What about socialization?

I have made the very big decision to home school my son starting this fall.  It's been a long and weighty process as I have had to filter out all the opinions of everyone who "cares" for what is best for my son.  Ultimately, it came down to me and God.  There may be a lot of people who say they care - and probably most of them mean it - but I am the person God knew was fit to raise Jay in the way God has planned.

I am excited and overwhelmed with this decision to take my son out of public school and keep him home all day - every day - all year round.  I am looking forward to a LOT of positive changes in him, as we remove most of the things that overwhelmed him during school causing him to act out.

The most popular question I've been faced with when I tell people I've decided to home school is, "what about socialization?"  "Aren't you worried that with his social and emotional needs that he will regress in his progress in those areas?"  "Public school is best for kids socialization."  I have had to defend myself and my decision to so many people who all say they truly "care" about Jay's well-being and want what's best for him.

I picked up a book about home school that a dear friend gave to me a while back and couldn't help but shed a few joyful tears!  The words jumped off the page like they were written just for me.
     "In appreciation of this concern, researchers began to take a serious look at the well-accepted idea of the necessity of peer socialization.  Homeschooling parents had already begun to write articles supporting the opposite contention: that spending a lot of time with one's own age-mates actually harm children by making them peer dependent, unable to think and act independently, and causing them to grow up with an unhealthy need for peer approval.  The Bible seems to support the idea of peer dependency when it states that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; and that the companion of fools himself becomes a fool.
     "What researchers found and what homeschooling parents have long contended is that children who spend more time with adults become better socialized than children who spend most of their time with their age-mates.  This is true mainly because, when a child spends a lot of time with adults, the child is having modeled to him a far more mature set of social skills.
     "Researchers found that the homeschooled child is more involved with other children than most people assume.  Homeschooled children are involved in an average of five activities outside the home for which they seem to have plenty of time since they watch only 1/10th as much television as public schooled children.  the homeschooled child will score well above his age-mates in every available self-esteem and socialization test. Perhaps this is why two-thirds of homeschool graduates end up self employed, a direction that takes a great deal of self-esteem.
     "The real question one should ask is not, 'what about socialization?'  All children will be socialized.  The questions that should be asked are, 'by whom do we want our children socialized?', 'who will teach them their social skills?', and 'with whom should they spend mos of their time: adults or peers?'  Some homeschooling parents are even beginning to ask friends who send their children to public school, 'why send your children to public school; aren't you concerned about socialization?"

Exactly what I needed to hear (or uh, read)!!