The deal is, homeschoolers spend less time with a whole bunch of kids who are their age and live in the same school zoning area. If that's how you define socialization, then homeschoolers lose out. However, homeschoolers spend a lot MORE time out in society meeting and interacting with a wider variety of people. So if that's how you define socialization, then homeschoolers come out on top. I prefer the latter, but I was homeschooled so I suppose I'm biased. When I was in junior high I was just as likely to spend my evening taking a walk with my next-door neighbor who had grandkids my age as I was to call up a friend to play (besides, my friends were all stuck doing homework). My neighbor down the street who was a contractor taught me to roller blade. Another neighbor taught me about gardening, and I took care of her plants whenever she went out of town. Another tutored me in Latin in exchange for my help around the house (she was handicapped). Another was from Saudi Arabia and showed me a lot of her photo albums from growing up there. When I did go to public school (10th-12th grades) I was never one of the cool kids, but I had friends and did well enough. Got weird looks because I spent a lot of time talking to the librarian, the lunch lady, the maintenance crew and the bus driver.Purplehood wrote:My ASSUMPTION is that homeschooled kids do not gain the same degree of social interaction and exposure that a kid going to public school would. That is my OPINION. I may be misguided and someday my opinion may change, but after sending a total of 5 kids through the public school system I still feel that they receive the better end of the bargain.
I hear you on the taxes, though. A friend who was a teacher just posted an article on Facebook complaining about school funding being at a low with only something like $9k per student. I can't even imagine what I could do with that kind of money if the state would kindly grant it to my student too. I've bought all my books and materials for this year (and some for next year when I saw good deals) and I'm only at a few hundred dollars.
Truthfully, I think any child whose parents are involved in his or her life is going to turn out ok. I know plenty of people who turned out just fine through public school. It's just not a route I'm willing to take with my kids.