re: Did You/Do You Homeschool Your Kids?

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Homeschool kids are socially awkward and unemployable in my experience because they have no people skills. That’s all I got

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You know this how?

Wife and I homeschooled when it was just starting out in the ‘80’s, eldest graduated LSU, second two went straight into the workforce locally. All 3 are well adjusted humans, 2 are parents, they’re good people…

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dukeg7213
Homeschool kids are socially awkward and unemployable in my experience because they have no people skills.

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Dude,

ALL kids these days are socially awkward and unemployable because they have no people skills in 2026.

It's been that way since social media and smart phones.

We did for two years after the Covid crap. Worst thing ever for our daughter at that age. She was going from 8th grade to high school.
Homeschool taught her to be lazy and that’s partly our fault as parents.

We homeschool our two. It’s one of the best decisions we ever have made. We try very hard to do things the right way and not take a haphazard approach to the learning process. Christian based. The flexibility to schedule around anything that pops up is such a blessing. I was injured in a work accident and the medical appointments (over 10 surgeries) would have been a serious problem for us if not for homeschool. Our kids get plenty of time to interact.

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The bigger concern is that most parents are dumb as shite and don't have the first clue of how to teach anything.

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Most homeschooled kids these days are in Co-Ops, so the parents really don't even have to do that much teaching.

My sister "homeschools" her kids and they go to a local church for classes 3 days a week. Her kids play sports, belong to clubs, etc.

The rest of the time, they are taking online courses.

Homeschooling has changed a lot since the 90s.

Our son attended a small private school from 1-3rd grade but when they tested him for admission for 4th grade public school they told us he should be held back a year due to some mild dyslexia issues. The kid is absolutely brilliant and we didn’t want to wreck his ego based on one stupid test and the opinion of a counselor who didn’t even know him, so altho nervous about it, we decided to homeschool him from 4th-9th ourselves. It was easy as he is one of those kids who truly loves learning and thrives as a self-learner. When the high school years rolled around he decided himself that he wanted to attend the local public high school to see how he liked it. He did fine - took all honors classes and graduated #6 out of 450 iirc. Was a fairly popular kid and didn’t seem to have any problems “socializing” or being accepted by his peers. He wasn’t much of an athlete but he did try a few sports. Anyway he ended up getting accepted at several good colleges but chose to attend UF on a “Bright Futures” scholarship so his college was essentially free and he had no debt upon graduation. He graduated with a BS in chemistry/math minor and is currently working on getting his PhD in neuroscience.

Our daughter was homeschooled from 1-4th grade. Initially we started her in at a public elementary school, but because she was younger than her classmates due to a late birthday, she apparently wasn’t quite “ready” and struggled some. By mid-term we decided to pull her out and have her repeat first grade with us as her teachers. That gave us the ability to focus on the subject areas where she was weak. The decision wasn’t as nerve-wracking this time around as we were already homeschooling her brother. A huge added benefit was that, as an airline family, having both kids at home gave us the flexibility to fly to lots of cool places for free during non-peak travel times. So the kids got to experience some amazing educational trips to Europe, the Middle East and Asia as part of their education.

We eventually decided to put our daughter back into public school after a few years because it became apparent that she thrives best when in competition with peers. She was always a bit of a social butterfly so adapting was no problem for her. Anyway, she ended up doing well too - participating in various oratorical events and held her own as captain on the Lincoln-Douglas and Congressional debate teams . She too, was awarded a Bright Futures scholarship to UF, getting most of her education paid that way, as well. She graduated with a computer science degree a couple years ago and is now fully independent and self supporting. Like us, both she and our son lean politically conservative. Son is even a volunteer poll watcher and is considering eventually becoming a precinct committeeman in his spare time.

If you’re considering homeschooling, just be aware that education - either public, private, or homeschool - is not a one size fits all endeavor - be willing to cookie-cutter it, if necessary. And if you feel ill-equipped at first because you do not “know everything”, remember that there are a ton of helpful resources out there to guide you in areas where you may be weak - thank God! For example, my math skills are nothing to write home about so when it came time to teach the higher levels of that subject we decided to hire a tutor. Apparently it helped - our son went on to make straight A’s in math at UF.

I also want to add that for us the whole “socialization” argument was BS. Both kids were socialized fine. There were plenty of activities for them to meet other kids. When our daughter was homeschooled, she participated in gymnastics, soccer, art classes and attended summer camp away from home. Our son was involved with swim team, scuba, briefly did scouts (didn’t like it) and attended National Flight Academy camp several years in a row along with other more cerebral pursuits. Neither kid had any problems getting along with their peers. When you homeschool, one of the positives is that your kids are socialized - but the key is it happens how and with whom YOU choose . In their formative years, YOU get to be the gatekeeper of who they are rubbing shoulders with - not some unknown schoolmate or teacher whose values may not align with your own. If you do it right, by the time they reach high school their confidence and maturity levels should be strong enough that they don’t easily fold to peer pressure.

Anyway, that was the experience we had with our kids. If we had to do it over again, we’d probably do the exact same thing. Even though we chose to homeschool both kids for different reasons and different lengths of time, the outcome for us proved to be worthwhile and both kids are now successful, contributing adults.

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I really wish it was possible to get good #s on how many people do it like this (the right way) vs people who are essentially just neglecting their kid(s)

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I was homeschooled until the 11th grade. I knew some kids who could barely read because they were homeschooled and their parents DGAF. Most seemed like they were getting a really good education, though. My wife is a teacher and said quite a few homeschooled kids that get enrolled are WAY behind.

I got lucky. My mom is insanely smart and took it seriously. I remember during summers she would go through the curriculum and take all the tests/do all of the coursework to make sure she knew it and could teach it well and help us if needed.

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Essentially the homeschooled kids are not exposed to regular/typical germs that a normal kid would be exposed to

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Most homeschooled kids have friends and out of school activities etc.

They aren’t locked in a basement.

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How is this any different than sending your child to a private school?

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A lot cheaper. More control over curriculum.

Just overall more control because the parents run the Co-Op.