Worried About Socialization for the Kids? You Might Want to Homeschool

originally posted 16 NOV 2014

Did the title grab your attention?

The biggest myth about homeschooling and has thousands upon thousands of homeschooling moms rolling their eyes whenever it is brought up is that these kids are not socialized.

Yes, it may be true that your Uncle Bob's next door neighbor's cousins homeschooled son Bubba might sit home and play video games all day but, I'm in the homeschool community and have yet to meet a Bubba. I've met thousands of homeschooled kids in the three states (California, Oregon and Florida) in which we've homeschooled.

My kids have been in school. They've experienced public, private and homeschool. In school, they had one or two close friends. That was it. They hung out at recess and lunch. During classes, kids were warned not to socialize (same thing when I was a kid). Come home, do homework. Sorry, no time to hang out with friends today.

We homeschool now.

My kids are fairly typical homeschoolers. They are involved in groups with other homeschoolers. They are involved in groups with public and private school students. They both have far more good friends than they ever had in school. When my teenaged son has friends over, it's a mix of kids from traditional and home schools. Truthfully, though, it is mostly homeschoolers that can come over because the homework load is so crazy for his other friends. Both kids have friends in school who have asked their parents if they can homeschool too and, every great once in awhile, a family switches over because they do see how successful these kids are socially and academically.

Now, don't take my word for it. You don't know me. Let's look at what research is telling us
Homeschooled children do better on average with standardized tests. The average for public school students is 50%. The average for homeschooled kids is between 70-80% (Rudner, L.M. (1999, March). Scholastic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students)
In 2004, a study came out, "Homeschoolers on to College: What Research Shows Us", that showed some wonderful things and, indeed, when I was teaching undergrads, I discovered that some of the best students had been homeschooled.

From that study:
- ACT and SAT scores are higher on average with homeschoolers (I know, not a socialization fact but good to point out as well).
- Homeschoolers are more than twice as likely to be involved in their communities.
- Homeschoolers are far more likely to vote when they reach voting age (and more likely to be involved in the political process)
- This study looked at other studies and concluded that homeschooled kids are developing at least as well socially if not better than their traditionally-schooled counterparts.
- Self concept is also significantly higher in homeschoolers.

And, just read a study the other day about how kids in traditional schools are struggling socially because of the workload. And, again, this was our experience as well.

I could write and write but here is my takeaway:

Homeschooling isn't for everybody. You know what is best for your child. Pro-choice in education mean you can choose what will work the best. And, in no way am I putting down your choice to choose public school. I just want to show that there a lot of myths surrounding homeschooling.
If you are one of those parents who says they are interested but are also worried about academics and socialization, don't be. The socialization thing is just a myth and there is so much available to you that even if you only have a high school diploma, you can give your child a first-rate education.
Long page and could make it two but will leave it as is. Now, whenever anybody asks here about socialization, I'll point them to this article.