I'm sorry, but I don't agree with you. My older children attended public school. Public school didn't provide them with socialization and peer interaction. It also did not provide them with the education they needed. They were advanced educationally and the schools were unable to adapt to that. They were bullied and despite having a "zero tolerance" policy, the bullying continued unabated for years. I was an extremely involved parent who also taught for the school district my children attended in. I was president of the PTA. My children's socialization came through supervised group activities like girl and boy scouts, swimming or dance, activities at our local Y, martial arts; you name it...there are many ways to ensure that a child engages in positive peer interaction and socialization in supervised settings where bullying does not take place and, if it does, there is sufficient adult presence to address it. A classroom of 25-30 students with 1 teacher or a lunchroom full of students with 2-3 supervising teachers/paras is not a situation that allows for sufficient adult presence to ensure that children are protected. My son attended public school through elementary and then was homeschooled until high school. He chose to return to school in the 10th grade. He graduated with an advanced regents diploma, a member of National Honor Society, with multiple college scholarships, with a small but tight-knit group of friends and very well-liked by his teachers and most of his peers. What he had when he went back to school that made him successful was a very strong sense of self. When he left school late in elementary, he had no self-esteem; he hated himself and his differences. When he returned, he was confident and comfortable in his own skin. All of my children like themselves, are very self-aware, and are comfortable in their own skins. If they'd spent their formative years being bullied by their peers and dismissed by their teachers, they wouldn't have the sense of self that they have, which will allow them to handle the world as they're ready better than those who have been "socialized" through public school. I know, I've taught in the public schools and they are not equipped to handle special needs students. That's why my children don't attend public schools.

I have homeschooled my 3 children for 3 years. We did go through a period of "deschooling." We basically unschooled for the entire year. We now use a more structured curriculum, but still frequently use many unschooling techniques. We use Time 4 Learning, Progress Academy, as well as many resources online and on TV. I know what motivates my children and I know where their interestes lie, so I move them ever so subtly in those directions. We are big believers in Child-led education.

Oh @ twofiddlers, If your son likes Dolphin Tale, Go to http://www.homeschoolmovieclub.com. They have come up with a whole curriculum based on the movie. They also have featured movies(and past ones) that you can do the same thing with. It's free to join.

@MsJanet Your perspective is a common one and something homeschoolers are questioned about on a regular basis. It is a stigmatic view however and is often supported by schools in an effort to discourage people from choosing to homeschool. I hope you can at least be open-minded enough to realize that you've been misinformed, even if you don't choose to walk this path.
Some food for thought:

Those of us with ASD children had to really think about the "socialization issue" of homeschooling as we know our kids have a harder time learning social skills to begin with.
I don't believe in the segregation of children by their ages. This only happened as a way to process larger and larger numbers of children since the industrial revolution required factory workers with a basic skill set.
So my question to you is: Where, in the so-called "real world" (or adult world as that is what we are trying to prepeare the children for, right?), are people segregated by age like this? In your career? In your hobbies? In your circle of friends? Perhaps initially you made friends at schoolwho were in your class, but as an adult do you not make friends and acquaintances whom are not your exact age, but share common interests, philosophies, beliefs, etc, rather than age?

I do not believe in blindly allowing a system to raise our kids. School kids spend more time with teachers and their peers than with their own parents. They seek guidance from their peers rather than their parents, which is more like the blind leading the blind than anything else.

I do not believe "anti-bullying" campaigns do anything. Kids aren't stupid and they know how to manipulate situations so their victims get all the negative attention. How many times have our ASD kids been bullied to the point of lashing out, and end up being the ones getting in trouble for it, simply because that's all the teacher "saw". Not good enough. If they can't protect my child, than they shall not have the privilege of of my child's presence in their school.

"Socializing" with that many kids can be horribly overwhelming for some kids, ASD or not. Not everyone was born a social butterfly. I personally prefer to spend time with one or two friends rather than a big group. Why shouldn't I respect that my child is also more like this? My son has learned more social skills in the past 2 years of being 'home', than he ever did at school. He is now able to play *with* a friend, rather than always being parallel play. They make decisions together and build things together. They have disagreements and make compromises.

If you really want to know more about life outside the classroom, where real life is actually happening and not just being talked about; where social situations are abundant and variable and much more relevant to their futures than sitting behind a desk and raising themselves with a skewed social construct; where they can have friends of various ages and abilities and feel ok being themselves rather than having every 'deficit' being pointed out to them by their peers, teachers and even their own parents, I highly recommend a book called:

"The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling", by Rachel Gathercole.

It is not ASD specific. But it can be eye-opening and very beneficial for the ASD child especially those with school/social anxiety.

Jamie

I used k12. It was wonderful. I also know of several websites to help, especially with science...www.brainpop.org, www.edheads.org, www.quarked.org, www.tryscience.org, www.sciencenewsforkids.org. Let me know if you need anything else! =)