It looks like homeschooling will start to be a thing in my country, so people are arguing whether that is a good or bad thing. How is homeschooling viewed in America? Are home-schooled kids considered to be socially inept? What are some pros and cons of homeschooling?
PS.: don’t know if this is the best place to ask about this, but I wanted unbiased opinions.
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I don’t think homeschooled kids are really “socially inept.” I’ve met plenty of people who were homeschooled and are very outgoing. Most people I’ve met who have been homeschooled still went to regular school with other kids at some point in their lives. I think it’s pretty rare for a kid to be homeschooled their entire schooling life.
There’s a few different populations of people who do it.
Fundamental religious people, families with atypical children who do not thrive in classroom settings, and those living unique lifestyles: child actors, gifted athletes or academics, families who travel.
It’s the fundamentalists who give it a bad reputation.
Stereotypically homeschool kids are socially inept. In real life it’s hit or miss, some are like that some aren’t.
Most homeschoolers do it for religious reasons. Well over half of homeschool families are evangelical Christians.
Though there are a few homeschool kids who end up well-educated by dedicated parents who (probably for good reason) don’t trust the local school district, I’d say the stereotype is that homeschoolers come from overly large religious families, and are basically indoctrinated into their cult, without enough outside-the-family socializing.
Admittedly, the kids raised this way could be still be somewhat well-educated and know their math/reading/etc. but might have some glaring missed areas of general knowledge (especially accurate science) Or they might be complete idiots, because their parents are idiots and that got passed down.
Also, a decent number of homeschooled kids end up in the Boy Scouts, because they need friends, but those friends need to be a bit awkward as well. (Source: Eagle Scout)
I mean the impression I always had was a pretty negative one because it’s mostly associated with extremely religious and conservative parents. Like in theory it could be fine but in practice it seems like a way for parents to indoctrinate, under educate and under socialize their kids.
Breaking out this again:
There’s a major miscommunication here that most people in America make as well.
There is a difference being homeschooled, and virtual schooling.
*VIRTUAL* schooling is what skyrocketed during the pandemic. Students take classes online, they have materials mailed to them, they upload assignments to a portal where their assigned teacher with a normal class size reviews the work and grades them.
I’ve actually discussed this with Germans before, from what I understand it still won’t fly for…we’ll say reasons. I don’t personally agree with these reasons, mostly because they assume virtual/cyber schooling is the same as
*HOME* schooling.
This is where the parent runs the whole thing. Buys the books, does the grading, etc.
SO – to review some basic questions (this came from a past question):
– Does it favor the child?
VIRTUAL – it depends on the child. Children who are more independent, or have issues with other students, or have medical issues are more inclined to excel in this environment. *That does not mean* that students who need guidance are left in the wind – on the contrary, it allows those students to have more opportunities, between scheduling one-on-one tutoring with the teacher (admittedly not always offered based on scheduling), their parents helping them, and also allowing for more freedom in scheduling time with third-party tutors (i.e. if the kid can nail a week’s worth of English assignments in two days but is struggling in math, it frees up time on the other three days to focus on math). But, for some kids it’s just not the best fit.
HOME – it depends on the parent. If the parent is someone who’s going to use actual accredited tutoring resources (they DO exist), AND invest an *enormous* amount of time into teaching their kid, then yes. Otherwise, no.
– Would you say they get better education than in school?
Virtual: For starters, almost all virtual schools *are* state-licensed schools (they are either programs run by the existing state-run schools, or they’re ‘charter schools’ – schools that are privately run, but state accredited and therefore must meet state standards including yearly state tests). However, because they have more freedom in the curriculum (by virtue of typically have different budget constraints), they often *exceed* the state requirements. (Not always, of course, but it’s on roughly the same proportion of physical schools that fail).
HOME: Typically no. Only in the rare cases where a public district is absolutely *abysmal* (which *has* been a catalyst for parents to homeschool at times).
– Do you have a degree if you’re homeschooled
VIRTUAL – Again, because they’re state accredited, yes.
HOME – No…? I’ve heard that some states have a standardized test along the lines of the GED (General Educational Development) that if you pass you get a state diploma but I don’t know if this is fact.
– Is it easy to find a job?
Some students actually do virtual *because* of work; i.e. if they’re working on the family farm/family business, they’ll do virtual schooling because of the flexible schedule. Beyond that, it typically doesn’t have any effect other than maybe some freedom to schedule (i.e. they don’t have to worry about getting home from school and then going to work, they only have to close the books and get in the car for work.) Same with homeschooling. The jobs pretty much don’t care about where you went to high school.
As for after school? It typically doesn’t matter *that much*, as in the U.S. your job is typically more based on secondary education (your degree). NOW, if you’re HOMEschooled as opposed to VIRTUAL school? Good luck getting into a college program without having to spend a semester or two completing general-education courses.
– Are they socially inept?
#***No.*** – with exceptions.
Students who thrive in online school are often those who would *not* do well in ‘general population- introverts, for example, or people who are selective in who they become friends with or aren’t fans of the ‘intensity’ that can come from bustling schools. So by being around similar personalities,, they form bonds with people like them.. Alternatively, they can have alternate social outlets that they can dedicate *more* time to *because* of virtual learning.
Now, are there social shut-ins? Yes. But being in a physical school wouldn’t change that, they’d be the kid sitting in the far corner of the cafeteria away from everyone.
As an ever increasingly appealing alternative I think.
There are some stereotypes about homeschooled kids, but I think they are largely untrue.
Statistically they are much more well prepared academically on average and tend to perform well in secondary education. I can see how there would be a need to make sure they spend other social time with other kids, but I doubt there are any social challenges that aren’t easily overcome. I had a friend who was homeschooled growing up. We just hung out outside of school.
When it comes to homeschooled kids being socially inept, some I’ve known have a few more social quirks than the average person, a lot you wouldn’t be able to tell unless they told you they were homeschooled.
Of the people I know who were homeschooled, they were mostly people who by the time they got to high school wanted to take more advanced classes than their school offered, so they signed up for online homeschooling programs instead or their parents taught them subjects, or they didn’t really fit-in in traditional classrooms and their parents would rather homeschool them since the schools better equipped for them were 2+ hours away (my cousin’s case)
Honestly, poorly. Most people who homeschool do so for religious reasons, so the kids tend to end up with a “warped” educational background and many end up underprepared for college.
We recruited kids from a local homeschooling group at my University (Jesuit Catholic). Not one of them made it past freshman year. Every single one either partied way too hard and let their grades massively slip, or came from such a limited educational background they just couldn’t hack the academics of it. After the 0% matriculation rate from Freshman to Sophomore year the program was cancelled.
Only homeschooled kid I’ve run into who did not struggle were twins who were only homeschooled through middle school and went to a public high school, and their father was a science teacher at the same school.
There definitely needs to be oversight of some kind, but how good it is depends on who’s doing it and their motivations.
In my state most of the secular people I know who home school do it because of how underfunded and awful special education is in our state. I’d be planning to move somewhere else if I had a disabled child and couldn’t manage an alternative to our public schools, but every state isn’t like that.
Some states have absolutely no oversight and it can be used as a way to keep abused children away from mandated reporters. Cults can use lax homeschooling oversight to “trap” members by making sure they’re so uneducated they don’t have options. Some programs have kids of all ages using the same curriculum.
Some people (including some of my public school teachers) home school because of the quality of the education at their public schools. We usually met their kids during plays or sports and they weren’t awkward or less educated than public school kids.
Good home school parents usually have their kids taking classes outside the home in subjects they aren’t qualified to teach, engaging in extracurricular activities, going on field trips, and sometimes co-op with other home school parents to teach things they’re more qualified to teach They make sure their kids have adequate opportunities to socialize and learn at a higher level. They might not like state oversight but they’ve seen enough to know why it’s there.
Bad home school parents keep their kids segregated from others (for non disease or disability reasons, obviously), limit their access to age appropriate educational opportunities and think things like state testing or home visits are unnecessary interference.
I was homeschooled and I turned out better than most of my friends who went to public school lol.
However it entirely depends on the parent and how well they can keep the child learning. I’ve met several parents who homeschool that honestly shouldn’t. To cover up this weakness coaps are popular. These are groups/communities which meet once a week to go over shared projects and homework. These tend to do better than a single parent because there is more commitment and oversight.
Hope that helps.
It’s not looked down on as much as it was when my older sisters were little. We were basically bullied out of school, so my parents homeschooled us. We got flak from nosy family members.
Now, I’m in my 30s and I’m seeing those same relatives praising younger people who are homeschooling their kids. Character development I guess.
From my own experience, here are the pros and cons (they aren’t unbiased, though. No opinions are.)
PROS
* Flexible learning (I got sick a lot during winter, so I was able to start the school year in summer to make sure I didn’t fall behind)
* Personalized learning (if you need more time in a subject, you can take it. And if you’re more interested in certain subjects, you can pursue them more easily)
* Much less time wasting (I spent so much time in school bored and counting tiles on the ceiling because I was done, but had to wait for everyone else. I could go into length on how much time gets wasted in public schools, but maybe this isn’t the right time)
* You socialize more with people of various ages (in public school, it’s just kids your own age. But if you get involved in homeschool groups, you’ll learn to interact with older kids and younger kids as well)
CONS
* The quality of your education depends on your parents (in my case, this is a pro, as they were very qualified and very dedicated, but I’ve seen families where they weren’t homeschooled as much as they just didn’t go to school. So, place this in pro or con depending on the family)
* If you/your parents aren’t invested in socializing you, you can become socially isolated (I struggled with including this because I was more socially isolated in school due to bullying issues, but I suspect for most people, this would be a concern)
* Some people may look down on you (but no matter what you do, someone is likely to look down on you.)
There are definitely more on both sides, but these are all I have off the top of my head.
There is a lot of misconception around homeschooling. I’ve known quite a few families who have homeschooled their kids.
1. “It’s only religious people.” It may have started more in religious groups, but it has evolved beyond that. There are many secular homeschool programs today.
2. “Homeschool kids are socially inept ” Homeschool groups today have all sorts of social groups. My friends kids play in a sports league. They go to dances.
3. “Homeschool is unregulated.” Most states have testing requirements to ensure children make progress.
4. “Public school education is superior.” Not necessarily. Kids waste a lot of time in large classes and moving between classes. Homeschool can be far more concentrated, and resources like Khan Academy and homeschool curriculums are very good. Plus, because they’re not wasting time, they have time to learn other things. Homeschooled students score about 72 points higher than the national average on the SAT.
It’s not for everyone, but it’s a good option for the right families.
Homeschooling kids didn’t suffer during the pandemic.
Homeschooler parents generally believe that they can provide a better education to their kids than the public school system. Sometimes that means additional academic enrichment for really bright kids and a more comfortable environment for kids who got bullied in mainstream schools. Sometimes that means religious zealots who want to “protect their kids from indoctrination” like evolution and sex ed.
Homeschool kids are stereotyped as being socially inept, but that can be avoided if the kids are involved in activities that have them interact with other kids like sports, arts, and church groups. They just have to seek out social opportunities instead of being thrown in with tons of other kids every day.
Homeschooled kids can do as well as or even better than kids in conventional schools, but they can also do much, much worse. It’s almost complete freedom for the parent, which is itself both the pro and the con.
Home schooled kids generally outperform their peers and it’s a way people in terrible school districts can provide a good education for their children.
I have no issue with it. Research shows the kids aren’t socially inept or disadvantaged socially.
Well, it’s largely associated with religious fundamentalism.
People who don’t want their kids to be taught things like evolution, that the Earth is more than 6,000 years old, that the US wasn’t founded to be a Christian theocracy, etc. . .tend to homeschool their kids so they don’t get exposed to any facts that contradict their fundamentalist narrative.
Sometimes it is done by parents who are wealthy enough that one parent doesn’t have to work, and believes they can teach better than the public schools can.
Sometimes it’s done because a student has serious behavioral or mental health issues and the parent doesn’t trust the school to deal with this in a fair and appropriate fashion (even though there are strong protections for disabilities in the law).
I know my limitations. Snow day! Feild trip! Early dismissal! Parent teacher conference day! Group yard work projects!
I’ve seen both good and bad results. A homeschooled girl who I coached in soccer is now a phd in the hard sciences with all kinds of published work. On the other hand, my nephew was homeschooled by his father with poor results. I think a lot depends on both the kid and the effort the parents put into it. FWIW, neither were particularly religious or conservative families. In fact, my nephew’s father was a stereotypical left-winger in many ways.
I think there’s a good chance that kids who were homeschooled during the pandemic will be at an advantage, at least for a while. Everything I’ve heard about remote learning via Zoom or something similar has made it sound like a complete shit-show.
It’s nothing like it was 20 years ago. These days you sign up for a program online and then connect with other students in your area. Organized outings and field trips. Especially after COVID, home schooling lost a lot of its stigma for millennial parents.
Depending on your country’s education system, homeschooling could be an upgrade.
Like you’re a problem child imo
I’ll refer to Mean Girls for this one:
[Mean Girls-Homeschooled](https://youtu.be/scxdTXrfni0)
American homeschooling isn’t what it used to be. There’s a lot more support for curriculum and socialization.
I guess it depends on the involvement of the parents/guardians. The kids could turn out terrible, but the homeschooled kids I know are some of the smartest people I’ve ever met. One went to college at 16. They do struggle being social at times tho.
Weirdos producing more weirdos who can’t function in society.
Sure there are outlyers, but most Homeschooled kids are very under their parents thumb and tend not to live much more than a mile or two from their parents as adults.
Others have mentioned the stereotype of homeschooled kids being socially inept, but I think the more important thing to examine is *why* parents choose to homeschool, and there are a number of reasons, including wanting to more closely dictate what kids are taught and exposed to in school, or wanting more options for classes and extracurriculars than is provided at the local public school level.
In my limited experience, families I’ve seen do it well kept it well-structured and provided opportunities for their kids to have a social life while focusing them on opportunities that the public school lacked, while families I’ve seen do it poorly just tried to keep their kids sheltered from “bad influences” which hamstrung their development.
The only homeschooled person I knew who was noticeably socially inept was actually taken out of a private school for that reason: social interaction was making him physically ill and preventing him from learning.
A lot of homeschooled kids have unique interests, which could make them seem inept to the average adolescent but doesn’t actually make them inept. I knew one who had read all of Shakespeare by the age of 13, and another who was very interested in learning ancient languages. You probably can’t talk to your fellow eleven-year-olds about that stuff but it doesn’t mean that those are bad interests.
I’m a public school teacher and I have no problem with homeschooling but also recognize that it isn’t for everyone. The fact that it gets good results is relevant but I think stems largely from the fact that the people doing it by-and-large care about their children’s education. If everyone suddenly started homeschooling not all parents would be as good at it as most of the parents who do it now are.
I have neighbors who had there kids in hybrid homeschool program. The kids would go to a school building a few days a week. They are such amazing people.
Aren’t homeschooled kids lunatic Christians?
I’ve met homeschooled kids who were extremely socially inept (to the point of being bullied), and others that are not. It entirely depends on the environment the parents create.
Personally I do tend to look down on most homeschooling because I think the way Christianity functions in the U.S. is largely a blight on our society, and they are a large group that homeschools. I feel like they do their children a huge disservice. But it’s the parent’s decision.
However there are a lot of other reasons to homeschool so it’s hard to have a 100% negative or positive opinion.
religious or political nuts for the most part.
By the average person bad. Personally I think its good- Get non-rich kids out of public schools. Its among many institutions that fails the majority of their students.
Religious fanatics who are anti-science.
It’s a mixed bag. Works for some, but the stereotype is kids are isolated and poorly educated.
It’s smart if there isn’t a good private school near you. Public schools are crap.
When I was in high school and we got a new student, you knew they were homeschooled originally. They were just odd. Same for college.
I don’t look down on anyone for doing what’s best for their family, but yeah, they’re noticeably different.