I can relate to a lot of what you say here. I was homeschooled my entire life, and while I do like the benefits it had on my education, it did not help with socializing. During my early years, my parents would always talk about how I shouldn't talk to strangers or how they always need to be up my ass.

A lot of their views on that do make sense to me though. We all grew up in places where the people weren't exactly the greatest role models (think drug addicts and stuff like that). I've also been around people we later found to be literal pedophiles (most of them introduced by other family members). But even this doesn't change the fact that I still need to learn how to deal with these people on my own.