[mean lunch lady]

You are really smart to think about it ahead of time. I have two adult children (huh?) but if I had it to do again, I think I would seriously consider homeschooling. As long as they still had some activities where they were around other kids and learned to interact with their peers. I think most people who homeschool their children do make sure that they have opportunities to socialize with others. My daughter left high school convinced she could never do math. Some (not all) of her lack of confidence could be traced to a teacher who told the kids things like, "If you don't know that, I guess I'll see you here next year", etc. No help at all. Today she works for a large hotel where she is involved in convention billing and payroll. No thanks to the teacher who was supposed to be helping her.

[livianne]

From what people have been telling me there are lots of support groups and activities for homeschooled kids - plus there are sports and scouting and all of those things. Not worried about socialization - most of the socialization in public schools is the popular kids picking on the rest of the kids anyway. I remember teachers who would tell us (the honors class) that they would show us things they wouldn't bother teaching to the classes who were at a lower level. That always seemed patently unfair - how do you know what someone can learn if you never even try to teach it to them?

There are some wonderful public school teachers, but they are far to few and far between to really make a big difference.