Socialization
- The comments can really get me going. I help my son with his decision to homeschool. They do help in the family business. They take dance and horseback riding, go fishing, participate in tournaments, participate in soccer, football, baseball, cheerleading and have tea parties. They are able to deal with adults as well as other children. They are loving and caring children who also help organizing clothing drives for the homeless shelter . They are more socially equipped than many of their public and private school friends. They are now in the middle of developing a business plan for an idea they have. You tell me who is getting a better deal. And, they don't have to deal with the social "bullying" that is going on in schools today. I love watching them as they progress and develop. And I also love it when one of their cousins, who is in public school, ask for help with homework---they are in higher grades. Beat that with a stick. I do wish I had more room.
- —Guest DMJones
Brazilian Mom
- It's been three months since I've begun homeschooling my six-year-old boy. He's been attending soccer and swimming classes plus a co-op English class (which I teach). I know that the family is the best kind of socialization and we interact a lot in church. The problem is that homeschooling is illegal in Brazil and we are few underground homeschooling families scattered around a 3.5-million-inhabitant city AND my son is an only child. Sometimes I fear he will be lonely. I don't think he will have trouble adjusting later on, but I'd appreciate any suggestions about the loneliness thing.
- —Justarling
Hm.sch. & Soc.Challege / Moment of Truth
- Home school kids are “Socially Challenged?” Does anyone think this when they hear the words “PRIVATE School?” No. This means people who say this is uninformed, and they tell me so when they think that Home schooled kids are socially challenged. If you wanna know what I’m supposing consider this. I think that the definition of being Socially Challenged is about to define itself "Out Loud" in just a few more years as texting, blackberries, online chats, posting, blogs, youtube, googling, yahooanswers, myspace, facebook and such is the NEW socialization upon us all. If we just wait a bit it’ll be the home schooled kids that may become the “Key-Kind” possessing an attribute-edge they’ll need and the world will need in years to come. Home schooling kids may be the ones most personality-true owning originality, and creativity, as they are obviously not groomed to “Fall-in-line." We are not just rocking the cradle any more;we're back to shape the minds that will shape the WORLD. Yes we are!
- —Guest AngelEscort
Public Schools Make Anti-Social Kids
- The most common question we get and by far the most irritating: Aren't you worried about socialization? I tell people I'm very worried about socialization and that is exactly why I homeschool. Kids in the public school system spend the day being told not to socialize: sit quietly, don't talk to the person next to you, no comments when the teacher is trying to teach. And this is the "social" situation that children must have in order to survive in the world? Public schools don't teach our children to be social, they teach them to be anti-social. Bullying, disrespect, lying, cheating, shunning of those who are different in any way, these are all lessons I choose for my children not to learn. Most HS kids I meet are polite, well-mannered, well-spoken, confident people able to get along with people of different ages and backgrounds. In fact, very social children! As a previous poster has said, the socialization question is totally a non-issue.
- —AngelaP.
socialization
- We get a lot of "flack"from people who think that going to school with other kids is extremely necessary to "all" childrens' development. They seem to think our daughter is "suffering". Other people say "I wish we could do that with our children. Your daughter is so confident in her ability to talk with people well."
- —Guest Deborah
Seriously, We're behind a wall?
- OK Phil here's your grown up homeschooler & I know several others you could talk to. I've been homeschooled all my life and I'm in college now & doing just fine. I am not insane or in denial. I hav had to tell most people I've been homeschooled. And according to my instructors they love having homeschoolers not only because of their grades but because they participate. There are bad apples in every form of education & there are good examples. And as for my having the ability to handle myself, I know how to be respectful, work in group environments as a team & know when something is appropriate. I have also experienced peer rejection/acceptance and know who I am, so as long as I'm being true to myself it doesn't matter what others think. So sorry but maybe you are the one behind a wall.
- —Guest CMG
PS socialization can be a bad thing...
- My 9th grade, Honors/AP student can't wait to leave a popular Magnet High School so she can be homeshooled. Why? The friends she knew since elementary are pre-occupied with sex, boys,(or girls), Facebook and the latest gossip about her. She has been so hurt and confused by this "social" norm. The high school experience with socialization is proving to be a painful, superficial endeavor. She desires deeper loyal friendships and is dismayed by how her best friends leave her out and prefer a superficial,"just want to have fun" relationship, no trust. She is not going to miss anything home schooling. Our hope is to put opportunity to take the frantic pace out of her life and focus on a quality education and a quality approach to all relationships: with The Lord, her family, her community and hopefully new and more sincere friends.
- —Guest scs
Early americans
- Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, present-day actors Dakota Fanning and Frankie Muniz, Susan La Flesche Picotte who was America’s first female American Indian physician, and finally, civil rights activist Rosa Parks were home schooled!
- —Guest Erin
Soialization
- With all due respect I beg to differ Phil. I work in a private school and these children do NOT socialize very much! By the way the teachers spend very little time actually teaching these children and so far as I can see the day is planned around the teachers needs and not the children s. If children don't want to listen then they are punished rather than given choices. At any rate there is not much socialization going on. I don't think schools offer much in the way of socialization. I see teens stand around the street corner waiting for the bus in the morning but is that really socializing? I see children coming home from school in the afternoon but I don't see socialization. Pretty much what kids are doing at school can be done at home including socialization.
- —Guest LAC
Socialization is Not a Big Issue
- After years of being homeschooled, then spending 12 years teaching in a variety of schools, and now homeschooling my own children I have come to the conclusion that where your child is educated has very little affect on their ability to interact with other peers, adults, future bosses, etc. If you were to take a random sampling of children in public education, private education, and those being educated at home I truly believe that you would find just about an equal number of socially awkard individuals in each group. Just yesterday I walked into a classroom of 18 high-school seniors. I was immediately able to pick out the 4 kids who did not "fit in" among the norm. The same was true several weeks ago while attending a homeschool band concert. Socialization comes down to parenting...not educating. I really don't feel that socialization should receive as much emphasis in the homeschool vs. public/private school debate as it does.
- —Guest Bonita
Socialization
- I have homeschooled our 10 children. From my experience, proper socialization, for the most part, is taught at home through example. How do you interact with others? How do you interact with your children? Do they feel important and loved? Are they taught to love others? If so, they will be fine. There may be periods in their life when others their age decide to leave them out because they are homeschooled. That does happen and it hurts. But, I had to ask myself if I really wanted them to be involved with children that treated others like that. The answer was always no. Those experiences truly taught them what they do not want to do to others. Unfortunately, children aren't always nice to one another. They need to be taught to do that. When they are left to teach one another, the rule of the strongest wins. That is not the socialization I want for my children. The upside is confident, happy, young people with virtuous characters - not fooled by popularity.
- —personaljournalwriter
re: Guest Phil & Socialization
- You do realize, Phil, that what you refer to as "conventional" has only been compulsory since the late 19th century, right? Here are some homeschooled people whose "independent views" have more than been heard. http://www.eadshome.com/Famoushomeschooled.htm
- —Guest Rome
My friend...
- My friend is homeschooled, while I attend regular traditional school. I will invite him to hang out with me and my friends, who attend my school. He is always awkward around them, and when he does speak, it is something very strange that no one understand. He tells me he feels like a soical outcast. He tells me he feels like he has very few friends. I have never met a homeschooler who I have mistaken for someone who attends regular school. They all look, act, and dress like "homeschoolers". I'm not saying there's a right and a wrong. I just say there's a good and better.
- —Guest Me
A little worried
- I am just startig on the homeschool adventure and I'm a little worried about how my children will be able to make friends. I know how it feels to yearn for a friend. But sending them to school doesn't necessarily guarantee satisfying friendships. It's the only problem I have with homeschooling..I don't want my babies to miss out on anything good. Right now the oldest is five and doesn't seem to need it much, but I'm concerned about it. Our church is very small with no one her age :-(
- —Guest Chris
Round the Globe its just the same!
- Here in Mumbai, India there were already few homeschoolers. Then we shifted to another smaller metro where I think there are none. We never expected any in Mumbai either, so it's all right. The major socializing 'problem' with me isn't mine, it's given to me. Anyone and everyone who asks about homeschooling has as a trump card in their final questions of their 'What is homeschooling?' assault. Again and again they keep coming. And mind you- who are counted as the smartest or most sophisticated are the dumbest of em. The answer- extra circular activities where I meet other children from other schools and 'socialize' with them. Not a big problem. Wherever a homeschooler goes he is the smartest of the lot. For a good reason - he doesn't socialize a lot in school. But there are problems and you know them. All friends are from one place/activity only, are not the same age maybe younger/older, few of them, or maybe not many like the others. Address them tactfully and you rule.
- —Guest Vishesh
