Last week on The Brood, we brought you an investigative story about the Home School Legal Defense Association (or HSLDA), a small but powerful advocacy group that's been fighting against regulations for homeschools. 

The group's practices have raised serious concerns— that the lack of regulations can hide abuse or cases where kids aren't being taught at all. But some homeschool advocates say that more regulations aren't the answer.

So why do parents choose to homeschool their kids?

The reasons can vary widely. Parents may be looking for a more rigorous curriculum for their kids, a slower pace for a child with developmental disabilities, or (especially here in Southern California) a less rigid schedule for a child actor.

Pam Sorooshian, homeschooling advocate and member of the Board of Directors of the HomeSchool Association of California, says "there are as many different types of homeschooling as there are children because really the whole point is that it's idiosyncratic."

In some families, homeschooling may mean that kids sit around the table and mom or dad is the teacher.

"In my family," Sorooshian says, "it was much more relaxed than that. It wasn't an academic kind of approach, it was much more parents being facilitators of setting an environment up where children could really explore and discover and learn. We supported the kinds of interests they had." 

Families who pursue homeschooling or even just consider it, Sorooshian says, really don't fit one particular description.

"It's very different for every family," Sorooshian says. "That is the amazing thing about homeschooling is that you individualize it for each family, each child, and it changes over time."

To hear the full interview with Pam Sorooshian, click the link above.