Hi Brian,

I am a retired educator and I do believe that students can be home schooled successfully. Your family is living proof of that. There are situations that I have seen where the family does not provide a good education. It just doesn't get done and the kids end up coming to a public school years behind in some areas while years ahead in others. Again there are good home schooling situations and there are bad.

As for the socialization of the children that will take care of itself if the child is involved in activities with others their age. What is a concern to me is that many times these children are not exposed to the opinions of others and find it difficult to see another person's point of view. In my experience these home schooled students tend not to listen to opinions that differ from what they have been taught directly and by example. They will just shut down in a discussion and withdraw. It is not socialization that is lacking, it is an intellectual aggressiveness. I don't mean they don't argue well. They seem not want to challenge someone's position or opinion in a group situation.

My experience is at the high school level where these students have been home schooled through grade eight. When they enter the high school, they really adjust well. If the parents are willing to spend the time then the children will be successful. It takes dedication and planning to provide a good home schooling situation.

While not home schooled, our son was taught most of the basic skills by his mother. He was very ill up to the time he entered fourth grade and missed more school than he attended. In effect it was a 50% home schooling situation for him. That may well have been more difficult than doing it full time. His mother had no training or college degree but there was a drive to make sure her son did not fall behind. To this day he is a voracious reader because he and his mother would have to research information instead of a teacher just presenting the facts to him. It is strange how we discover such simple applications of learning by necessity.

Now to answer your question. Many parents are very happy to see their children head off to school. It is a good option for day care. Those parents just cannot understand why you would want to teach your children. Now let us take this a little further. There are too many parents that have no interest in teaching their children much at all. I think you may see where this is going. Education does create a lot of its own problems but the fact of the matter is that many parents are not preparing their children to be successful in school. I will make another observation that some parents do not care if their child is successful in school. It just doesn't matter to them. So their thinking is why on earth would you care so much about your child's education that you would work many, many hours each week to that end.

You both have done a wonderful job educating your children and should be congratulated.