I was homeschooled. It definitely isn't for everyone. I mean it was basically a full-time job for my mom.

We had a group that we sometimes did events with, so I have more than a couple friends who were too. A few homeschooled acquaintances are kind of weirdos. But most of the folks from my homeschool friend group are totally normal. And a couple have really sparkling personalities -- I think they actually ended up with abnormally good social skills by hanging around with adults during their childhood, and not engaging in the weird social pressure cooker of highschool.

I suspect the reputation comes from the outliers -- most people don't know I was homeschooled until I tell them. If you could figure it out on your own, it would have to be the case that I was a real weirdo.

> Homeschooled children have always had a reputation for being quite a bit “off” socially

This is often by design. People homeschool a lot of the time because they don't want their children to pick up many parts of mainstream culture, or be subjected to the things that shape it.

There's a common joke in the homeschooling world: "I was worried my child wasn't getting the socialization of public schools, so I beat him up and stole his lunch money".

<<Now all of these children will be on that level, only with overworked parents who never wanted to homeschool in the first place.

I think this is the relevant quote. Homeschooling parents already self-selected as it were. It is a little bit like Linux. You get in knowing it will require some level of effort. People who choose Windows have no time to devote to that kind of learning. I would not feel comfortable mandating Linux for everyone. Some people are just not ready for responsibility.

I was not homeschooled, but my grammar school experience was borderline horrible and did not improve until private HS ( mostly because my peers were all, well, smarter than me ).

I think you have a point, but it goes back to the question about parents' responsibility and their failures as parents. I am not trying to make anyone feel bad, but we need to be able to qualify results somehow.

Oh I agree. That said, I know the families who kept their kids in school have crazy other issues in our area. Many had delayed speech by a year and what not.

Really not great options, we just did the best we could with what we had. It turned out well and I suggested it to others (if you can, being key). If you can also implies that you want to do it.