Some of those on that thread remind me of the original fear I had of homeschooling, before meeting you and 2J. There are some that home school because their view on the world is so rigid and narrow that they try to create a perfectly protected and isolated environment for their children, and fear the slightest unscreened influence on their children will upset the delicate artificial dreamworld they have created.
It is those rigid extremists that I used to associate with homeschooling. How do those kids cope with the world when they find out that it contains a whole lot of stuff their parents never talked about? - By the time I graduated from (public) High School I knew that half the world disagreed or lived differentyl than my Dad... And maybe my Dad had enough confidence that he was right to let me hear it and make my own assessment of the world as it really is.... Full of opposing ideas. I heard from them, considered them, and decided that I still liked most of my Dad's ideas best.
In your experience, when you meet other homeschooled kids (from the extremist parents that are indeed homeschooling out there), are there many that are not prepared to live in the real world that often does not match their own views, or is this an imaginary problem I have created because I don't know? How many hit the real world and either freak out and run home, or go on the wildest sin-spree you ever did see?
Primarily asking Jen, because I can't ask 2J's kids because they are too young, but interested in 2J's feelings on the matter, and any others in the hole who homeschool, who have had more contact probably, with the extremists among them.
I imagine there are some like this...I have met very few even here in Poh-dunk Oklahoma. I have met several Mennonite families where they are almost as odd as Amish, but they were courteous and friendly. I am sure they do just fine in their self-imposed "isolated environments"
It is those rigid extremists that I used to associate with homeschooling. How do those kids cope with the world when they find out that it contains a whole lot of stuff their parents never talked about?
First off, I am very careful about labeling anyone an extremist. In my left wing liberal brother-in-law's eyes, this slightly pudgy S. Baptist housewife is an extremist. If a person isn't breaking any laws, they ought to be able to do anything they want and raise their kids any way they want. For example:
A homeschooling Wiccan believes that their child doesn't need to know anything other than when to plant their completely organic garden by the phases of the moon. More power to them. A resourceful homeschooled wiccan could live on the income of organic veggies.
I mean to say this...it is highly unlikely that the children of most (even what you would consider extremist) homeschoolers are going to be beating a path to the welfare office. Homeschoolers, although perhaps considered rigid and "extreme" are usually quite resourceful and if they don't want to fit into society, nobody should try to make them.
I am considered rigid in some areas, and overly flexible in some areas, depending upon who I'm with at the time.
As far as high school goes, there are a ton of resources out there for homeschooling high-schoolers. And by that time, they seem to be totally prepared to go out and find those resources. There are courses at our local junior college that allow homeschoolers to attend. There are co-ops (Matthew is attending one this next fall, already...music) where professionals are hired by a group of homeschooling parents to teach a course in a particular subject...like chemistry and calculus.