Homeschooling and Socialization

The Lawrence Journal-World & News from Kansas featured an article yesterday on how homeschool socialization is not the problem some make it out to be.

The article examines some of the negative socialization that homeschool children can "miss out on":

They missed being bullied,” she says. “They missed being told they can’t learn beyond what they’re supposed to learn for a particular year. They missed out on being told they’re stupid or, especially, gifted. They missed out on being in a box none of them would fit in.”

They usually miss out on learning foul language and sexual innuendo in grade school, and other bad habits, too. What a shame!

The most quaint thing I noticed from this article was from the attitudes of those opposed to homeschooling. To listen to their socialization objections, you'd think homeschool children were kept locked inside the house all day and all night 24/7 with no interaction with siblings, neighborhood children, homeschool groups, church groups, civic groups, or any of that.

In the past year, my daughter (my son is only 4, so he's not as involved yet) has been on homeschool field trips to the Rapid City Journal, the Coca Cola bottling plant, the airport, the YMCA Science Center, and I'm sure I've forgotten several things. In about two weeks, I'll be taking her to a homeschool outing to Bear Country (which will be her 4th or 5th visit to Bear Country since we quit keeping her locked up in the house 24/7).

In addition to these homeschool group activities, she plays with other children my wife homeschools, neighborhood children, has been active in Girl Scouts since she was 5, our church AWANA program, has attended several years of public swimming lessons, and is now taking ju-jitsu lessons at least twice a week. Without exaggeration, she's done more and seen more in 9 years than I did in 18 going to public school

All this in addition to being several grade levels ahead of her peers academically. Plus she's been learning Spanish for about the last year or so. And our curriculum isn't as rigorous as what some homeschool parents use.

Homeschool children lack socialization? Opponents are just grasping at straws, hoping to make an ailing public system look better.