[aruanan]

From the report:

The question HSLDA regularly puts before state legislatures is, “If government regulation does not improve the results of homeschoolers why is it necessary?”

A better question would be, "Since homeschooling consistently outperforms public schools in all areas of the curriculum, when will the government start to implement in public schools what homeschooling has already demonstrated to work well?"

[achilles2000]

“...when will the government start to implement in public schools what homeschooling has already demonstrated to work well?”

This really wouldn’t close the gap. You are right that if the schools used phonics and correct approaches to teaching math that the gaps would not be so large, but they would still be very significant. The reason is that teaching in schools is structured on a factory model. Homeschooling is a tutorial model. Even under the best conditions, government schooled children would not be able to catch up because the homeschooled children get far more individualized attention (including customized curriculum) from the people who love and know them best.