I have never tried to homeschool due to lack of time and also, I am unqualified (even to teach 1st grade) and believe I would be doing a disservice to my kids when most public school teachers are very good at what they do.
In addition, I always wanted my kids to be socialized with the general public for HS, college and future job reasons.
There are a few families around me who homeschool their kids and for the most part, they don’t even allow them to dress like “mainstream” kids and their kids can only play/study with other homeschoolers. IMO, these parents’ cloistering of their kids is NOT doing them any favors as the world is NOT ANYTHING like the insular world they are creating for their kids. Kids need to grow up knowing how to take care of themselves in (case of an attempted abduction) and also other things:
-strangers who strike up a conversation with you are not your friends;
-just because someone is an adult doesn’t mean they’re telling the truth or telling you the right thing to do;
-it’s okay to scream, kick and run if you feel you are in danger;
-it’s okay to hit another kid who attacked you first;
-you are just as good as all the other kids in school, so hold your head up;
-call a spade a spade when you hear untrue gossip about yourself or your friend(s);
-your coworkers will not always have the best intentions in regards to you;
-in business and government, the vast majority of employees are only out for themselves;
ETC.
Public HS and/or college is a “culture shock” for homeschooled kids and I would surmise that many drop out due to not feeling like they “fit in.”
I know not ALL homeschooling parents cloister their kids in this way or make them dress like a pilgrim (I feel SO sorry for these kids) but being a kid today is hard enough. Why not let them blend into their environment and open up a myspace acct to hang AT HOME with talking with their 371 “friends?” As long as their homework’s done and their grades are good, this is preferable than spending too much time at other students’ homes after school when no parents are present.
How else are these kids going to learn to conduct themselves online? Do these parents think the internet will “go away” when their kid leaves their (heavily-filtered) home to attend college and ends up in an off-campus wifi coffee shop or some other student’s apt with his/her laptop??
IMHO, it’s the cloistered and/or unsocialized 13 yo girl with (understandable) self-esteem issues who hooks up with a 50+ yo man online and ends up in another state (or MX) with him (behind her parent’s back). It’s the rural, unsocialized homeschooled-for-life boy who ends up as part of a satanic cult which started in one of his “homeschool-buddy’s” basement who is now stealing neighbor’s pets for the cult to “sacrifice.”
Call me jaded but I say shine the daylight on these kids to they can learn to make good decisions early on, cuz we can’t hold their hand for life.
[end of rant]
