Homeschoolers and Socialization

Of all the complaints against homeschooling, the one that amazes me most is that the kids won’t be “socialized” properly. Do they think we keep our children locked in a basement? Sometimes I’d like too, I’m not too crazy about the time my kids spend with the neighborhood kids. I really can’t imagine letting my charges spend 35 hours a week with backwards influences.

It’s absurd to think that our kids don’t have a social life. Between neighborhood kids, church, weekly homeschool get-togethers, Boy Scouts, YMCA activities, etc., homeschool kids get lots of time around other people outside the family.

Even if they didn’t get around others, does that mean that farmers for hundreds of years were warped? I would tend to think they may have been lonely at times, but farm families got along better than many families today, and the kids tended to have good character.