do you find that by homeschooling your kids they have developed any sort fo social handicap??
Hmmm, let me think ---- no!
My kids socialize daily with children of a wide range of ages, as well as adults. Saying that, my son has Asperger' s Syndrome and children and adults with this condition do have a hard time socializing and being in large crowds (major panic city). However, he has oodles of friends and is usually one of the popular kids on the block.
My husband was the one who approached me with the idea of homeschooling our three kids. I, at first, thought it would be a bad idea; however, I quickly changed my mind. The main reason is all three of my children have issues. I' ve been a member of Kikizo long enough to feel comfortable with explaining a few things.
My twin daughters - one has Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and ADD -- the other one has Tourettes Syndrome with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
My son - already explained that.
I took my first daughter out of public school due to her ODD. She was violent towards herself and her teacher (scratching, biting, kicking). She would constantly run away from the school. Even today, she will run away from me in a store and I have to call security to help locate her. She sees and hears things other people don' t (auras, spirits, etc.). I have considered schizophrenia, but the doctors say she is to young. Anyways, the school was relieved, to say the least, that I decided to homeschool (she was 5 years old).
I pulled her sister out of school the next year, because the teachers found her ticks to be disruptive to the class and constantly urged me to " up her medication" .
My son was pulled out of school in grade 4 (he is in grade 6 now), as the new principle and some of his teachers couldn' t and wouldn' t accept his fears (AS people tend to have many phobias - crowds, loud noises, afraid to be hurt and therefore refused to participate in gym class, etc.) My son asked to be homeschooled. He is also a highly intelligent individual and would be called into the grade 6 class to read to them and to help certain students with their work.
These are the main reasons, but I have many others -- my son ended up in the emergency room two times in a week period because of bullys, teachers constantly wanted to medicate or up the medications of my children (my son has never taken meds, but both daughters do), teachers not willing to provide " one on one" help when a student needs the extra attention, the school setting rules that students are not allowed to talk in the hallways at all or be put in detention (these are elementary school children- give me a break), absolutely no running outside in the playground (starting to sound more like a prison to me), major amounts of homework (nothing wrong with homework, except they were expected to do hours of extra work at home -- what the hell are the teachers doing), no resources left in the school system and therefore no help for kids that needed the extra attention, and teachers so frustrated and strung out because they have 30 kids in a classroom with half of them being ADHD or something and not caring if they help the kids at all.
At home, my kids get one on one attention, they go at their own pace, they help each other, have more tolerance now for each other and other people, they are all above average readers for their age group (each is a high school level) - the girls are nine and my son is 11. They have no problem interacting with adults and are more well behaved now. I don' t have to worry about my kids having to " go with the trends" , as so many young children and teenagers do in public schools and being accepted because of the way they dress, or if they smoke, etc. One daughter wants to be a chief (actually creates her own recipes), the other wants to be a fashion designer (loves to sew and draw) and my son wants to be a video game designer (has already drawn up plans for a couple).
I have no worries about my kids.
Enough said, sorry if I ranted too much.