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church my thirteen-year-old takes a half hour to "make his rounds" shaking hands and greeting the pastor, the elderly saints in our church, discussing current affairs with the ushers, helping the little kids reach the donuts, as well as meeting new visitors and learning their names so he can greet them personally next week. My daughter publishes her own graphic novel series on the internet and has dozens of readers that communicate with her daily from around the world.

So how do homeschoolers acquire the skills to function socially? From birth, I took my children everywhere with me. They accuse me of "van schooling." We worked on phonics at the grocery store and from the time they could sit up or stand in the cart they helped put the groceries on the checkout conveyor. They learned from as early as they could speak to politely introduce themselves to the person working the register and to thank them by name for their assistance. We learned colors at the fabric store, shapes at the hardware store, phonics at the mall.

Homeschoolers have as their teachers not only their parents but tour guides, park rangers, museum docents, and public relations directors. Basic manners were modeled and taught with an attitude that people are more important than things. Studying the California Gold Rush? Pan for gold downstream from Sutter's Mill. Studying space exploration? Take the free tour at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena. My children learned to ask pertinent questions of everyone they met from the bus driver to the CEO. Politely ask a person about their occupation or hobby, listen with enthusiasm, and you have won a friend.

There are very few "group" activities that a homeschooler cannot find a way to join. Sports, theater productions, music groups, debate teams, science fairs, camps, and clubs are all either open to outside participation or have been generated for homeschoolers by the home education community. Many homeschoolers find they are ready to enroll in local Junior College classes while they are still in high school. My daughter, because she is petite, was afraid others at the JC would spot that she was not yet a high school graduate. Many times teachers and students assumed she was an older student because of her poise in social situations.

A couple who took a mining tour with my children confessed to me afterward, "We were disappointed when we saw there were children on this tour but the time spent with your children has been delightful." In contrast,

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