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Comment by nfd | Hacker News Reader

Look, I was homeschooled, and it's possible to do it right. Don't get me wrong. The way I was homeschooled, however, wreaked total havoc on my long-term mental health (though you better believe I ran the equivalent of "lock your child in a basement with an Apple II and a book of documentation on Applesoft Basic" on myself and learned what a sweet hack looks like). I ran headfirst into college with poor social skills and no practice working under actual pressure. It's taken a nasty toll on my body and I'm still struggling to keep my weight from dipping even more. I learned a lot of lessons really, really quickly. I'm a natural extrovert. It was a special hell.

I'm not saying you're wrong. Sounds like a pretty good idea, even. _Please be damn sure you know what you're doing._ And I'm here if you've got questions.

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This. My experience was nowhere near as extreme, but I was homeschooled and started college full time at 14. It's taken me years to catch up socially, and I still struggle sometimes. Do not underestimate the importance of traditional social exposure typically experienced in public school. I'm grateful for my experience. I feel like it gives me a unique outlook that is valuable, but for my kids I think I'd prefer the social aspect.

Sorry you've had a rough go of it nfd.

Wow, what happened?

I didn't get regular social interaction for a really long time. Think on the order of 10 years. Turns out that people really need it. I spent most of about 5 years mostly holed up in my room teaching myself about programming, crypto, bits of math, reading, playing games, and breaking and fixing my pet Linux install. I don't regret teaching myself that much for an instant, but I do realize that my entire life probably would've been much better much earlier if I'd gone to school. I could've just skipped all the depression and loneliness I felt between the ages of 8 and 15.

I did go to school, and while I wouldn’t prefer having been homeschooled by my parents, I however think the school did harm my mental health (from bullying, for one example) and I would’ve benefitted from. Note: not in US, but from what I can glimpse US schools are similar or worse in relevant regards.

I’ve come to think that going or not going to school is unlikely to be the deciding factor, and it’s rather up to parents and the overall environment. Homeschooling or sending your kid to school—neither seems ‘easier’ by itself, they just pose somewhat different sets of challenges to parents. The answer probably depends on given school system, the specific school, parents’ and kid’s personalities, etc.

In other words, one can go to school—and be bullied w/o the skill to handle it and w/o parental notice due to neglect, or grow up dysfunctional/struggling due to whatever else unhealthy family circumstance such as NPD of a parent due to them being an object of childhood abuse, etc.; and one can also be homeschooled—and be adequately prepared by parents, lose less time doing boring things, and have the necessary social interaction with siblings and friends. Now switch that around and there are indeed a lot of things that can go wrong with homeschooling, and an attentive parent can be able to help their kid deal with school just as well.

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