It doesn't need to. Many areas, particularly those good for homeschooling, have tons of social and extracurricular activities available specifically for homeschoolers (such as by being intentionally scheduled in the middle what would otherwise be school hours).
And, of course, those are just the mass social activities, as opposed to small groups of friends.
Home schooling takes extra work to add socializing, public schooling takes extra work to add one on one instruction. Generally. There are exceptions out there, and there are opportunities to hybridize the practices. But again - that takes work.
Public school also functions as a means to take the work of watching and educating a child during the day off of parents’ plates, so they can remain at least partially employed, or even just have a small slice of their life back.
Homeschooling is a luxury most can’t afford.
During the five years I homeschooled my daughter, I found that this was true but with one enormous caveat. We’re a secular family and homeschooling in many areas of the U.S. means that these groups are often organized around non-secular activities and principles. To each, their own. But I’m not going to sign a “statement of faith” to participate in a homeschool group. As a consequence, it really did feel that we were going it alone. Larger metropolitan areas are probably more inclusive; but otherwise secular homeschoolers have struggles in finding the right fit.
Many people select places to live based on school districts; it may make sense to put the same amount of weight on quality of homeschooling options. But even then, that's not going to be universally available in a nearby location.
There are also potentially online groups to connect with others (even more so now than when I was that age), which could help with finding and organizing groups.
I've been around and tutored way too many homeschoolers to give this a pass. If by "gap" you mean they behave in a more adult fashion, sure. There is a gap between the independence and social progression of homeschoolers and the nature of your average trend following high schooler.
Saying that homeschooling creates backwards kids is just a form of continued bullying.
Perhaps the risks are just inherent in growing up?
So yes it is a concern, but it is a concern for kids in general and acting like it is a problem for homeschoolers would be like telling kids that "growing up to be stupid is a risk for red head children." It is either being done with intent to bully red heads or just based on ignorance..
With your selection, it is inherently showing a disgusting bias.
5 Days Ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36842564
10 Months Ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32746181
The kids there were wildly brilliant… 6th grader getting a perfect SAT and ACT score, and almost all were very socially awkward. But I really doubt that regular school would have changed anything and may have made things worse.
The social issue is a chicken vs egg problem. Are the kids socially awkward bc they’re homeschooled, or are they homeschooled bc they’re brilliant and very awkward?
Almost certainly an exaggeration :)
This is a big annoyance for me in the homeschooling conversation. If someone is homeschooled and is socially awkward, it's the homeschooling's fault. If someone went to public school and is socially awkward, it's their fault / they're an outlier.
We have one starting kindergarten in a few weeks and honestly it seems like too much school time for a five year old to me.