Homeschooling & Socialization

We home school.  We always have.  It is a great fit for our family, and most of the time, I enjoy it very much.  There are challenges at times, but I am sure there are challenges in any educational setting.  We work through them and move on.
Throughout the years, people have made many comments (positive and negative) to me about home schooling.  Honestly, it does not bother me at all if someone does not agree with our choices.  I am not a very defensive person, in general.  Most of the time, parents make choices for their children that they believe to be best for those particular children.  With that in mind, I see absolutely no need for arguing about which school setting is right or wrong.  Every parent of every child has to decide that for themselves.  For our kids and our family, home schooling has been the right choice.
One thing that I have found interesting is how many people question whether or not my children will know how to act in "the real world."  I find that to be a very odd question since we live in "the real world" right now.  They aren't in a "pretend world" at home with me.  They go to the grocery store, the bank, the doctor's office, karate lessons, the park, and anywhere else life takes us.  One child has been to a real estate closing and a homeless shelter.  We did not necessarily seek out those experiences to fit our lesson plan - life just took us there!
Today, we went on a little excursion to the local science museum.  While there, we had the opportunity to be around students from a local public school's gifted class and with students from a local Muslim school.  There were also some adults with special needs on a trip with their class, and another group of younger students with special needs, also on a field trip.  We came home in time for my older kids to change into their karate clothes and be dropped off for class with more kids, some home schooled and others public schooled.  While the older kids had their lesson, I took the younger ones to a local park.  They played with several children there who happened to be bilingual Hispanic children.  This is just an example of one very typical day.  The places that we go may change from day to day, but we always have opportunities to interact with people from varying backgrounds and circumstances.  You know - in "the real world."