Are Homeschoolers Properly Socialized?

SOCIALIZATION

People have said that children taught at home will miss time learning to cope with their peers, claiming that homeschooled children may eventually grow up to be social misfits. The “Socialization” argument is often used to confuse & intimidate parents of homeschooled children to discourage them from beginning a homeschool program. This is completely unfounded. The opposite is actually true.

Homeschooled students are commonly educated in an atmosphere where they can be creative, independent, personally secure and socially very well adjusted. A documented study done at the University of Florida found that homeschooled children fair as well or better than traditionally schooled children in adjusting socially since socialization depends more upon parental role modeling that peer to peer interaction. It's actually silly to think that a student learns substantial formative social skills from a peer who generally has the same amount of experience.

Due to the nature of homeschooling, homeschooled students usually wind up mingling in society in a variety of ways and a lot more often than traditionally schooled children. Students who are homeschooled with a Biblical world view especially can benefit from a family atmosphere supporting shared values. Parents of homeschooled children are often not swayed by criticisms of and warnings that their homeschooling will result in poor social skills. They oftentimes do not believe they are over-sheltering their children and often times feel a sense of pride to say they deprive their children of the ever-present materialistic, dysfunctional social situations in a secular, government school setting!

The argument that homeschooling provides a weak social experience is illogical and has been widely proven as a false argument. The Bible gives us just the opposite conclusion in I Cor. 15.33, that “Evil company corrupts good morals”.

I. FREQUENT MYTHS CONCERNING HOMESCHOOLING THAT ARE UNTRUE
A. Children are missing the benefits of being with their peers.
B. Children are being over sheltered.
C. Children will be unable to cope later in life.

II. THE HIDDEN CONSEQUENCES OF NEGATIVE, SECULAR SOCIALIZATION
A. Learning situational ethics weakens morals. (That morality changes as the group dictates.)
B. Absolutes are disregarded.
C. Children learn to conform to the current morality by pressure from peers.
D. Children are taught that security comes from the approval of the group.
E. Individualism and leadership potential are stifled by “cliques” and the need to conform to group morality to “belong”.
F. The group psychologically disarms personal values & goals.
G. Disrespect for authority is bred as another means of pleasing the “group”.
H. Values are adopted that say a person's worth is determined by peers. All those that are perceived to not possess worth from the peer group are ridiculed and become the butt of jokes.
I. Children can become uncivilized when morals and values are transmitted primarily by peers rather than by parents, teachers or authorities. There is no foundation to expect youth to indoctrinate each other with good character.

POSITIVE EFFECTS OF HOMESCHOOLING

A. Positive examples are reinforced by parents. (A study done at the University of Florida concludes that parental role modeling is more valuable than peer contact to develop social skills.)
B. Children benefit from consistently balanced and goal oriented discipline, chosen and maintained by parents.
C. The children’s training is daily and on-going resulting in positive self-worth, purpose & vision for life and individuality channeled for constructive, not destructive activities.
D. Children have more individual time and a low ratio between student and teacher.
E. Students learn in a healthy environment in which to grow and from which to respect diversity.
F. The majority of time spent by the children is spent with people that love him or her and are concerned for the immediate & the future good of the children.

The points above show in part that homeschooling can be very positive and that secular “socialization” Is negative and almost totally disregards the benefits Biblical principles. There are exceptions to the successes of homeschooling. But, even though some abuses may occur, and some families may not be cut out for the homeschooling lifestyle, this does not invalidate the strengths of homeschooling in general.