Does anyone here homeschool?
We homeschool our 4 children. 2 have gone on to university with full ride scholarships after completing junior college locally. One is double majoring in Business Finance and Accounting (ENTJ) and the other is majoring in Horticulture with a specialization in vines and enology (INTJ). Both are making top grades, with an occasional B in the toughest science and math courses.
The older two attended a private school for the first 6 grades. The education there was adequate, but the expense was more than we felt comfortable with. The 3rd had two years in Montessori, but all grades have been taught at home. A licensed plumber friend of ours has taken him on one day a week as a helper (2 or 3 days a week in summer) and that has been an highly beneficial addition to his learning (ESFP). At age 14 he knows more about repairing things than many adults know. Our oldest son (ENTJ), now in college, worked during his teen years building fences, roofing, plumbing, lawncare, etc. He has an excellent work ethic and is resourceful. Our daughter (INTJ), the viticulture enthusiast, worked as a piano teacher and junior college tutor and instructor assistant. Ditto with her on work ethic and sense of personal responsibility. Our fourth is 10 yrs old and is a very independent student. He's self-starting and diligent. He makes it easy for us.
From my observations over the years, if you do not have the gut feeling that you're the one responsible for your children's education, instead feeling that others should be responsible for it, you will not enjoy home schooling your children. It requires commitment from the parent/s to make it a positive experience for yourselves and your children. So before you go any further, examine your own feelings on the matter. Be honest about it. If you dread taking responsibility for educating your children, go no further with it.
Next, my opinion of homeschooling parents is that the control freak Nazi types who dictate all things to their children are going to be very bad teachers. The hippie-dippy types who are lax and lazy about ensuring their children are getting an education are also very bad teachers. If you fall into either of those categories, again being honest with yourself, let somebody else do the educating so your kids don't wind up as the type of douchebag flakes that everybody looks at and says, "homeschooled... that figures!"
That much said, there are so many avenues of instruction for homeschooling that it's astonishing. You can enroll your children in a completely structured program, such as through Texas Tech University Home Schooling program, or you can assemble lessons and programs to suit your needs and those of your children.
Socialilzation: don't worry about this AT ALL. There are plenty of opportunities for children to associate with other children. Boy/Girl Scouts, Campfire, YMCA, Civil Air Patrol, extramural sports, homeschooling groups, etc. For whatever it's worth, I find homeschooled children to be more mature, more open, more able to communicate with a variety of ages/types of people than institutionally educated children. In general.
I was public school educated. So was my wife. I hated it. She loved it. Both of us agree after educating our children ourselves that we would prefer to have been homeschooled ourselves. Our children are usually finished with schooling within 3-4 hours, compared to 6-7 hours in institutional schools. Do the math on the time available for them to study their own interests, play, relax, read, etc... it's a huge savings in time that they just won't get in institutional schools.
Finally, by age 16, both of our older children were enrolled in junior college. We restricted them to 9 to 12 hours of credits per semester, not wanting to turn out drones who have graduated from college by age 19 or some silly thing like that. Yes, we've met homeschooling parents who seem to think having their kids finished with college by age 19 is some sort of positive reflection on themselves. I'd recommend not pushing your kids too far, too fast. Pace it to their interests and personality types.
Any other questions, feel free to ask.