Home-schooled students, well-adjusted kids

The most common concern I hear expressed about home schooling from well-meaning but unknowledgeable people concerns whether children taught at home are socially well-adapted.

I have been researching home-schooling since before my oldest child was born, and can report unequivocally the socialization issue as a positive reason to home school.

In fact, if there is a socialization problem at all in a home school, it's only because kids have so many activities from which to choose.

An abundance of learning opportunities everything from science clubs to 4-H to choir to language-immersion camps ensure that home-schooled kids are exposed to plenty of opportunities to grow both academically and socially.

Home-schooling families also often form groups to take field trips and hold academic contests. Home schooling actually offers more time for children to make friends in activities they choose and enjoy.

Traditional public schools enforce limits on student interaction for large parts of the day. And the socialization they receive often involves primarily negative peer pressure and groupthink. This peer-only segregation is an artificial situation and does not reflect the social structure of the world beyond the educational institution.

In today's peer-influenced society, children are often over-exposed to adult themes before being properly equipped to handle them. Home schooling helps parents fulfill their responsibility as the gatekeeper of their children's experiences while their moral structure is still developing.

A recent study conducted by the National Home Education Research Institute found that adults who were home schooled as youngsters are well-adjusted socially and involved in their communities. Other credible studies have shown that adults who were home-schooled also score high in self-concept tests, which also indicate a positive social adaptability.

Of course, parents who actually do the hard, but satisfying, work of home schooling their children already knew that!

Florence resident Stephanie Graham, a home-schooling parent, wrote this article.

Sources:

Home Schooling and Socialization of Children by Nola Kortner Aiex, ERIC Digest, 1994.

Common Objections to Homeschooling by John Holt, The Natural Child Project, 1997.

Beyond graduation, Home School Legal Defense Association.