Homeschooling as socialization...

"What about socialization?" The single, most repeated question that every homeschooler gets.

Before I was married, I remember talking with a friend who related an incident in which some friends of his showed up at his house, with their homeschooled daughter. Their daughter, according to my friend, was the epitome of ignorance, with regards to social behavior. A few years later, I recall hearing from another friend who questioned whether or not homeschooled children would garner the ability to interact properly with other (read: normal) children. His analysis was based, primarily, on his observations of two homeschooled children while he was an assistant leader in a church youth group.

Initially, my response to such inquiries would be to cite off the many and varied opportunities our children have to interact with other children (e.g., church activities, homeschool group events, sports teams, etc.). Yet, as I began to watch my children's development, especially when compared to their peers who were being socialized in the public school system, I noticed that they're social abilities tended to follow the bend of their particular personalities. What's more, it seems that the social environments they are placed in, due to homeschooling, are more diverse than those of their peers. My sixth grader's public school educated friend has, essentially, a classroom full of other sixth graders (and one or two adult teachers) with which to form her social mores.

From FRC Blog, Day Care Study regarding socialization,

For years, stay-at-home parents have been trivialized by feminists who wrongly believe that a mother or father's care is replaceable. However, a new study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at NIH proves the feminist ideology wrong. The most expansive research of its kind, the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development found that putting a child in day care for a year or more increases the chances that the child will become disruptive in class--a trend that persists through the sixth grade.

Are we really prepared to let our kids get their socialization skills from other kids? Are we really prepared to let our kids learn from other kids?

From Areopagitica, a link to a Tony Woodlief post, and a caustic quote,

But don’t believe the data if you’re not inclined, just listen to teenagers talk. I don’t mean your own teens, who I am sure are brilliant, but other people’s teenagers. Go to the mall and just listen. People knock homeschoolers for not exposing their children to “socialization,” but maybe it’s a good thing. Being socialized into a society of idiots is not exactly great preparation for life success. (emphasis added)

Perhaps it's the homeschoolers who should be asking question, "What about socialization?"

Update: Doug, at Stones Cry Out, links to an editorial, by Linda Whitlock, in the Roanoke Times. Whitlock states,

...But one significant benefit to home schooling, and one of the reasons many parents make the choice, may surprise you. It's the socialization.

Yes, I do mean socialization. Far from being a drawback to home schooling, as the myth would have it, socialization is actually one of home schooling's greatest virtues.

Like their public school counterparts, home school students have plenty of opportunities to mingle with their peers. They belong to organizations like Boy Scouts and 4-H. They participate in sports. And many are involved in church youth activities and volunteer work.

But unlike public school students, who spend the greater part of each day almost exclusively in the company of people their own age, home school students, whose days are often spent in the company of people of various ages, are less likely to depend on their peers for validation of their choices and values.

Comments

[Jason Holm]

Hi, there! I've recently started a comic strip about homeschooling called "Schools Are For Fish". You can check out the first comic (which is about socialization) on my new website:
http://www.inflatablestudios.com/
This is the first of many future comics to come. Hope you enjoy them, and feel free to reprint them!
-Jason Holm