HS kids are not exposed to the 'hard knocks' in life, i.e. things that they are, otherwise, exposed to in school. Is it a disadvantage?

I really do not think in homeschooling we will be over protecting the kids. If you want to learn bad stuff, go to some gangster area.:)

Kids have every opportunity to learn about the world....good and bad. Like my daughter....she went to a playgroup and she got pummelled on occasion ....so that's part of the deal. We personally think that we don't need school to teach kids "hard knocks" in order to better survive in life. On the contrary, we need to let kids or humans, in general, fail and learn. And thus, cultivating the mentality of dare to fail, which subsequently, will lead to confidence in bouncing back after each failure.

Moreover, as homeschooling parents, we want to have the option of making sure the "pummeling" session occur inside an environment that we can have somewhat control. Even if my daughter retaliate as a result of getting a beating, we want them to retaliate for the right reason.

Most importantly, if they are loved, we believe that the children will be confident enough to deal with anything. I think we basically believe that a child that felt love and receives a lot of it, they are very happy and confident children. So, with this in mind, they will be able to face whatever that comes their way in future. In school, don't we all know enough people and their corresponding success rate in facing challenges in life? Certainly the school will shape a person, there are people that survive and turn out to be good. I also believe that if we raise our children with love, they can survive anywhere.

One more thing.....I cannot see really the importance of being able to swear curse words and acquiring pummelling skill as proposed by some proponents of traditioinal schooling as one of the important things to learn in school.