How confident are homeschooled children in social settings?

I can only share our experience. So, here it is. We have home-schooled our son since he was 3 years old. I never had phonics in school and I didn't want my son going through life like me, being a poor... keep reading →

As a teacher and church volunteer, I had never had the opportunity to work with a homeschooled student up until last year and this year. The student was homeschooled since 6th grade and just recently passed all her GED examinations and is now officially a high school graduate, but her social schools were very lacking. It took her these last two years to really relate to other kid's her age, understand some jokes, to ask questions that did not embarrass others and herself, to feel confident enough to participate in fun activities and most importantly to take in stride a broken heart. This young student did not get to enjoy school field trips, prom, school dances, school plays, UIL, sports, band etc... I feel that she missed out on the opportunity to create memories she could look back at and smile about or call a friend and reminisce with. Most importantly she did not refine her skills to interact and collaborate with others.