Most homeschoolers do end up in a classroom at some point. I was completely homeschooled until I went to college, but then at college, I was in regular classes with varying teachers, and I did fine (same goes for my siblings). I was able to relate well to both my classmates and professors without having had prior classroom experience.

That’s funny that you mentioned about relating to adults because one of the most common comments I got from people as a teenager was that they were surprised at how well I could relate to adults. Anecdotally, it seems to be common for homeschoolers to end up spending more time around adults than regular schoolers, although of course there are exceptions.

I hope that didn’t sound defensive. I just wanted to point out that it’s not always necessary to attend public school in order to learn how to relate to adults, to stick up for yourself, and so on.

Anyways, people and families vary, and I’m glad you’ve found something that serves your children well. And I think it’s great that you were able to help your kids with learning disabilities!

I know there isn’t a one size fits all approach and perhaps my background as an educator means that I place a greater value in what different teachers can contribute to a child’s life, but I do think that schooling does provide children with tools that help them thrive as adults. That being said there are lots of alternatives like home school co-ops that address the same issues.

As for socialization of homeschoolers, in our house at the moment this comes only through play dates and hanging out at the park. Our son has taken 3 week long day camps over the course of the summer, but we don’t sign him up for any other activities. He is an extreme homebody and needs a TON of downtime to process life. When he was involved in school and other activities, he was stressed beyond belief and it had a serious impact on his health. So we backed off. I’d be open to him having music lessons at some point in the future, but soccer (for example) or something with multiple meetings/practices per week would be way too much for all of us. I don’t want to lose that wonderful time we have each evening for a family dinner and hanging out together. As Jinger pointed out, each family and kid is different and you have to go with what they need. I know plenty of kids who are bored if they are left at home for 15 minutes. My son would go days without leaving the house, if we would let him. (It’s very frugal !)
Sorry to be so long-winded, but I have to share this story: when my sister was 11 or so, my mom forgot to pick her up from band practice and she stood outside in the cold until my mom got home, saw no kid there, and raced back to the school. (This was in the Dark Ages, before cell phones.) Suffice to say, my sister never missed a pick-up of her own kids at their activities!

Another trick I used to use in my old apartment (oven light didn’t work) was to put a pan of very hot water in the bottom of the oven under the rising bread. That provided a pretty good heat source, too.

Although my siblings and I attended daycare, preschool, and public school (neither parent was cut out to do the stay-at-home thing, despite several experimental periods), we were limited to one or two activities outside of school, usually sports, and my dad was frequently a coach or active participant. We spent a lot of time at home with our parents, sans TV, video games, etc. We had sit-down dinners together every night, even with two working parents, and it was wonderful. Those conversations sustained me through four straight years of no friends at school (5th, 6th, 7th, 8th grades).

Lots of time with family is definitely important. I personally have observed that my friends who spent a lot of time with their families (provided the parents had a decent relationship with each other) tend to make for the most balanced adults. No “enrichment” program can take the place of a good, solid parent-child relationship.

Thanks for the reply! Families are so different! I could never keep my kids at home. I raised 2 children and then my granddaughter who was and still is a very active person. She thrived on dance lessons, gymnastics, and later soccer, ending up on a tournament team in adolescence. Now as a college student, her major is dance. This summer, she spent 12 weeks learning aerial dance! She was literally swinging from the rafters in our house as a child and needed constant activity to release her energy.