Many people dissatisfied with the public school system are actively seeking alternatives to public education. In the past, the only alternatives to public school were parochial or private schools or privately hired tutors. Not everyone could afford these alternatives. Over the past 20 years, another alternative to public school education has come into being, namely home schooling. This paper provides an overview of home schooling and describes a survey of home schooling parents. The overview discusses the reasons parents home school, the curriculum, socialization issues, support groups, legal issues and requirements, and advantages and disadvantages of schooling at home. A survey of 12 home schooling parents from the Bronx (New York) and Manhattan (New York) showed that most had been home schooling for over 5 years and all had a college education. Reasons for home schooling included religion, opportunity for individualization, and ability to monitor closely children's learning and personal relationships. All chose their own curriculum, and most were not concerned with lack of socialization, believing that socialization at public schools is negative and preferring to provide other social opportunities for their children, such as community group involvement. All parents found home schooling to be a tremendous amount of work, and all used a local support group. On the whole, parents agreed that their children's reactions to home schooling were positive and appreciative. (Contains 11 references.) (EV)