I am so afraid to present my story to any of you for fear that you may be prejudiced toward home schooling.

I home schooled our third and fourth child (a son and a daughter) through high school. We had two older boys in private school and our third son always competed with his big brothers. We were such a close family and we moved around a lot since my husband was in the military. Our son, John, (not his real name) was always a little different, showing extreme frustration after hour first major move. He was shown soooo much love from the entire family and demonstrated much intelligence... laced with a very pensive type personality.

To attempt to shorten this, our son, now 26, holds me personally responsible for overly sheltering him from the world. My husband basically abandoned me from the responsibility of decisions we both made. He has placed me all alone in a corner and all four kids think I am the only issue. "John" has graduated with a 4.0 from a very good university, has become a policeman and is an officer in the Air Guard. He also married a nice girl and has purchased his own home. Yet, he resents me for keeping him from having a "normal" life due to my sheltering.

I don't know how to deal with the pain I feel daily from this broken relationship. I would appreciate any advice.

WOW, you have a lot going wrong in your life right now. Please do yourself a favor and get some professional help ASAP! Personally I wish we could or would have home schooled our girls. The public school system is so bad now days I am afraid for our grand kids and the lack of a quality education they are receiving.

On a side note- your son may not have been so successful without the home-schooling. It sounds like you did a good job.

Sounds like someone is filling his head with bull. Home school children are not "hidden" from the world, but saved from often very poor education systems and more.

A properly homeschool child will learn the arts, will do field trips to learn things first hand, and will still have friends and be as normal if not better than those in public schools.

It shoulds like he has issues and is merely looking to blame someone else other than taking responsibility for his own actions.

By the time he has finished college, and been though basic training and a police academy, he is just full of bull in my opinion,

You need to not be in a corner, tell them tough, if they don't like it they don't have to home school, if your husband is lying call him on it and tell him to stand up for what he did too or sleep on the couch.

What does he feel he missed out on? Was he happy with the idea of homeschooling at the time? Did he interact with other kids outside the family while homeschooling... participate in outside activities? Could it be he is simply using the homeschooling as an excuse for dissatisfaction that he may be feeling in himself and the paths he has chosen?

There are people who want to claim that this or that effected them, and to some extent I guess it will We of course don't know how you home schooled, I know some parents that have no business doing it, and I think they are doing their child a very injustice. But on the other hand when done properly it is the best form of education for most children.

I am not sure how to reply---to my replies! I am new here. I want to thank each of you for your encouragement and support. I feel that you all gave me very good advice. Thanks!

Your son is grown up now and obviously feels he has some shortcoming - socially perhaps. It is not your fault or your responsibility at all. If he feels there is something he needs to change about himself, then it is up to him to change it. Perhaps he has confidence issues. You will not be able to help him if you are feeling guilty. It is bad enough having to bear the loss of his warmth towards you without adding to it by being self critical. Be compassionate to yourself, then pick yourself up and fill your life with good things and people who appreciate you. Good luck and have a good life. It is time for you to let yourself be happy!

Oops that's the second time today I missed realising a thread was so old. (I banged up my toe last night and it kept waking me up so that's my excuse for temporary idiocy - at least I hope it's temporary!) Still think your post warranted a greenie Fr chuck even if it was given a long time after the advice.