Well, not sure where to start here...
We've been homeschooling since we took our oldest daughter out of school in first grade. My youngest two kids have never been in school. We have LOTS of friends who homeschool. We started homeschooling because we wanted our happy, eager-to-learn, healthy daughter back. We have kept at it for more than 8 years because it has been so great for our kids and for us as a family. One of the big reasons that we have kept homeschooling is socialization.
We didn't want our kids learning socialization skills from similarly socially unskilled age mates. As someone once said, letting children socialize themselves produces results that tend toward The Lord of the Flies. From what I've seen from groups of children in social situation, this observation is particularly apt.
My kids are bright, extremely well informed, read voraciously and are very comfortable in social situations. My oldest daughter's riding instructor regularly calls her to help on days when they have school groups visiting the stable because she is good with horses and "comfortable with all age groups". My son is a leader (was awarded Student of the Year last year) in his Karate Club (a regional group). My middle daughter is noted for being very good with smaller kids and is great demand in the area for babysitting. My fourteen year old is eagerly preparing to start college at 16. Our neighbor, who has a daughter about the age of my daughters, was just telling me how grateful she is for moving here because my kids are such great playmates-no meanness, no backstabbing, no cruelty to others.
My husband teaches college courses and has visited area high schools for various discussions with classes in his field. He has only become more convinced, after seeing the dysfunctions of schools, that homeschooling is the right thing for us to be doing. He also sees the results of the public education system in his classroom every fall. Not only are many new graduates unable to do college level work and must be educationally remediated to bring them to the 9th grade level (they don't even try for what used to be college level anymore), but most have had any enthusiasm, eagerness to learn, or self-expression squashed long since.
I know LOTS of homeschooled kids. None of them are socially, educationally, or emotionally retarded-even the ones from fundamentalist families. We are NOT Witnesses, not even Christian. We are members of a homeschooling group that includes atheists, Christians, fundamentalist Christians, Muslim and Jewish families. My kids wouldn't get these exposures if they attended the very religiously homogenized local school district.
>>>I am going into public education<<<
You're not going to hear much about homeschooling in an Education degree program. If you're really interested, look up the Home Education Magazine website. The NEA has always taken an extremely negative position to homeschooling because we threaten their stranglehold on public education and therefore their power base. Just like finding out about the WTBS, you'd be foolish to go the their official website for balanced information. Get on the web and do a little investigation-or find a local group of homeschoolers and get to know them as people. (Hint-Look for an inclusive group)
Few of them were exposed to computers, science, etc.
My kids are most interested in Math and Science-another stereotype bites the dust. One of my daughters won the local school district's science fair two years running (beating out her public schooled peers). She is primarily interested in astronomy. My other daughter is pursuing Biology, specifically Ornithology and Animal Sciences. She plans to be a veterinarian. My son is interested in the Physical Sciences and is planning to study engineering.
My relatives in another state don't actually home school, but their kids and others go to someone's home for school. I've wondered how this is legal
Homeschooling is legal in all states. Some states consider homeschools to be private schools. Visit the Home Education Magazine website and you can find the regulations involving homeschooling for each state as well as correspond with homeschoolers from different states to see how the regulations in a state work in real life.
Jewel, stepping off her soapbox
