of course, we can still be that parental guide in their lives while they are in public school. I just wonder why more parents don't do it
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Socialization??
So, we have stopped homeschooling our kids and sent them to public school. I have mixed feelings about this. I am happy to see the kids gain new experiences and get involved with school activities. I do worry about their academics and their ability to resist negative peer pressure or even be able to determine the pressure as positive or negative. I have been told by a few people that now that the kids are back in school their social development will be better... Really?... better according to who?... The kids, while being home schooled, had many social outlets and they were doing just fine... sometimes I think kids today are over-socialized... Parents allow their public and private school kids to get away with whatever they want in the name of socialization. that's crazy!!!! kids do need to learn how to deal with other people, after all I am not proposing we all live isolated lives. What i did like about homeschooling was that either my wife or I were there at every turn to advise and teach our kids the way they should have treated a situation or give them some positive reinforcement when they socialized in an acceptable way.
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3 comments:
I have yet to figure out how a homeschooling group with 100 families and an average of 4-5 kids per family with REGULAR park days, campouts and whatnot doesn't provide, minimally, identical socialization options to a school. What is not natural is herding kids into a room of age homogenous children asking them to sit still and calling that socialization. Historically speaking it isn't. Many of the greatest minds of history never spent day 1 in that situation.
One of the main reasons I pulled my kids out of school again was because their socialization options were better when they were homeschooled. We were also suffering from an intense divide between the grade levels in terms of how our kids were treating each other. 3rd graders > 1st graders > pre-K etc. Within a few weeks of pulling our kids out much of this had subsided.
Now to play devils-advocate here, homeschooling does NOT give your child what I like to call "common experience" with other children. For example, in my own life, I went to a high school that did not have a football team, thus no homecoming. I missed out on that experience (I am not sure if that was for better or worse though -- especially given I love football so much).
I do not think one of these choices is universally better than another. We used our public school last year and if we had not been reassigned to a different school we would be doing it again this year. I think there are plenty of compelling reasons why homeschooling is a less favorable choice to a good public/private school situation.
Ultimately though, socialization is the worst argument against homeschooling.
the socializaton arguement is a very weak one. Everyone I know who was/is home schooled is very social and not awkward, save for one, who I think would be awkward no matter what.
The issue, as I see it, is parenting. Good parenting creates good kids who grow into good adults. The problem is that too many parents become their childs friend instead of parent.
yep, the kids were better socialized in home school, mostly I think, because it was always in a 'safer" environment.
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