Posted on 08/06/2006 3:22:26 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat
Socialization is no longer an “issue” for homeschoolers, according to some researchers on the long-running debate over public and independent schooling.
Susan McDowell, author of "But What About Socialization? Answering the Perpetual Home Schooling Question: A Review of the Literature,” has researched 24 studies on the socialization of homeschoolers, according to Bristol Herald Courier.
"It’s a non-issue today," said McDowell, who earned Ph.D. in educational leadership from Vanderbilt University. "All the research shows children are doing well."
On one occasion, she was challenged by one of her publishers to find evidence that homeschoolers were socially deficient compared to their publically educated counterparts.
However, she claims finding no one in the academic field with such view supported by research.
Other researchers, such as Larry Shyers, who holds Ph.D. in counseling, support McDowell’s findings. Shyers’ dissertation, "Comparison of Social Adjustment Between Home and Traditionally Schooled Children," won a national award in excellence in research from the Educational Research Information Clearinghouse in 1992.
His studies found that homeschooled children are not disadvantaged when it comes to socialization. He said that those taught at home were more likely to invite others to play with them, they were not as competitive but more cooperative, and they kept their noise levels lower. Homeschooled children also played with peers of both genders rather than with those of the same gender, he added.
Fourteen-year-old Kayla Freeman from Bristol, Tenn. says she knows more people than she did while in traditional school, and she has discovered better friends in the homeschool community.
“Most homeschooled kids I know are outgoing and friendly," Kayla said. "They are the truest friends I have."
Whether it is for religious, social, or educational reason, American parents are, albeit small in number, increasingly withdrawing their children out of public schools and instructing them at home, despite the criticisms laid out by homeschool critics.
The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) estimated that 1.1 Million students were homeschooled in the United States in 2003, an increase from 850,000 from the 1999 NHES data.
I have known FReeper Ironclad for many years, and can absolutely vouch for him being the most staunch of conservatives, who can be counted on as a Minuteman of Freedom for this great country.
Second, I have been on this forum for quite a while, and have seen feeding frenzies that rival reef sharks.
Please re-read Ironclad's FIRST sentence:
"Based on my personal experience..."
This is not the raving rant of a lunatic liberal, but a FReeper putting in his OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE for common consumption in the discussion of a topic that is dear to all FReepers. I must say I was somewhat disturbed to see a FReeper hammered merely for putting in a first person witnessed experience on the subject. I actually have a completely 180 degree experience, but it is a personal experience, and while even witnessed first hand on several occasions, I would not presume it to be an absolute for every homeschooled parent/child relationship.
Again, as Ironclad disclosed from the start, this is a PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
My cousin is an Air Force Captain and has four kids. They are smart as the dickens, and have great individual personalities, social skills, and athletic ability. They get great grades, (or they get extra chores) and truly seem to love their entire family, friends, and life. I put a lot of this down to my cousin, SHE is as tough as nails, as dedicated as you can be, is tireless, and is smart to boot. (Hey, she's my cousin!)
I'm just saying that while I believe that home schooling is right for a lot of parents/children, I can see where in situations where the parents overly isolate their children from others, denying them of social skills and/or athletic event participation, or have poor teaching skills, that you are going to find stories of children not turning out as we would hope from a home schooling environment.
I believe Ironclad was simply adding to the information database, so as to provide further food for thought for intellectually hungry FReepers.
Of course, some of you may just be here for the target shooting. In which case, now you have another to aim at.
Asbestos undies on.
We are the all singing, all fox trotting, all powerful moron lobby! Better living through hyperbole is our motto!
What part of my post #68 was insulting or "engaging in target shooting?"
i agree.
i'm curious what the statistics are for the various options (% graduating, % graduating from college).
I know many 'home-schoolers' who would send their children to private school if they could afford it. For them, if it isn't homeschooling it would be the public school system (no offense intended).
I didn't say YOURS was, I just thought you might want to see my post, that's all.
I probably should have said I saw him attacked by SOME FReepers, not the entire ping list. I merely included all FReepers who had responded to Ironcald, as a courtesy.
You must have a very limited view. You say you're worried about your nieces and nephews. Do their parents keep them chained to the kitchen table or locked in the house? Do they not join in any activities outside the home; what about church, Scouts, homeschool field trips, etc.? Do YOU ever offer to take them out anywhere, or get them involved in your activities?
We didn't homeschool our older two; I just wasn't ready for it. I liked the socialization of the PTA, etc, too much, I guess. When our younger two were in the 5th and 7th grades, respectively, we decided to take the plunge. We have never been happier. Yeah, I sometimes have to threaten bodily harm to get them to get their work done, but when the younger one went back to school for his first two years of high school, I STILL had to do that!
Our daughter graduated high school this year, after having homeschooled since the beginning of 8th grade. During her four years of high school she was a member of the Anime club at the local public high school, was in the Girl Scouts, in the Youth group at Church and in the Adult and Festival choirs at our Parish; and SHE'S the shyer of our two younger ones. She was accepted to, and received a very nice scholarship from a small Catholic university in FL and she's getting excited about leaving for it in a couple of weeks.
Our youngest son is very outgoing, but hated Scouts, and didn't even join a single after school club at this high school this past year. He has been enjoying chatting with folks on his online PC game, World of Warcraft. We'll be going back to homeschooling him starting this fall for his last two years of high school. He's looking forward to being able to take upper level Math and Physics at a Community college like his sister did. We're fixing to move back South this Fall, and he's looking forward to that too; not nervous about meeting new folks at all.
I dont' think we spent $7K for our daughter for her entire four years homeschooling high school! That includes this past year and a half during which she took 5 classes at the Community College!
Then there is my daughter, Little Miss Social Butterfly. It's guaranteed that in any social situation she will make a friend within less than half an hour. When she was four she would con the other moms on the the playground into pushing her on a swing.
Different children just have different personalities.
You could be describing any group of kids, public, private or homeschooled.
Children learn behaviors. He learned that obnoxious behavior from somewhere--but not the public schools.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Kids learn plenty of rude behavior in school. My daughter learned the "F" word on the kindergarten bus.
Congratulations!
As I've been telling other folks, I hope you'll continue to spread the word about your own successes far and wide. There are a lot of misconceptions to be put to rest about homeschooling, and the best folks to do that in my view are homeschooling parents who can point to their own stellar performers as exhibit "A."
I was joking...
What is wrong with a kid marching to the beat of his own drummer? Kids are not all alike; they each have their own interests. If a teenager shows an aptitude and desire to learn auto mechanics, why should that kid have to suffer through four years of dead boring classes during which he could otherwise be engaged learning the skill for which he's best suited? I'm not saying that kids should not have some basic math, history and language arts, but not all kids plan to go to college, and are not college material, so why not gear some courses for those kids rather than make them sit in the classroom with kids who have a penchant for learning the 'liberal arts', and continue to feel like they are failures for not learning at the same rate.
Some may consider that kid wierd; I've come to think of kids like him as motivated to get out into the world and DO something, sooner, rather than later.
Some homeschooled kids get a bad rap for not joining groups or getting involved in things, so they're considered strange. Has it ever occurred to folks that some kids WANT to homeschool so that they won't be forced to deal with a whole classroom of kids their own age, with whom they have nothing in common, and cannot even hold a conversation because of it? Maybe they're not particularly shy, just not interested in what the other kids have to say. It's amazing that so many homeschooled kids, when they meet up with others, are astounded they they all have so much in common. They just didn't have those things in common with their 'schooled' peers.
You could call that eccentric, or wierd. I say vive le difference!
"Kids learn plenty of rude behavior in school. My daughter learned the "F" word on the kindergarten bus."
Charming.
And I'll bet that if your child spent some time in the LA Unified School District, you'd be doubly impressed with her kindergarten vocubulary.
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