I know someone who homeschools. Their kid knew all the dinosaurs when he was 3 but is now 5 and doesn’t know how to play with others. Our kids (now 6) basically avoid him because he has no concept of dealing with other kids unless his dad is there, hovering over him, ready to take him away screaming when he doesn’t get his way.
Now, I’m sure there are things a homeschooler can do to improve social interaction, but I see lack of social training as the biggest downside of homeschooling. Also, they need to learn how to deal with adults other than their parents. I’m all for getting kids out there, learning how to deal with life w/o their parents – exactly what homeschool isn’t.
As a recovering nerd myself, I would be worried about a 9-year old doing algebra and playing music not getting enough social education in a homeschool environment. It’s a bit overdramatic to say “someday, he may perform in a great symphony, and look out into the audience to find you are the only friends who have come to see him” but I worry about it.
HS – I’m only saying this for you to ponder – I certianly don’t know enough about your situation to make any kind of assertion for you personally an don’t pretend to.
Great post, Temecula Guy. Just reading your post probably brought his blood-pressure down a bit.
In other school-related topics on this forum, someone mentioned that the great school districts in SD do a very good job with special needs kids.
On the flipside, if he wants to continue homeschooling and still downsize, finding a nice house in a “bad” school district is an interesting plan. I’m not sure the “markup” is enough to allow him to scale back enough, though so a 20 or 30-year loan may be the ticket, and ugh- the thought of moving while homeschooling and working 90 hour weeks is awful. I think you have to stay in that house and refi.
Really – if you scale back your income, what is the difference between having a nice house that is not paid off or a lesser house that is paid off? Either way, you own less house. Your net worth is the same.
Also – maybe a job change (is there such a thing as contract work in the med industry?) would get you more money per hour ?
