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As someone who went to college early (some community college classes at 14, then university at 16), and was partially homeschooled (freshman-junior year), I wou

As someone who went to college early (some community college classes at 14, then university at 16), and was partially homeschooled (freshman-junior year), I wouldn't recommend this. Socializing is huge. I really cannot emphasize enough how important it is, especially for younger kids. If you're really smart or gifted in a subject, there are multiple other avenues to take that still let you hang out with peers around your age.

lordnacho 7y ago
I'm not sure anything is stopping him from going back to normal school to socialize while studying the non-STEM subjects that everyone needs to do anyway? He could hang out with friends while doing that.
- pyrale 7y ago
  In order to get such early academic performance, the child has probably been trained very hard into enjoying corpus learning. This makes it less likely for them to enjoy moving to a place where this topic is nonexistent. Or, to say it in ML terms, it would be very surprising for this child to be trained so fast without overfitting.
javagram 7y ago
Sports or clubs (Scouts, etc) are a better way to hang around with peer kids than school classes, IMO. I transitioned from homeschool to public school at one point during my childhood and I think I was actually much more socialized in homeschool where I was in sports, Scouts, intentional play dates, etc. that my parents were doing to avoid the socialization problem. Whereas once you’re put in public school it’s simply assumed you will be somehow “socialized” (in reality socialization in school often takes the form of bullying, especially if you’re clearly different from peers in some way like intelligence, or you can end up just not having friends)
- ianmobbs 7y ago
  This seems like a very personal take. Most kids I knew in school were also involved with sports and clubs, it wasn't just assumed they'd get enough socialization in school. I also doubt that socialization "often" takes the form of bullying, and while there's no doubt that bullying is a problem, it's certainly not the primary experience most people have in school.
  - em-bee 7y ago
    but that's the point. if we don't assume that school provides enough socialization, then why bother with it. comparing the parent comments experience with my own and what my kids in school are now going through, it seems that this would be preferable over traditional schooling.
  - javagram 7y ago
    Yes, it is a personal take based on my own experience, however, when considering the case of a 9 year old who is able to graduate from a college education, that seems a pretty unique case and maybe their situation should also be demanding of a personal/unique path rather than simply following the factory schooling approach designed for the average student on the basis of “socialization”. Parents should definitely take socialization into account for such a student, but I don’t think putting them into a standard school academic track is the only way to achieve such socialization.
Skunkleton 7y ago
I went the same route. I can confirm that it caused lasting social issues that I wasn't able to correct until my late 20s.
- Wintereise 7y ago
  Same. My experience mirrors yours and OP's. Socializing in your formative years is MASSIVE.
AstroJetson 7y ago
I get a lot of super smart roboteers on my robotics teams. They get a chance to socialize with others. Because we compete they get a chance to meet other teams roboteers. So there is lots of ways to meet others. There are posts about home school students, some of the teams meet at the local library (not just books!) and that also helps
arbitrary_name 7y ago
I started college at 16 and skipped my final year of highschool. Totally helped me socialize - first year uni students cared less about who I hung out with, and more about who I was. I was able to reset and engage with people in the way I wanted to. I was also able to accelerate my pathway to meeting attractive and mature young women, since I went to an all boys high school.
- cannabis_sam 7y ago
  I feel like I did the opposite.. not that I’m a genius or anything, but it was kinda hard to start uni, since I had spent way much time calibrating my behavior to be accepted by my high school peers (or the equivalent, this is in Europe) Still trying to shake of the horrible socialization that is the result of accepting that the people who are left behind by the education system act out in violent ways.
paulpauper 7y ago
So tired of people perpetuating this "kids need to go to school to become socialized" myth. Socialization is about being with people who have similar interests and you enjoy being around. This does not require a school setting.
- jader201 7y ago
  Not sure how easy it is for children to organically socialize outside of a school setting, especially in today’s digital age where socializing is becoming an even rarer occasion as it is, and socializing outside of school almost necessitates very intentional effort on multiple parties. Not saying it’s not possible, but a school setting is definitely one very easy organic path to socializing children.
  - JCharante 7y ago
    I would like to quote Aaron Swartz here on the subject of unschooling: But won't my child become a unsocial hermit?! Interestingly, I've heard people dislike unschooling not because they are afraid that their children will not learn anything, but because they are afraid they will not develop "healthy social relationships with their peers". Nothing could be farther from the truth. First, school is not a place to develop social relationships. In fact, it seems designed to stifle them. There is hardly little time for socialization provided, and it is discouraged for the majority of the school day. Any student who does develop a true relationship with someone does it outside of school: at a local meeting place (like a park or mall); when going over to a friend's house; or after school. An unschooler can still do all of these things. Second, who decided that meaningful relationships could only be had with other people who happen to be in roughly the same physical area at roughly the same age? If anything, this is a severely restrained peer group. I have developed my most meaningful relationships online. None of them live within driving distance. None of them are about my own age. Even among those who I would not count as "friends", I have met many people online who have simply commented on my work or are interested by what I do. Through the Internet, I've developed a strong social network -- something I could never do if I had to keep my choice of peers within school grounds. https://web.archive.org/web/20101219193753/http://www.aaronsw.com/school/2001/04/05/ https://web.archive.org/web/20101219193753/http://www.aarons...
tziki 7y ago
At the same a lot of the kind of socialization you get forced to do at school is irrelevant in life. The minimum level of decency at an average workplace is much higher than at an average school and bullying much less common and you get to avoid most of the socially complicated situations school 'trains' you for. Obviously there are a lot of benefits from socializing at school but there's really a lot you can do without. It would be much more beneficial to get kids to socialize in an environment where beating someone up actually ends up in the court.

lordnacho 7y ago

I'm not sure anything is stopping him from going back to normal school to socialize while studying the non-STEM subjects that everyone needs to do anyway? He could hang out with friends while doing that.

pyrale 7y ago
In order to get such early academic performance, the child has probably been trained very hard into enjoying corpus learning. This makes it less likely for them to enjoy moving to a place where this topic is nonexistent. Or, to say it in ML terms, it would be very surprising for this child to be trained so fast without overfitting.

javagram 7y ago

Sports or clubs (Scouts, etc) are a better way to hang around with peer kids than school classes, IMO. I transitioned from homeschool to public school at one point during my childhood and I think I was actually much more socialized in homeschool where I was in sports, Scouts, intentional play dates, etc. that my parents were doing to avoid the socialization problem. Whereas once you’re put in public school it’s simply assumed you will be somehow “socialized” (in reality socialization in school often takes the form of bullying, especially if you’re clearly different from peers in some way like intelligence, or you can end up just not having friends)

ianmobbs 7y ago
This seems like a very personal take. Most kids I knew in school were also involved with sports and clubs, it wasn't just assumed they'd get enough socialization in school. I also doubt that socialization "often" takes the form of bullying, and while there's no doubt that bullying is a problem, it's certainly not the primary experience most people have in school.
- em-bee 7y ago
  but that's the point. if we don't assume that school provides enough socialization, then why bother with it. comparing the parent comments experience with my own and what my kids in school are now going through, it seems that this would be preferable over traditional schooling.
- javagram 7y ago
  Yes, it is a personal take based on my own experience, however, when considering the case of a 9 year old who is able to graduate from a college education, that seems a pretty unique case and maybe their situation should also be demanding of a personal/unique path rather than simply following the factory schooling approach designed for the average student on the basis of “socialization”. Parents should definitely take socialization into account for such a student, but I don’t think putting them into a standard school academic track is the only way to achieve such socialization.

Skunkleton 7y ago

I went the same route. I can confirm that it caused lasting social issues that I wasn't able to correct until my late 20s.

Wintereise 7y ago
Same. My experience mirrors yours and OP's. Socializing in your formative years is MASSIVE.

AstroJetson 7y ago

I get a lot of super smart roboteers on my robotics teams. They get a chance to socialize with others. Because we compete they get a chance to meet other teams roboteers. So there is lots of ways to meet others. There are posts about home school students, some of the teams meet at the local library (not just books!) and that also helps

arbitrary_name 7y ago

I started college at 16 and skipped my final year of highschool. Totally helped me socialize - first year uni students cared less about who I hung out with, and more about who I was. I was able to reset and engage with people in the way I wanted to. I was also able to accelerate my pathway to meeting attractive and mature young women, since I went to an all boys high school.

cannabis_sam 7y ago
I feel like I did the opposite.. not that I’m a genius or anything, but it was kinda hard to start uni, since I had spent way much time calibrating my behavior to be accepted by my high school peers (or the equivalent, this is in Europe) Still trying to shake of the horrible socialization that is the result of accepting that the people who are left behind by the education system act out in violent ways.

paulpauper 7y ago

So tired of people perpetuating this "kids need to go to school to become socialized" myth. Socialization is about being with people who have similar interests and you enjoy being around. This does not require a school setting.

jader201 7y ago
Not sure how easy it is for children to organically socialize outside of a school setting, especially in today’s digital age where socializing is becoming an even rarer occasion as it is, and socializing outside of school almost necessitates very intentional effort on multiple parties. Not saying it’s not possible, but a school setting is definitely one very easy organic path to socializing children.
- JCharante 7y ago
  I would like to quote Aaron Swartz here on the subject of unschooling: But won't my child become a unsocial hermit?! Interestingly, I've heard people dislike unschooling not because they are afraid that their children will not learn anything, but because they are afraid they will not develop "healthy social relationships with their peers". Nothing could be farther from the truth. First, school is not a place to develop social relationships. In fact, it seems designed to stifle them. There is hardly little time for socialization provided, and it is discouraged for the majority of the school day. Any student who does develop a true relationship with someone does it outside of school: at a local meeting place (like a park or mall); when going over to a friend's house; or after school. An unschooler can still do all of these things. Second, who decided that meaningful relationships could only be had with other people who happen to be in roughly the same physical area at roughly the same age? If anything, this is a severely restrained peer group. I have developed my most meaningful relationships online. None of them live within driving distance. None of them are about my own age. Even among those who I would not count as "friends", I have met many people online who have simply commented on my work or are interested by what I do. Through the Internet, I've developed a strong social network -- something I could never do if I had to keep my choice of peers within school grounds. https://web.archive.org/web/20101219193753/http://www.aaronsw.com/school/2001/04/05/ https://web.archive.org/web/20101219193753/http://www.aarons...

tziki 7y ago

At the same a lot of the kind of socialization you get forced to do at school is irrelevant in life. The minimum level of decency at an average workplace is much higher than at an average school and bullying much less common and you get to avoid most of the socially complicated situations school 'trains' you for. Obviously there are a lot of benefits from socializing at school but there's really a lot you can do without. It would be much more beneficial to get kids to socialize in an environment where beating someone up actually ends up in the court.