.) Who are you to define whether it is a sin or not to send kids to public schools in the U.S. these days?
2.) Parents have a god-given natural right to care for their children in the way they judge appropriate.

The Church cannot approve schools which exclude religion from the curriculum, both because religion is the most important subject in education, and because she contends that even secular education is not possible in its best form unless religion be made the central, vitalizing, and co-ordinating factor in the life of the child. The Church, sometimes, tolerates schools in which religion is not taught, and permits Catholic children to attend them, when the circuмstances are such as to leave no alternative, and when due precautions are taken to supply by other means the religious training which such schools do not give. She reserves the right to judge whether this be the case, and, if her judgment is unfavourable, claims the right to forbid attendance"
--(Letter of Gregory XVI to Irish Bishops, 1831).


•"…Those parents who allow their children to frequent schools where it is impossible to avoid the loss of souls… according to Catholic moral teaching, such parents, should they persist in their attitude, cannot receive absolution in the Sacrament of Penance."
--Instructions Of The Holy Office To The Bishops Of The U.S., Pope Pius IX, 1875


•“It is, then, incuмbent on parents to strain every nerve to ward off such an outrage, and to strive manfully to have and to hold exclusive authority to direct the education of their offspring, as is fitting, in a Christian manner, and first and foremost to keep them away from schools where there is risk of their drinking in the poison of impiety”
--Sapientiae Christianae, Pope Leo XIII, 1890 Pope


•“First, Catholics should not choose mixed schools but have their own schools especially for children. They should choose excellent and reputable teachers for them. For an education in which religion is altered or non-existent is a very dangerous education”
--Militantis Ecclesiae, Pope Leo XIII, 1897

•“Obviously the need of this Christian instruction is accentuated by the decline of our times and morals. It is even more demanded by the existence of those public schools, lacking all religion, where everything holy is ridiculed and scorned. There both teachers’ lips and students’ ears are inclined to godlessness. We are referring to those schools which are unjustly called neutral or lay. In reality, they are nothing more than the stronghold of the powers of darkness.”
--Editae Saepe,** Pope St. Pius X, **1910

•"Duty of Attending Only Catholic Schools.
Catholic children may not attend non-Catholic, neutral, or mixed-schools, that is, those which are open also to non-Catholics, and it pertains exclusively to the Ordinary of the place to decide, in accordance with instructions of the Holy See, under what circuмstances and with what precautions against the danger of perversion, attendance at such schools may be tolerated.
--1917 code of Canon Law(Canon 1374)