Growing up homeschooled quite generally means that by the time you get out into the real world, you're totally unprepared. You've been sheltered your whole life by everyone around you, regarding everything. This is especially true for the bubble in which I live. Most kids here are sheltered. The homeschooled kids are whatever's on the farthest side of sheltered - hermits, possibly?
These homeschooled kids then go straight to college, for which they are completely unprepared. They become overwhelmed by the choices and the people and it's all too much. They then do one of two things: they buckle down like the good homeschoolers that they are and get their work done and major in biochemistry and graduate at the top of their class, or they suddenly realize they never had chances like these before and drink until they can no longer stand up.
Maybe I'm weird. I don't know. But I feel like there's a time in high school when your parents should let go enough that you can see some things for yourself. Too many homeschool parents seem to think that they went through everything you can in high school, got hurt themselves, and won't let their children get hurt the same way. Which is great, in theory. But you have to learn things for yourself, or everything's going to be tempting all the time. When you're five and learning to ride a bike, your parents keep you on training wheels for a while and then take them off, with the condition that you ride slowly and be careful on turns. But they know you won't, and you inevitably take off full-tilt one day, hit a bump and end up with some really interesting scars. And you learn to be careful, but you also learn that you can go full-tilt sometimes - you just have to watch for that particular bump.
(I'm stretching a metaphor here, but stick with me.)
Stupid things happen and you get hurt. Your parents probably did they same thing when they were learning to ride their bikes. But that doesn't mean they can just tell you about it, and then keep you away from bikes altogether. Some things have to be learned on your own, and you do eventually have to grow up.
Not everything needs to be tried full-tilt, and I'm not implying it should be. But the way to raise normal, balanced kids is not to keep them from doing absolutely anything their friends want to. Sometimes you have to learn not to stay out until 2 AM the night before a test by doing really poorly on that test. Sometimes you have to learn not to get drunk around people you don't know by seeing pictures of yourself posted on Facebook, and being made fun of for the next two weeks. Sometimes you have to get yourself out of problematic situations. It's part of growing up, and it should be done while you still have the support of being at home and being able to go home and cry and have your mom fix you ice cream.
I'm not saying parents should supply alcohol, or that they should be okay with anything their kid comes up with. But there's a point when you have to accept that your kids are essentially good kids, and that sometimes you have to let go.
