[TxBec]

** There are all kinds of people out there, and real-world living demands that one know how to understand and deal with them. Those are lessons that can only be gained by being around people who are not like you. **

precisely! So why spend 7 to 8 hours locked in a classroom with kids your age when you can be out exploring the real world, including interacting with those both younger and way older than you? When my kids start working, they will not work at companies where everyone is the same age they are..

[r9etb]

precisely! So why spend 7 to 8 hours locked in a classroom with kids your age when you can be out exploring the real world, including interacting with those both younger and way older than you?

You're treating it like a trip to the zoo. "Hey, kids -- let's go watch the garbage man! Ooooh, look over there! The man at the auto parts counter has a tattoo!"

Speaking personally, I learned a hell of a lot more about human nature by being "locked in a room" with kids spanning the gamut of social position, than I could ever have learned by "going to the zoo."

And that "wasted 7 or 8 hours" stuff only flies if the teachers are no good.

Am I condemning homeschoolers? Absolutely not. But it's foolish to pretend that there is no value in the sort of social interactions that kids get in a classroom, in a school.