work in progress .. to collect and organize thoughts on the topic

I want to thank the many parents who visited and commented on my question below.

In the previous entry I detailed my public school experience in terms of competition and asked homeschool parents whether lack of competition proved to be a problem of the movement. There are a few more points I want to clarify and then I want to attempt to answer the question given what I have read from the comments below and in discussion with other homeschool parents.

First off, my educational experience was unusual. I would label it an excellent public school experience. It was supported by the parents, well funded by local industry and it produced a high percentage of students who went to and completed college. Most of the top 10% graduates went to Ivy League schools. Almost everyone in my class had scholarship money to go to college and the two students (of 157) who didnt go went into the military to raise money for college. The competitive environment I encountered was artificially created by collecting the high achievers into groups. The number of students which drove me to peform better was small (the HSEP school at my high school consisted of about 30 students with an ACT average of almost 28 -- in 1991, for reference). If I had gone to a normal public high school, as many of my friends in college did, I might not have encountered this type of competition (in fact I very much doubt so). Many of my friends in college had to adjust to the rigors of college because they were not driven in high school.

My wife went through a similar environment. Consider that given the above, we will NOT be sending our kids to public school. We had some of the best of what the public school system has to offer and still find homeschooling to be a preferable option for our children.

Which brings me to motivation.

A high level of competition in academic areas can be demonstrated by the performance of homeschooled children in actual academic competitions. The most obvious example of this is the spelling bee competitions. I have been assured by parents that ample opportunity exists to expose children to the necessary environments to drive them to excellence. This is part of the normal social environment sought out by homeschool parents. Still, to me this differs from the socialization question (**1) which to me focuses on the ability of children to participate effectively in society and develop the necessary social skills to do so. The competition aspect focuses more on performance against peers of the same or similar ages. This begs the question: Why limit competition to your age group? Furthermore, doesn't the parent know best how to inspure their own children and seek out the opportunities necessary for intellectual growth?

The homeschool solution for kids who thrive on competition
1. Seek out competitive environments, both academically and athletically to challenge your children to perform in such environments.
2. Get high school kids to take classes at a local community college
3. Set high expectations for children who need them. It doesn't take 30 kids of the same age to do that.
4. Siblings offer competition
5. Self-motivation and competition against yourself cannot be discounted (the runner analogy)

**1 Homeschooling: So what about socialization?