Socialization: A Benefit Of Home Schooling
Whenever the subject of home education comes up, one question is sure be raised – that of socialization. While even the most cynical of doubters can't deny that there are several benefits of home schooling (such as home-schooled kids performing better across the board than their public or private schooled counterparts), they seem to dwell on the social aspect of home education, standing by the erroneous belief that home schooling stifles a child's ability to socialize.
It's actually easy to see things from their point of view and understand why they have come to such hasty conclusions. The style of home schooling involves a lower teacher-student ratio (an aspect many consider one of the better benefits of home schooling), which means that a home-schooler won't have as much interaction with children his or her age compared to a kid who goes to school, where interaction is all but inevitable in a classroom setting.
But while doubters argue that keeping kids away from a predominantly social setting will stunt their socialization, home school advocates will stress that not confining children to the classroom will allow them to better develop their social skills. In fact, these supporters believe that improved socialization is yet another benefit of home schooling, albeit one that is often overlooked.
How is this so? To start with, home-schooled kids have their parents as their main influence, not a group of infantile peers who could (and most likely would) distort their values and perspectives, significantly delaying their readiness to face the real world. School may allow kids more time to interact with their peers, but it confines them to socialization within a certain age group (and not a very mature one at that).
The style of home schooling, on the other hand, gives kids the chance to be influenced by people who know what it's like in the real world and whose priorities lie in passing on a good set of values, as opposed to imposing false ideas of what's “cool” and what's not. What's more, these kids get to interact with people of different ages simply by staying under their parents' protective wing, teaching them to socialize outside the confines of their age group and allowing for a wider, more mature viewpoint.
And besides, being home-schooled doesn't mean that a child can't interact with his or her peers at all. There's a lot of time to do that when school's over and the day's lessons are done.
The concerns with socialization naturally come from those who have never had any experience with home education to begin with. But those lucky enough to have dared to try it know that socialization isn't an issue, but actually a benefit of home schooling, nothing less.