The first pitfall is the best-managed, generally: socialization. A good homeschool group, Scouts, or other extra-curriculars where the focus is on kids working together and getting along together, can overcome this one for most kids, along with some explicit teaching about social skills. Kids need to practise how to approach another kid and ask to play. They need to practise what to say when a kid is mean to them. If they get that training and the chances to practise it, the problem is solved.
The second is harder: how to give kids a well-rounded education, including access to subjects the parents aren't particularly good at, with only a small number of teachers. What if your kid is a gifted musician but neither you nor your spouse can carry a tune in a bucket? How much opportunity will they have to learn a second language if both parents are unilingual? These can be alleviated, and sometimes even overcome, with a good homeschool group and extra-curriculars. All the same, the opportunity to work with someone who is passionate for their subject is a valuable part of being in many different classes over the course of a school career. A side note on this is the problem of religious homeschoolers and science; I wouldn't trust any religious homeschooling group in North America to do a good job of that subject, and it's one I'd want to be certain I'd gotten right.
The third is VERY sticky, because many parents deny that it is a pitfall: special education. If their child turns out to learn differently from how they learned themselves - or from how they were taught - many parents won't know how to move the child ahead. Of course, the school system has plenty of pitfalls of its own in spec. ed., and I've known a few parents who homeschooled their child for a few years to get them ready to enter a higher grade at the right level. I've also known a few kids to come to school after their parents tried homeschooling them, and then discovered that they weren't learning anything, and the parents didn't have the skill to diagnose the problem, nor did they have any strategies for dealing with it. I'd want to be in close contact with a spec. ed. specialist teacher who knew my child and had tested them, before trying to homeschool a spec. ed. child. Really, this is potentially the most serious pitfall. I'm trained to recognize spec. ed. problems, and I have resources for getting kids tested and strategies to put in place while they're on a waiting list. Nine times out of ten, I have a working tentative diagnosis in place within a few weeks of realizing there's a problem. I didn't have those things in my first year of teaching, because I didn't yet have nearly a thousand kids' experiences in my head to draw on and compare against the students in front of me. A parent with no teaching experience may not know what to look for, or be willing to recognize it when they see it.
The fourth is attitudinal, and mar2nee touched on it when she said we're better at diversity if we practise it. How much will a homeschooled child value higher education? How prepared will she be for its structure, after an education that has lacked most of the structure that underpins higher education? How much will she understand the need to value others' opinions, and how well will she work with others on projects that, previously, have been done mostly independently? I'm not sure how this one would be overcome, when the very act of homeschooling suggests that school is of a lesser importance than society usually deems it.
You're right, I need to do a post on this - but I'd want to do more research first. This is a good outline, though.
no subject
The second is harder: how to give kids a well-rounded education, including access to subjects the parents aren't particularly good at, with only a small number of teachers. What if your kid is a gifted musician but neither you nor your spouse can carry a tune in a bucket? How much opportunity will they have to learn a second language if both parents are unilingual? These can be alleviated, and sometimes even overcome, with a good homeschool group and extra-curriculars. All the same, the opportunity to work with someone who is passionate for their subject is a valuable part of being in many different classes over the course of a school career. A side note on this is the problem of religious homeschoolers and science; I wouldn't trust any religious homeschooling group in North America to do a good job of that subject, and it's one I'd want to be certain I'd gotten right.
The third is VERY sticky, because many parents deny that it is a pitfall: special education. If their child turns out to learn differently from how they learned themselves - or from how they were taught - many parents won't know how to move the child ahead. Of course, the school system has plenty of pitfalls of its own in spec. ed., and I've known a few parents who homeschooled their child for a few years to get them ready to enter a higher grade at the right level. I've also known a few kids to come to school after their parents tried homeschooling them, and then discovered that they weren't learning anything, and the parents didn't have the skill to diagnose the problem, nor did they have any strategies for dealing with it. I'd want to be in close contact with a spec. ed. specialist teacher who knew my child and had tested them, before trying to homeschool a spec. ed. child. Really, this is potentially the most serious pitfall. I'm trained to recognize spec. ed. problems, and I have resources for getting kids tested and strategies to put in place while they're on a waiting list. Nine times out of ten, I have a working tentative diagnosis in place within a few weeks of realizing there's a problem. I didn't have those things in my first year of teaching, because I didn't yet have nearly a thousand kids' experiences in my head to draw on and compare against the students in front of me. A parent with no teaching experience may not know what to look for, or be willing to recognize it when they see it.
The fourth is attitudinal, and
You're right, I need to do a post on this - but I'd want to do more research first. This is a good outline, though.