I gotta agree with Cuatro here. Homeschooling is hit or miss just like any other method of education. Midtowner you seem to be coming from a place of hostility and/or maybe jealousy toward homeschoolers as you are very defensive about it.

I've personally known homeschoolers who are National Merit Scholars and I've known homeschoolers who are very average. I've graduated (public school) with some of the most intelligent people I've ever met and I graduated with some real idiots. It's what works best for the individual. One isn't always better than the other.

As far as the social aspect goes, I've known several homeschoolers who are just as socially adept as anyone but I've also known homeschoolers who are quite wierd and exactly what people think of when they think of homeschoolers. On the other hand I went to a large public highschool (enrollment of about 1500 - 2000 students. This was 20 years ago when freshmen did not attend highschool but instead attended junior high) with a socially inept wierdo who murdered his parents in their sleep.

For the record I married a homeschooler who is a social butterfly and gets hit on just about everywhere she goes (And I'm not just saying that). So she totally blows away the homeschool stereotype. Our children, however, go to public school.