Hi, feel relieved, your post was fine. :-)

Except for one thing: You raise an important question however studies have shown has little significance. The "social" integer is not something that Homeschoolers in general have a problem with. Being around a lot of other kids does not a social magnet make. It also begs the question, who is responsible for socialization of kids, the public school system or parents? As well, the question also forgets that there are myriads of activities besides school that children of all ages are involved in. School is probably one of the worst settings for good social qualities. Lets examine what children learn in school: (in general)

How to pick on less fortunate kids.
How to place condoms on a banana.
How to skip class. (older years.)
How to do drugs.
All the wrong things about sexual intercourse.
Wrong ideas / views on STDs. you know, like AIDS.
How to loose your virginity.
How to pressure those that don't add up to YOUR group.
How to pressure others to loose their virginity.
How to pressure others to do drugs or some other bad thing that "your group" has approved of.
How to deny God's existence without really looking at the idea of God from all angles. In other words, how to make big decisions based on very little study.
How to cuss.

The list goes on. I think you get my point. Personally I want my kids to function like good adults when they become adults. They aren't adults now. They are kids so kids they shall be. The play with other kids and the get involved with their community. We are not the exception but the rule from everything I've seen. Yes, there are exceptions out there however tons less then in the public school system where the cop cars pull up to the doors during early release to check everyone's pass. heh. That is in a good school system too. There are some great things about the Public School systems that my kids will miss. I'm sad for that. However, the damage most Public Schools do to children, either by commission or omission, is a price not worth paying. We live on a single income and with proper financial management are able to send my oldest, 11, to horse back riding lessons, and my next youngest to Gymnastics where she is excelling. Social skills are learned from being around people, not just people at schools. I also wonder how many people it takes? The public school argument fails to address that. My kids are amazing at how the fluidly meet new people without ill. The graft right into social environments and I would not consider my family to be on the cutting edge of activity in social environments. And yes, we go to church and there's Sunday school. But we don't rely on outside influences alone to raise our kids socially. We spend a lot of time with them.

Maybe it's not concern for kids socialization that is the problem here. Maybe it's the only straw man argument that people can bring up to justify their lack of attention to their children with the only safety net being the Public Schools which are failing miserable to raise our children in this Country.

I would have thought, the public school system would teach kids and parents to ask more thought out questions. (Not speaking of yours specifically, it's just that this is the most asked question but the least legitimate.)


> It seems like a lot of people here at RinkWorks have been homeschooled. Well, okay, not a lot, but work with me here, I'm getting to a point. I've been wondering if home schooling is really a good idea... It seems to me that what public schooling may lack in textbook education, it more than makes up for in social education. I'm sure that by learning at home you could learn a lot more about English and Math and Physics, but I would think you'd be less informed when it comes to social interatcion, which most any job would require. So I come to the point of this post. Do you rinkydinks think that homeschooling is better than public schooling?
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> "Never let your schooling get in the way of your education" - Mark Twain
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> W"I tried to make that sound like a relitively intelligent post, but probably ruined it by incorrectly spelling relatively."es