I wanted to instantly pull my daughter out of public school and homeschool. I was that ticked off! hehee But Tony told me it's not a good idea, and that she needs lots of socialization
Oh, Andi.
Here's my off-sides, off-topic soap box:
Schools are not designed to socialize human children anymore than pet shops are designed to socialize furkids.
I used to be a teacher, and I one of the big reasons that I left that miscategorized 'profession' is that schools as institutions are not about kids--they're about politics and cash. Period. There are TEACHERS who are about kids, and even a rare PRINCIPAL who is about kids--but schools are about politics and cash, and your children are nothing but dollars on a spreadsheet.
My parents are in Utah, and so I know a number of home-schooling families, and can speak to the topic; and if you get into with the right attitude and with the right curricular program, it CAN be a fabulous experience for parents and kids. I know people who have taken their kids to Europe, to Mexico, to the Far East--all while 'schooling' their kids. I clearly remember talking to one 13 year old went with his dad on a business trip to France not long after he had finished a series of lessons about the French Revolution and Napoleon, and the glow in his eye as he described visiting the places he had read about, and things he suddenly understood from standing in the places where they happened.
You can't do that when your kid is in school, take them with you on a business trip just because you want to.
And as far as socializing them is concerned, there are about a million afterschool activities that you can let them join in that do a much better job of appropriately socializing your children than 98.7% of the schools out there will do. Besides, you socialized your dog--what makes you think you can't socialize your kids??
Let me give you an example: My friend Christy put her daughter in a K-8 Lutheran school from 6 to 14. Corrie was never very fond of school, but when she started public high school, she HATED it. She was bored, she was being bullied, and she was becoming visibly depressed. Christy couldn't afford a private high school; but Corrie was a reasonably mature and responsible girl, so I suggested they try the home school thing, and helped Christy find a curriculum--a college prep/honors curriculum based on quarter units. You paid the tuition for each quarter unit as you requested the coursework, and they sent you the texts, the assignments and testing materials. They graded the testing and supplied online and 800 phone help for both Christy and Corrie.
Corrie signed out of her public high school at Thanksgiving. Her home-school program didn't give her any credit for any of the work she'd been doing at all--she started from scratch. However, by mid-January, Corrie had finished her first 2 quarters of her high school credits in all her required subjects. She finished the rest of her freshman credits by April 1, AND took a community college Spanish course at night with her mom, and an art class on her own. Oh, and she got her first puppy, and took responsibility for all his training herself.
She also played softball, soccer, took skating lessons until she decided she didn't love it, was part of a gymnastics club, took ballet, jazz and tap dance, was active in their church youth group and volunteered at both the hospital and and seniors long term care nearby.
She finished her ENTIRE college prep/honors curriculum, supplementing with community college language, art and compute courses before she turned 16. Took her SATS, etc, sent applications, etc. and was accepted to UCLA and UC Berkeley both with full rides. Her unaugmented GPA was a 3.93.
Corri was able to do all this BECAUSE she wasn't in 'school'; she was being educated. She's one of the best socialized people I know. And not to be mean or anything, but it's not like she was a genius. She was just responsible and a hard worker.
If you want your kids to have the experience of 'school' that's great; but that whole "socialization" thing is just a big fat political lie that the school industry uses to scare people into continuing to put dollars (tax or private) in their bank accounts. Studies show that most socialization is done by parents, in the home, NOT by the school.
I spent 6 years working my way thru college to BE a teacher before I got out there and discovered that schools, for the most part, don't let you TEACH. And they're not designed for your kids to LEARN in them either.
Proof: You can't teach kids how to behave around dogs by USING a dog!
Now that's an arbitrary decision, made because someone things it might cost them $$$. Oh, they'll cry "Liability!" and claim their insurance doesn't cover it if the dog bites someone. They will not hear that the dog is trained, the dog is certified, the dog is yada, yada, yada. They will not hear "waivers", won't hear volunteer--nothing. Because they have money stuffed in their ears.
NOW: I return you to the HOSPITAL complaint line....