As someone who has finished the homeschooling through high school process with two of my children already (and will soon have two more teens graduating), let me assure you that the final destination is worth every moment of the trip. You need not regret your decision to homeschool your teens all the way through high school. The rewards are many and wonderful.

However, you should set out on this journey well aware of the fact that you will be questioned. People will doubt you can do this job well. They will try to convince you to change your plans.

However, forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes. If you are ready for the onslaught of subtle doubts and outright attacks, you and your students will be able to carry out your plans and reach your goals without taking a risky detour through institutional high school instead.

So what are the two biggest questions that will be thrown at you as you approach the high school years? More importantly, are they really the obstacles people say they are? Or are they actually advantages that will benefit your teens immensely?

WHAT ABOUT SOCIALIZATION?

What--again? Isn't this the most common complaint we hear from the very beginning of our homeschooling? Yes, and the questioning won't stop now. As a matter of fact, it will only increase. After all, teens need to be around other teens. Have you not heard? So the popular culture insists, and disappointingly, many parents agree.

I will not spend much time here discussing the many negative aspects of "socialization" within the traditional schools. We are all quite familiar with the peer pressure environment of high school. Most of us lived through it ourselves (if barely!) in the distant past. We are also treated to ongoing updates as to the schools' violence issues, the flagrant immorality (or at the very least, the prevalent "romance" mentality), the incessant bullying, the rampant disrespect for teachers, etc.

It is true that teens need to learn to deal with many different types of people. They also should grow comfortable in standing up for their beliefs and gain valuable experience in leading others. However, these goals certainly don't need to be (and many would argue that they often can't be) accomplished in an institutional high school.

How can we, as parents of homeschool high school students, be sure that our teens have friends, learn to get along with various personalities, develop cooperation and teamwork skills, continue to respect authority and their elders, grow in their ability to empathize with others' problems, and mature into confident leaders--all the while maintaining their own values and faith?

There are actually many ways for positive "socialization" to occur within the homeschool setting. Be encouraged that employers and colleges have consistently pointed out that they see a big difference in the quality of independence and leadership, as well as general "people skills," that homeschoolers possess as compared to the typical high school graduate.