San Francisco and Homeschooling!

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1)...The Question?

Any thought on this?

2)...Article by Examiner, Pg6- 6/17/05'

From what I've heard, homeschooling can go really well or really badly, depending on the family. It can be used as an excuse to isolate and indoctrinate kids into extreme religious groups, or it can help a kid succeed who otherwise would have fallen through the cracks in the public school system.

As much as I might have wished for it at the time, I'm glad I wasn't homeschooled. My family is insular enough as it is. Since I wasn't really exposed to them through friends, I was 17 before I really started to learn how other families interacted. If I hadn't gone to public school, my social skills probably would have ended up abysmal instead of just really bad.

We've been homeschooling for 11 years. Our kids are highly socialized within the community (Scouts, sports, church activities, community service) and all are/were successful students.

We have 5 children. Our oldest is 22, graduated from homeschool in '99, has since graduated from Penn State University, has her own apartment, took her LSATs last Fall, and has decided on Temple Law School for her MBA/JD. She also figure skates and does Medieval and Renaissance reenactment.
Our youngest is 7yo and very successful at math, playing soccer and being cute.

I think kids learn more from going to public school, instead of being homeschooled. Also they can socialize with their peers.

Popular to contrary belief, homeschoolers do usually have some degree of social life. I don't know why they aren't portrayed like they really are. Most families that homeschool don't consist of sitting around books in a room for the whole schoolday like most public and private schools do. There are usually field trips and other activities.

Most homeschoolers that I know are either ahead of their peers at public schools, but a few are behind. Homeschooling gives the kids a chance to work more at their own pace with individual instruction they probably wouldn't get at a public school. It is a good alternative choice to a public school, but it's also important that the kids are involved in other activities and peer interaction.

Even though standardized testing is not required in private or homeschools in the state of California, I have known many parents and private school teachers who have done standardized testing. Currently, I go to a private school, and we do standardized testing every year, just like the public school students do. We also have to take the SAT and SAT 2 to get into colleges, so I believe it is good practice.

(Disclaimer: My view on public schools might be wrong because I have never attended one. Feel free to correct me on this.)