I'm curious, why do you say this wasn't a problem for you? Was this because you were able to get out enough such that it wasn't a problem? I mean, probably 90% of my socialization with others was at school, so I find it hard to see how homeschoolers aren't setting themselves horribly back on this front.
Are you saying you only did high school or all your life until college was homeschooled? Also, not being from the US might be a whole different ball game with the homeschooling experience.
I've always been more of an extrovert, and I like putting myself in positions to meet new people. Plus, like I mentioned I wasn't in my house all the time, I had a few part time jobs for a while (a waiter, and also ran sound for events, and was part of a summer camp's staff). I still hung out with friends from my neighborhood, so I wasn't avoiding social activities, (went to parties, played team sports, went out to movies) so yeah I got out quite a bit, I mean I was busy with what I was learning, but you could say not as busy as if I had been in school. But you are right, most of the homeschoolers I've met are rarely that good dealing with social norms, my best guess is because they were too sheltered from being to social, which is why it tends to be religious people who fall into this category.
I started doing homeschooling in what would be 8th grade. Not being from the US might have benefited, but we got the idea and information from a religious type from the US, so you could argue that I drank from the same kool-aid, it just didn't affect me, just like people in the US get Mono which is something I had never heard of until I moved here.
You think the kid's anxiety could have had anything to do with his parents marriage falling apart? I wouldn't personally home school my kids, but you're going way to far by saying it "causes social retardation". The homeschool kids I know are just like any other kids and the ones that have grown up and gone out in the world are doing just fine in college and beyond. There are undeniable benefits to having a teacher that genuinely gives a damn about you and is only concerned about you and not 150 other kids that they see every day. Keeping your kids from finding out about evolution isn't the only benefit of home schooling.
Let me ask you this. How the hell is Mommy McHousewife going to teach a kid Calculus AND Biology AND Trig AND Physics AND Chemistry AND Geometry AND English AND etc etc etc? The kid is going to have to teach themself and has nobody they can go to when they have real problems with the work.
If Mommy has a college degree then she's got as much education as most high school teachers. High school level of all that shit is pretty trivial for anyone with a brain in their head and I think people do tend to get tutors for their kids in subjects that they know that they are weak in. I'm not saying that there are no downsides to home schooling, but it seems like several people in this thread have a chip on their shoulder on this topic for some reason.
Yeah like I mentioned, I had tutors for those things I couldn't pull off on my own, and I think it can be terrible idea if a parent attempts to learn the stuff so they can try and teach it to their kids. But like BrutulTM said "There are undeniable benefits to having a teacher that genuinely gives a damn about you." Most of my tutors were incredible. Not only do I know I learned quite a bit, I enjoyed most of it (fuck you Chemistry and Calculus).
I was going to argue that, but... yea, you're right. It'd be stupid to deny that there are multiple manifestations of intelligence. When I think of "intelligence", I think of a broad all-purpose intellect that performs above-average in all fields and can self-analyze and self-improve. I'm sure there are many "smart at this, bad at that" people out there and I think a lot of that is just laziness/apathy. Kinda like the guys in the military who would say things like "I suck at running". No, motherfucker, you just don't run.
