Socialization: Socialization and the Homeschool Student
By Mimi Rothschild
One of the major concerns voiced in a discussion about the merits of homeschooling is whether or not the homeschool student receives enough socialization. Many opponents to homeschooling seem to envision the homeschool child as sitting in the house all day without ever getting any interaction with the outside world. Not true!
Most of the parents who make the decision to homeschool their children do so after a great deal of careful research and conversations with other parents who homeschool. They find that, in addition to having higher test scores than their public school counterparts, homeschool students very often become involved in a wider range of activities with people of all ages and backgrounds. This type of socialization allows the homeschool child to be exposed to a wide variety of life experiences. In a more traditional setting, children are gaining much of their experience about life from their own peer group. While socializing with children their own age is important, children in a homeschool setting benefit from exposure to more than just one point of view.
There are many opportunities for homeschool children to find social outlets. Religious organizations, Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, music classes and volunteering at area nonprofit organizations are just a few that come to mind. For the homeschool student interested in sports, families can check with their local parks and recreation departments. They usually offer classes and teams sports from tennis and swimming to baseball and hockey, allowing the homeschool child to participate in his or her sport of choice while learning valuable lessons about being part of a team. Taking field trips with other homeschool families is also a great way to provide education and socialization for the homeschool student.
The most important thing to remember about children is that they obtain many of their social skills from observing others. In the case of homeschool students, they get to see how their parents and a wide variety of other people interact with the world, and use this as a model for their own behavior. In the case of traditional students, most of their social interaction involves their peers. Most parents can agree that they would rather see their children emulate their own behavior than that of other children and teens who do not necessarily have the maturity to make the best decisions.
It is obvious that children can be homeschooled and still have the same, if not better, opportunities to socialize. The parents of homeschool children are well aware of the critics who claim that it will be detrimental to their children's development to keep them out of a traditional school setting. Most of these parents, however, are well aware of the facts: homeschool children are just as well socialized, and in many cases better-rounded, than many of the students in traditional school settings.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, children's rights activist, author, and Founder and C.E.O. of online education company Learning by Grace, Inc. Rothschild and her husband of twenty-eight years reside in suburban Philadelphia with their eight children.
Feeling that “our current system of education has broken its promise,” Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. to provide families with Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children all over the world.
In addition to her twenty years of experience as a homeschool mother, Rothschild has written a number of books dealing with education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Home Education Websites Blog consists of helpful online content and activities for Christian homeschooling families.
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