I am planning on home schooling my child and have heard many
                        concerns as to socialisation. For example, "how will interact with
                        others?", "will they spend all day inside?", "will they be able to
                        interact when they are adults?", "will they be deprived social?"
                        etc.

                        School is only a relatively new thing and, to me, school is the
                        experiment, not home education. It was only in the late 1800's
                        when schools were introduced yet now it is the "norm". Prior to
                        this, children would learn through observation, spending time with
                        their parents and other adults or siblings, through trade etc. They
                        did not learn through the school system.

                        I am certainly not concerned about my child's ability to socialise
                        and am not concerned that they will not be able to interact as
                        adults. Quite the contrary in fact...

                        Imagine learning through practise and observation rather than
                        through a text book? Isn't it so much easier this way? For
                        example, in a classroom when you're learning a foreign language
                        you are taught through instruction and books. If you are home
                        educating, what's to stop you spending time in France for
                        example, and learning the language, culture, geography, way of
                        living, laws and politics through practise. This is the best way to
                        learn and there is no doubting this.

                        The best way to succeed in the business world is to be exposed
                        to the business world, not through theory but through practise. I've
                        always maintained that 1 year's industry experience is worth more
                        than a doctorate in that industry. Theory just isn't the same as
                        practise, it only gets you so far.

                        What I am saying is that school is not the best way to learn both
                        socially and education wise. The best way to learn how to act as
                        an adult is to be around adults most of the time. However,
                        children are around children for over 40 hours a week these days
                        and around adults at night and on weekends (sometimes). We
                        also have to keep in mind that half of this time is spent winding
                        down after a hectic day, watching TV etc. This is not "quality"
                        time. A child learns through example and practise and if they are
                        spending the majority of time with other people of their age, they
                        are learning how to act like they are from that age group. Is this
                        the best way to socialise? I don't think so.

                        Children need to feel comfortable around adults when they are
                        children and treated like adults to grow into a respectable mature
                        adult with a great insight into how the world really works, not how
                        the theory of a text book thinks it works. When a child reads from
                        a text book, they are reading the point of view of one person and
                        have to trust it.. why? Because they haven't seen it to be able to
                        make a decision for themselves, an analysis, an interpretation...
                        so they grow with a point of view of the world that is not really
                        their own.

                        Becoming well educated doesn't mean sitting in classroom
                        copying from the blackboard or reading a text book (that the state
                        has recommended) or learning subjects that the child has no
                        interest in. Being well educated comes from experience that the
                        school system can certainly not provide.

                        Social skills are not achieved by being thrown into a class of 25
                        people who are your age and being forced to adapt to them... this
                        is unnatural in my opinion. Good social skills are achieved
                        naturally through spending time with adults and *choosing* friends
                        (not necessarily of the same age).

                        Children grow and develop their skills through experiencing life,
                        not being thrown in a select group for 14 years or more. This is
                        how it has been in the past, throughout history... it worked then
                        and it works now.