Homeschooler here, from the era before this modern trend. Definitely grew up around students with poor social skills -— and even started out that way myself! —- but I graduated university with honours in computer science and have a successful career in software engineering.

I could share lots of anecdotes in the reverse, but that’s really all they are. Either way, homeschooling wasn’t nonsense for me, and I’m choosing to continue that legacy with my children alongside this next generation of parents who believe homeschooling is the best option for their family.

Ironically, the data points in the exact opposite direction. Homeschool students perform better in almost every metric compared to public schools.

>replace formal education with the nonsense that is homeschool.

I don't count public school as a formal education. I think of it as a daycare subsidy to make more parents work.

My daughter (16) is homeschooled and volunteers at a local private school where she teaches English and Code (in Scratch). I volunteered at the same school last year. It's given me a real insight into how important parent involvement is in education, regardless of what method you choose.

I mean it greatly depends on the quality and dedication of the parents doing the homeschooling.

I never considered it for my kids because our public schools are pretty good, and I did not feel I had the experience or resources or time to do any better. But some people have more of a passion for it and find answers to those issues.

I'm sure there are kids who are poorly homeschooled, but your anecdote does not meany anything in the big picture. Shall I tell you about all the public-school kids I met who ended up flunking out of college?

This being HN, a site full of mostly successful folks, we are likely to only hear the anecdotal success stories of homeschooling posted here, and not the failure stories. For every gushing "I was homeschooled and I now run my own $50M company!" story, how many are not getting posted that amount to "I was homeschooled and the only book I read was the bible. I don't know 4th grade math, am unemployable and trapped as someone's housewife." Are there even published statistics about this?

Very, very wrong. I know numerous homeschooled peers who have advanced degrees, including PhDs.