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.
Ping.
I was always surprised that anyone thought this was an issue. It's not like homeschooled kids are locked in the attic and not allowed human contact. Human children spent the majority of history in small mixed age groups, not large same age groups like now.
susie
Ive always told people, whats better for the child to socialize with, adults or 14 year old beavis and buttheads, which will get them ahead in life.
of course being a beavis or buthead they could work as a lawyer or reporter or braindead actor but the market is saturated for them
ping
Oprah Nation is pleased.
ping
Those premises are that children must be with same age peers 6+ hours a day to be normal....
....and that homeschoolers are not in contact with other children....
.....and that contact with adults, older kids, younger kids, relatives, family, etc. simply doesn't count....it must be with same age peers to be valid.
"Sure, socialization is a great reason to homeschool, but you can't overlook that fact that you'll get a better education, too!"
Of course. The XIX century factory style herding of children and brainwashing them in school is a very unnatural "socializing".
You are confusing the modern school environment with the real world. It is the modern school which is "an insanely risky experiment on the kids" and we have seen the results.
I see an analogy with TV, I do not have one and couple of my friends were worried about me. They said that without TV, I do not have contact with the reality. Poor guys think that their TV is a window into the real world.
I realize that bad influences can happen everywhere, but the risks are a lot higher when they're immersed in it for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.
Maybe someone should tell my kids about that last part. You would think my boys were deaf how much they yell.
But, homeschoolers are more likely to just get out in a group and play. They don't just stand back and check out who's cool or not.
If anything, homeschooled children are far less likely to have psychological/emotional hang-ups than public school students.
All too often, kids dumped in the public schools get traumatized in the name of socializing and educating them.
Orwell and Huxley do not describe the future. They describe the present!
Our older daughter is homeschooled and we were often asked this what-about-socialization question. My canned answer was "that's why we have two dogs."
and that contact with adults, older kids, younger kids, relatives, family, etc. simply doesn't count....it must be with same age peers to be valid.
It is the public school's LIMITATION on socialization - keeping children locked in to a specific age group. This is, in itself, the main advantage that home-schooled kids enjoy.
"they were not as competitive but more cooperative"
Why would anyone consider that good.
I've never entered into anything in my life that I didn't intend to win or think that I had the ability or equipment to win.
I wouldn't consider entering into anything to be an alsoran!
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