socialization
One of the things people wonder about homeschooling is socialization. Like, how are our kids going to end up normal human beings when we keep them away from the joyful interplay of the public schoolyard? They needn't worry. Certainly, lots of homeschool kids are odd; but since their parents are far enough out of the mainstream to consider homeschooling to begin with, I think it's fair to say that a good portion of their oddness is pure genetics. Because kids who don't go to school have lots of chances to interact with other kids—at least, ours sure do!
what the lights are for
Take yesterday. In the middle of the day we ventured into Cambridge to play on the best playground in the world (one of em, anyways). Despite it being lunchtime on a school day there were other families there, and before too long Harvey and Zion found some other boys to play with. They started out with a half-hour together on the merry-go-round, then spent some serious time at the sand factory doing something.
if not friends, then at least coworkers
I don't think they ever actually learned each-others' names, but that's not because they're homeschooled—it's because they're boys.
Then when we got home we had 45 minutes to rest before friends arrived—girls this time, for variety—to hang out for a few hours while their parents were at an appointment. They played and played, inside and out. Around supper time they were joined by more kids for our weekly community group gathering, including one boy who had never been to our house before. He was warmly welcomed by the rest of the gang, and was soon well-integrated into their play (that's him on top of the platform in the first picture above).
This afternoon the boys played with the neighbor kids and their friend—a friend who's name Harvey remembered despite only meeting him once or twice before (I take it all back!). Then later they went though the little woods to invite another neighbor to play—and then did play, outside and pretty much unsupervised for a couple hours.
All that activity is not atypical. So yes, there are certain aspects of school socialization that our kids are missing out on—but it's mostly the part around following directions from adults and transitioning easily. Working things out with other kids? No problem! Especially when you have all day long to practice it.