Nine Disadvantages of Homeschooling

I've been homeschooling my kids for ten years now and I think I'm pretty well-versed in the positives and negatives of homeschooling as they impact our family. So let's look at a few of them. And I'm working hard to just list the "negative" and let it stand without explaining or offering positives to argue them...

1. The Duggars - I can not deny that families exist who give homeschooling a truly bad name. Some families DO truly shelter their kids. Some families DO hide various types of abusive dynamics. Some families don't educate their children well. We have to battle the stigma of these public few. Homeschooling has a public, albeit uninformed and stereotyped, bad rep. So, it's not really the Duggars, or any family in particular, but the public's willingness to buy into the bad rep that is generally portrayed about homeschoolers. 
Besides, public schools have their negative family experiences too...our society has a tendency to just lump that into the public school experience, give it a pass, and call it a day.

2. Socialization - I can't say that I had good "socialization" in public school, and my daughter was heartily dissatisfied with public schools now, but some people might find the socialization in homeschooling different than they expect it to be. Homeschoolers tend to find their friendships and socializing opportunities more deliberately. As there is not a ready-made, consistent group of kids that a classroom would provide (sometimes good experiences, sometimes bad in public/private/ other school settings) a homeschooler generally looks for friends. Most homeschoolers never have to deal with bullying. Some would consider that a problem... 
As it happens, the worst part of this one for us is that there are no friends in our neighborhood to play with. YES, there are kids. Sadly, they don't have the ability to play with NON-Christian friends. And that's a different blog post.
My experience with homeschool co ops is that the kids get together, get all socializing, and completely forget the parents are there because of their time with their own creativity, projects, and fun-having.

3. Cooperation - I know that my daughter was constantly trying to "please" her teachers on those rare forays into pubic school...that doesn't happen much at home.

4. Burn out and Parental Self-Doubt - This probably happens to all homeschooling parents at some point. Feeling frustrated, exhausted, doubtful, fearful, or overwhelmed can happen. I'm somewhat prone to this, so it happens to me every couple of years for a variety of reasons in the process. It may start happening slowly, but I only finally notice it when I talk to my friends, crying that I feel inadequate...  Eventually I do see the wonders that we are accomplishing and the rightness of homeschooling for our family. But while I am going through this, everyone in the fam is affected.

5. Finding good atheist Science Resources - Every secular parent that I know looks and looks for good secular science materials for their kids. Publishers really haven't come through on this one. In fact, all secular resources are pretty lacking.
I worked around this by realizing that the public library offers excellent books on every aspect of science. I also bought textbooks. And the world...it offers amazing science!  😉
For the most part I have created our own science units and I think that they have been fantastic. Remember, there are amazing online resources you can tap into anytime.

6. Busy Schedules - I know, I know, public schoolers are very busy too. I'm just saying...there are times when just looking at my calendar can give me hives...

7. Our house can hit a seriously CHAOTIC state. We are here more often and for longer stretches than schooling kids, so our messes can get a bit...out of hand. This moment, as we prepare to move, I can't even adequately describe the disaster.  LOL

8. Algebra - not only do I not know Algebra, I see no need to know Algebra. (OK, I have to chime in here by saying that, in spite of my total abhorrence of all things math, my kids are exceptionally capable of learning math...)
Remember, one of the basic tenets of homeschooling is the idea of teaching our children to learn how to learn. My kids have both, with my help at times, taught themselves aspects of algebra and geometry. Additionally, online resources abound. Have you checked out Khan Academy to start?

9. The Derision of Others - To be honest, this is the worst one for me. The number of people who have no idea what they are talking about but who still feel qualified or passionate enough to denigrate homeschooling. So, not without its own irony, the uninformed are the worst of the mouthy naysayers.

So, that 's all I could come up with. I asked the kids what they view as negative about homeschooling and they couldn't come up with anything...

So.  There.

Could you come up 
with some disadvantages to homeschooling?
I found this pretty hard to do!  LOL