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As someone who was homeschooled all the way through high school and am now working on my PhD in aerospace engineering, keep up the good work. My bit of advice

As someone who was homeschooled all the way through high school and am now working on my PhD in aerospace engineering, keep up the good work. My bit of advice would be to join an active homeschooling group (if you're not part of one already). Not only will your kids have a (relatively) healthy social life, but they'll meet some really interesting people. I had (and still have) friends whose interests ranged from writing operas to fellow hackers. Most of my public school friends seemed boring in comparison.

eru 17y ago
Thanks for talking about homeschooling groups. I am from Germany, where homeschooling is more or less verboten. Homeschooling seems like a good idea. But I always wondered where children would get their social life from, when most of their peers are locked away for at least half of the day.
- bmj 17y ago
  There is an assumption that all home schoolers keep their kids locked up all day away from other kids, or that home schooling requires this. Hardly. Many of the stereotypical home school kids (socially awkward) are that way because their parents purposefully shelter them. For them, home schooling is as much opting out of the culture as it is opting out of the school system. There's also an assumption that typical schooling is, in part, socialization, which seems odd since most of us don't spend our days exclusively around our own peer group. We've investigated several local home schooling groups, and we're also finding that many unofficial co-ops exists too, once you get plugged into the local learning web.
  - tokenadult 17y ago
    There is an assumption that all home schoolers keep their kids locked up all day away from other kids, or that home schooling requires this. Yes, that is the assumption, but that is not at all the reality. We have a very strong local group here specializing in homeschooling "gifted" children (standard term, not meant to be a brag) that is helpful for all the parents and for most of the children. I'm also part of several national online networks related to various aspects of homeschooling, and have been an officer of statewide homeschooling organizations.
    - eru 17y ago
      I would not assume that home schoolers lock their kids up. Rather that the other kids are locked up in school. So homeschooled kids may have less opportunity to socializing with "school-aged" peers --- unless there are other homeschoolers around.

eru 17y ago

Thanks for talking about homeschooling groups. I am from Germany, where homeschooling is more or less verboten. Homeschooling seems like a good idea. But I always wondered where children would get their social life from, when most of their peers are locked away for at least half of the day.

bmj 17y ago
There is an assumption that all home schoolers keep their kids locked up all day away from other kids, or that home schooling requires this. Hardly. Many of the stereotypical home school kids (socially awkward) are that way because their parents purposefully shelter them. For them, home schooling is as much opting out of the culture as it is opting out of the school system. There's also an assumption that typical schooling is, in part, socialization, which seems odd since most of us don't spend our days exclusively around our own peer group. We've investigated several local home schooling groups, and we're also finding that many unofficial co-ops exists too, once you get plugged into the local learning web.
- tokenadult 17y ago
  There is an assumption that all home schoolers keep their kids locked up all day away from other kids, or that home schooling requires this. Yes, that is the assumption, but that is not at all the reality. We have a very strong local group here specializing in homeschooling "gifted" children (standard term, not meant to be a brag) that is helpful for all the parents and for most of the children. I'm also part of several national online networks related to various aspects of homeschooling, and have been an officer of statewide homeschooling organizations.
  - eru 17y ago
    I would not assume that home schoolers lock their kids up. Rather that the other kids are locked up in school. So homeschooled kids may have less opportunity to socializing with "school-aged" peers --- unless there are other homeschoolers around.