Homeschooling? But think of the children!

A huge pet peeve of mine is people denigrating homeschooling. There's a right way and a wrong way to do it, and it's not for everyone, but it's an alternative for those who are miserable in a conventional schooling environment.

I was not homeschooled, though I desperately wanted to be. I didn't have any friends at school, I only had tormentors and people who talked behind my back if they ever noticed me at all. The only time I was ever treated well in school was for about a week after Columbine, when people realized that sometimes people want revenge for the shitty treatment. But the goldfish minds forgot about that quickly enough.

But what gets me most is, almost without fail, the only thing people object to about homeschooling (or unschooling) over conventional schooling is: But what about the child's social life?

What. The Fuck. Even my own mother, who saw the hell I was put through, threw this excuse at me. I can't even articulate the rage it made me feel.

I contemplated suicide in the third grade because I was so miserable and emotionally abused I figured my world would be better off without me in it, since I was obviously worthless and just taking up space. I didn't for several reasons, but mostly they can be summed up as: I was too chicken to actually do it, and I wouldn't do that to my parents.

Yeah, school is a great place. Even completely ignoring the false and ridiculous standards of "education", issues with funding, and the way schools enforce inequalities in our social structures. School is: forced contact with tens to hundreds of children your own age but drastically different emotional and intelligence levels, and forced into competition a lot of the time, just for the teachers' attention and grades and recognition and "friendship" and it's all just BULLSHIT!

Yeah, mom, school did me so fucking much good. I still have to fight not to rage out when I think about the little shits I went to school with, and now I have a niece, and the schools are in many ways so much worse than they used to be. I worry for her so much, because I was so miserable. Her parents weren't too happy in school either, but they both work full time and I don't see my being able to convince them to homeschool her any time soon...