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Do you guys worry about the social aspect of it? Like if a kid is homeschooled isn't it easier for them to not see the real world as in bein introduced to different people and different forms of working together and collaborating as well as negotiating when working in undesirable conditions?
Actually, it's the opposite that is true. Where else in life are you ONLY exposed to other people of the exact same age, living in the exact same area, experiencing the exact same things 5 days a week? No where but in traditional schools!
Generally, homeschoolers have many more opportunities for real exposure to cultural differences than in a traditional school. We're out and about in the world, meeting people in work environments, in park settings, going to museums and many other places. We have homeschool groups where kids of all ages get together to learn and play together, rather than just those of the same age allowed to play together.
Besides at recces, when are traditional school kids actually "socializing"? Even at recess kids aren't socializing in a healthy manner. Generally they are banding together in small cliques trying to figure out who's group is in control of the others because there aren't enough adults around to break it up.
Parents who make this choice need to be very careful about building in appropriate time for social interaction with other kids. As important as that it for all kids, it's especially important for kids with ASDs, who often see a lot more isolation than most.
Most of the homeschoolers that I know who have children with disabilities, find that other homeschoolers and their children are much more accepting and tolerant of their children than those in traditional schools. So they actually are much less isolated because they are homeschooled. I have seen kids with all sorts of various "social issues" go from being extremely introverted to very outgoing because of being around other homeschoolers.
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I have known homeschooled students to participate in school plays, band, chorus, athletics...all things that cannot be provided in a homeschooling environment. Not all parents/students make use of this, but it has been an option for all.
Acutally, all those things can be provided for homeschoolers outside of the school districts as well. There are many many organizations that have ALL of those things available for homeschoolers now. It's not like it was back in the 1980's when homeschooling was done in secret.
Hmm that's interesting. I hadn't ever thought of it that way. Maybe because in my school, we do so many programs and things other schools in other districts don't do so my school actually does do a lot of things one would see in the "real world" but thanks guys! Your answers make a lot of sense and make it clearer
Do you guys worry about the social aspect of it? Like if a kid is homeschooled isn't it easier for them to not see the real world as in bein introduced to different people and different forms of working together and collaborating as well as negotiating when working in undesirable conditions?
I think the opposite is true.
They see far more of the real world when done well, and even if it isn't it is usually better then a public school. A school environment certainly isn't anything like the real world, and for many people is a very negative experience which can dog a person for a long time.
A local homeschooling group put on a play for the community at a big coffee shop owned by a friend. It was really good and done to the level that a high school would have done (kids were middle school aged). They do all kinds of stuff that is harder for families to do on their own.
A friend homeschooled, and is now at the top of his class in law school. The thing I have noticed about homeschooled kids is they do not fail at anything they end up doing.
If I have kids someday, I would seriously consider homeschooling.
Really, I have a hard time understanding why people would want to send their kids to regular school? LOL!
My bestfriend is lucky enough to be in a financial position where she doesn't have to work and her husband suggested they homeschool their bright child instead of sending her to public school. Despite having been a professional educator (at a nonprofit science education organization) she absolutely refused to homeschool.
She feels that despite being trained far more than a lay person in education that education itself is a collaborative effort in. It's finest form. She did not want to deny her daughter access to the best parts of traditional education just to avoid the worst parts of it.
Granted her daughter has access to a great public school system.
For us, it was because one of ours was a foster child who had been bounced around A LOT. He needed to learn how to live in a family, how to be in a home and to feel secure that it was his home. The time of homeschooling continued for much longer than I expected because, frankly, I found him growing:
more secure personally (no peer pressure regarding who he SHOULD be),
more active socially (he was in all sorts of homeschool groups and lots of extracurr. because he had no homework)
and getting stronger academically (we used a homeschool accred. curriculum and hired a math tutor as it got harder)
than our kids who were IN school!!
Homeschool suprised me. It was a better outcome than I thought and eventually we also homeshcooled one of our own children for awhile! It is a great option when done correctly...in fact, a teacher suggested it to us!
Because the Liberal Education System failed to instill the Values of Jesus Christ and taught Satanist anti-American Socialist lies and Did Not teach the Word without which we are all Lost so we brought his Children home to be taught the Right and Only Way and Lord it has been Difficult because little Samantha insists on learning maths which are Unknowable for a girl and has been Brainwashed to think she can be a Banker and I must Pray every Night for her Salvation and little Jonah is Cursed with the Wandering Eye and must be instructed from two Directions at once to capture his Attention but Lord we will Persevere amen
Because the Liberal Education System failed to instill the Values of Jesus Christ and taught Satanist anti-American Socialist lies and Did Not teach the Word without which we are all Lost so we brought his Children home to be taught the Right and Only Way and Lord it has been Difficult because little Samantha insists on learning maths which are Unknowable for a girl and has been Brainwashed to think she can be a Banker and I must Pray every Night for her Salvation and little Jonah is Cursed with the Wandering Eye and must be instructed from two Directions at once to capture his Attention but Lord we will Persevere amen
My fear is that in the so-called "real world" he will hardly be exposed to truly "different" kinds of people...because young people are no longer socialized to be different...but like you said, to "collaborate" and only live and breathe in superficial, large, organized groups.
I see an increasingly homogeneous population out there (regardless of race/ethnicity, social class, etc) with children who seemed to have been mass-reproduced and mass-brought up and with little individuality: nterested only in things that have to do with images (video-games, TV, entertainment-based education), only able to function in large, organized groups, teachable by images and entertainment only, conversationally impaired, over-scheduled if middle-to-upper-middle-class, left to be raised by electronics if lower-class, generally lacking social graces or ability to connect at a one-on-one level in a meaningful, personal manner, treating volunteering (lots of it!) as means of personal advancement /CV enhancer, etc. That's what I see everywhere in my son's generation - not differences, but a huge homogeneous mess. Yes, I know I am generalizing but I am doing it well - because the phenomenon really is GENERAL.
I agree. Hindsight being 20/20, I'd have never enrolled mine in Kindergarten. I'd have either found a homeschooling co-op, or homeschooled them myself making sure they were exposed to other homeschoolers for the socialization aspect of it.
I see a lot of curricula which are little more than an inch thick and a mile wide.
Last edited by cebdark; 08-29-2011 at 06:56 PM..
Reason: added
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Homeschool Suprises
