(Full disclosure: I have no children... I am preparing for when I do)
I'll answer some of these questions based on how I plan to do things, and what my interviews of homeschool parents/children have shown me.
1) What would happen if they had any questions that you couldn't answer?
You can help them research the answer. If you mean to ask how you would teach a subject that you know nothing about, you can either learn it then teach it, learn it together, or find someone else to teach it (much like most kids piano lessons). One of the interesting things is that many of the more difficult home subjects such as chemistry can be done at local community colleges. The community college near my house has a speciffic chem class for homeschool kids. If they don't have a speciffic class for homeschoolers, you can often enroll them in the "actual college class" instead.
2) Would study be structured like school with similar hours?
For me, absolutely not. In a "normal school", the kids spend very little time learning anyway. I will have about 5-10 hours of "classwork" per week (all year round). The rest of the time, my children will be learning in the real world. Learning about fish? Why crack a textbook? Go to a local aquarium, the local fish and game comission, etc. Or even get a fish tank, or go scuba diving, or ...
3) Personally I think a lot is gained by interaction with other children but as helps with social skills rather than being (mostly) confined to the family unit.
Boy Scouts, volunteer work, neighbors, local park/pool, etc. When people ask me "but how will your children have any friends if they don't go to school?" I generally respond, "So, your children have no friends in the summer time?"
4) Why do you consider home schooling so important?
I can teach my child each subject as fast as they can learn it, using the method that they best learn with, with as little frustration as possible. I can teach my child all of the important stuff in life along the way.
I plan on teaching my child with life experiences. (note: I plan to be retired and independantly wealthy before my kids turn 6. The way things are going now, I'll likely be there around the time that they are born)
Examples:
A) Want to learn German? Cool. Let's learn German for the next 6 months or whatever, and start to study German history, economy, government, etc. Think you learned German well? Ok, let's take a two-six week trip to Germany and find out... And while we're at it, we'll tour some of the castles, rivers, towns, etc. that they read about the previous six months.
B) Want to study the civil war? Ok, study two key battles. Got it down? Good. Let's go on vacation to the first battle site, and you can tell me all about it. Then go to the second. Still interested? Ok, more battles, generals, home lifestyle, etc.
I will also socialize my children via the parties that I have at the house all the time. And before you go off on me about drunken debauchery and loud music, they are social events more than "parties". I generally have 1-4 families over for some kind of dinner. The adults range from about my age (30) to in their 70's. The children that come with them range from pregnant women to 14. (the ones older than that don't come because they don't want to hang out with their parents) And I have some larger parties (the one next weekend is past/present co-workers, and so far I have had 50+ adults and 20+ kids RSVP).
There will be plenty of social opportunities for my children... much more so than public school kids get.
--Doku
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