Society

Kids must play with other kids or at least interact with them in some way.
My son just turned two and had a b-day party today.  My aunt came with her five children (one 12 year old and the other four ranging from 6 to 2).  My son played with the 12 year old, who he absolutely adores.  But, he ignored the others as they ran around the house screaming and playing and screaming some more.
The family I was with decided that I am not parenting correctly.  He is not interacting with enough children enough to know what to do with them.
"He needs to learn this now because he has to go to school."
Well... not necessarily...
Yes, I do agree he needs to have learn how to socialize.  But!  I believe he needs to socialize with ALL ages; not just the ones close to his age.
However...
I'm thinking seriously about not having him learn in a classroom, but at home instead.
I live in a large city, and we can't afford private schooling, so if he has a classroom experience it will be in a public school.
Not only do I hate how far society has digressed (the threat of a school shooting is far too high for my taste and I wouldn't put it past a kindergartner to bring a gun to class for "show and tell"), but I also don't trust that the kids are actually being taught what they need to be.
Standardized tests are all schools care about anymore, so half of learning is "how to take a test" rather than learning things they will actually need to learn.
I don't trust that History is being taught truthfully and would prefer my child to learn through museums and research than a textbook.

The problem with people nowadays is that they believe that all children who are homeschooled grow up not knowing how to behave in a social situation.  I have seen many homeschooled people who grew up sheltered and are absolutely clueless when it comes to common sense, but I believe that is on the parents who teach.
As a parent, I want my child to succeed in every area.  I would teach him common sense and bring him into social situations (not just the park, either).  My husband and I both have very strong opinions (which match!) on the whole social thing, so I wouldn't be alone.

I guess a downside would be that I still wouldn't be able to get a job, because I would have to stay home with him all the time (at least with school, I can get a part time job.. unless I don't have open availability, which I probably wouldn't anyway).

I just don't like how I feel like a bad parent because my son doesn't interact with other kids.  But at the same time, I believe it's just his personality.  He can deal with a couple of kids at once but not very many.  I have a feeling he is a little claustrophobic and all those kids can get a bit overwhelming.  That, and they weren't really paying any attention to him either.  He interacted with the 2 year old when she interacted with him and that was good enough for me.
I also don't like feeling like a bad parent for considering homeschooling :(

P.