Our 6th grader doesn't even know what the Civil War was!!!!  

I noticed this a LONG time ago. I finally got frusterated when our youngest was in around 5th grade and I pulled them all out of public school and homeschooled them. I got tired of arguing with teachers and administrators about what they were teaching and why my children didn't know this or couldn't do that. So out they came and we've never looked back.

College's are actually more likely to take a well educated homeschooled child by the way. You can google information on this. The reason being that a homeschooled child is usually more self driven to get work done and more accustomed to not having someone looking over their shoulder or holding their hands to get work completed. It seems parents who homeschool are more interested in making sure their child actually LEARNS rather than just memorizing and preparing for standardized tests, which are only to get schools more funding anyway.

Had it been left up to my childrens' schools, they wouldn't have known, either. Fortunately, I love learning about history, especially the Civil War, so my 6th grader has entered into this subject eager to learn more. That is what she is now studying. I did go through the unit in her book that talks about this, and was not impressed in the least. There is so much more to the war than what they put in the stinking textbooks. I can remember back when I was learning about it and we actually studied the battles and such. We watched "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in 6th grade. Then in the 8th, we made replicas of certain battles. Mine was the Battle of Antietam".
On with the subject of what the puclic school system teaches, we watch many informative shows on various subjects with our children, so they get a more indepth look into areas such as science, history, and government. I thouroughly enjoy reading and writing, so this is something I have worked with them on since they were tiny. We encourage them to do their absolute best in all areas, and look deeper into subjects than what the schools are willing to teach.
It is rather frustrating to think that with all the money we put into the schools, they can't do what they are paid to do and teach our children. If I could, I would homeschool. It would definately save me all the disagreements I have each year with the teachers and other school officials. Not to mention, it would curb some of the attitude that they pick up on from all the other kids at school.

I totally agree with all of you guys, I think that school stresses so much the kids, that they can't even remember what they have learned. There is so much pressure, and school also creates a distance between the kids and their parents. It creates problems like drinking and smoking and kids stop talking to their parents. So the parents don't know what's going wrong with their child