[violetgarden]

When I was younger, I thought homeschooling was almost exclusively because parents were weird and controlling - maybe even in a cult like situation. Or I thought homeschooling was for socially hopeless kids that couldn’t cut it in “real” school. I have no idea why my perception was so negative. Now that I’m older, my opinion has completely flipped. I am grateful to have had access to public education, but it was probably bronze standard at best. If I had children, I’d probably homeschool them.

[rdtwo]

A lot of school problems don’t do away in the real world. Cheating, bullying, boredom are regular parts of daily life for many workers. There are life skills that are learned in school that aren’t just textbook educational items

[rpiguyshy]

this is nonsense. almost nothing is carried over. it seems like you have never been the target of viscous bullying. there is no comparison whatsoever to bullying in school and in the workplace. the differences are innumerable. the most important difference is that childhood bullying damages the developing brain and creates lasting emotional damage. you are simply more vulnerable at those ages. you will be much, much better equipped to deal with bullying later in life if you are not carrying the emotional scars of being systematically targeted when you were a child. some adversity is necessary but this is a different discussion.

im so sick of people offering this idiotic perspective because they never experienced being the target for more than a year. your opinion hurts people.

[musingsole]

Those life skills get taught in homeschool programs too. Or are you under the impression homeschool students are locked away in a closet with a textbook and no windows until they turn 18?

The only lesson a state school can teach that might be missing in a homeschool program is that large institutions are out of your control, have their own motivations, and will maim you without a second's hesitation.

[mgkimsal]

I don't know if you were necessarily 'wrong' for having those perceptions. Homeschooling has become far more of a 'thing' in the past 20+ years, and I think it's been fueled by access to technology and growing concerns over school quality. Even info about 'school quality' is more accessible/shared/debated because of technology (forums/facebook/etc).

That said, the only handful of homeschooling families I knew 40 years ago were - to my recollection - exclusively religious in their motivations. Not everyone homeschooling family I know in the last few years is due to religious conviction, although that's still there in many cases.