Home schooling

People think that since I'm homeschooled I'm not around "large groups of people" or "I might be seeing my friends but I'm not getting proper socialization"
Uh ... I'm not around big groups of people?? I WAS AT THE FRICKIN ANTI-WAR RALLY IN WASHINGTON DC WITH OVER 100,000 PEOPLE THERE and I made small talk with tons of people!!
Everybody's just fixed on the idea that if you're homeschooled, you sit in your living room all day and then go out and have a lil "playdate" with your friends ever so often but you never get out and actually be around large groups of people.
What about Hulbert Homeschool Camp?? I go there two times a year and there are over 100 kids that go to it! It's a week long sleepaway camp for homeschoolers. I made friends with my best friend forever (Keavy) there, and she doesn't live in the same state that I do.

I'm around large groups of people all the time -_-

Sorry about that. Where I live, homeschoolers dont have associations like that. My friend kinda stayed in his house a lot. His parents didn't let him out much to see friends and the only socialization he had was hockey which he didnt like much. So I've seen it in a different light. I kind of generalized it. I apologize, x_cemeterygates_x

I have to agree that I don't think home-schooling is good during the elementary school years (5-10, say). I just can't imagine there's anything home-schooling could provide during that time that could beat the good-old-fashioned dumping of small children into a room with 25 other kids of a similar age, glue, crayons, picture books, and a slightly crazed teacher.

But there are otehr ways to socialize. How is anyone supposed to reach their full potential when you have 1-2 teachers for 25 kids? They can't. Not when they're that young. I've been homeschooled since I was four, I have huge groups of friends in three different states, who are homeschooled and go to public school.

Some parents are weird about their kids and other kids. That's why they homeschool, that a problem with the child's parents, not with all homeschoolers. I started homeschooling because the school I would be going to was one of the five worst schools in the country, at the time.

There are kids who have been in public schools all their lives, some don't have any friends, some don't have a great education, and some don't have either because they're shy. It's the same thing with homeschoolers. It's their personality, not their academic or social experiences that make them that way.

dread_cry999:

Sorry about that. Where I live, homeschoolers dont have associations like that. My friend kinda stayed in his house a lot. His parents didn't let him out much to see friends and the only socialization he had was hockey which he didnt like much. So I've seen it in a different light. I kind of generalized it. I apologize, x_cemeterygates_x

Hehe, you don't need to apologize - you were half right - I do know some sheltered homeschooled kids who don't get out much, but in my circle of friends we are always around large groups of people. I find that it's usually religious families (this statement is not meant to offend anybody) that have sheltered homeschooled kids. I guess it's just their beliefs that they want to keep them away from all the "bad" stuff in the world. But personally I think it's better to be exposed to it when you're a kid so you're not 18 years old and have no idea what a swear word is...

I'm homeschooled
and I enjoy it more
than when I went to public school
all my Friends talked behind my other Friends backs
and at home I can work in my own time and go to school in my PJs and listen to mcr when working lol. Plus I'm straightedge and many of the kids in my grade at the public school are doing bad stuff and I dont have to worry about it. The good in homeschooling is not having to worry about bad stuff and not having to get up in the early morning if your not a morning person like me lol and the bad?? I really cant think of none.

First of all, I don't mean to offend anyone with this. I just don't really think home schooling is capable as being as effective at socializing kids during the early years. Obviously there are kids who were homeschooled then and turned out fine, and there are kids who went to traditional schools during that period of their life and are not. But I think, in general, traditional schools are better for kids at that age than homeschooling.

Education isn't really as important in pre-K, kindergarten, and (say) 1-3 grade as proper socialization is, and you just can't get the same experience being homeschooled as in traditional schools. I'm not / never was homeschooled, so I can't speak with great authority, but if it's in any way similar to what it sounds like, than a fair bit of the young child's time is spent at home. More, at least, than a child in traditional school. I don't know that the traditional schooling experience is the best way of socializing kids at that age, but I do think it's better than homeschooling (from what I know of the process).

And just a note: I really honestly am not trying to offend anyone. There are exceptions to everything, and also, I'm only talking about very young children (say from the ages of 3-9). I'm not remotely against homeschooling after that point (for the people that it works for, of course), and the only reason I'm even a little against homeschooling during that period is because I've been forced to read about a million articles about how children learn all their socializing skills at that age and in general it's best ot be shoved in with a bunch of other little kids you don't know, etc.

Plus I'm straightedge and many of the kids in my grade at the public school are doing bad stuff and I dont have to worry about it. The good in homeschooling is not having to worry about bad stuff and not having to get up in the early morning if your not a morning person like me lol and the bad?? I really cant think of none.
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Personally, I don't think this should really affect your liking for homeschooling all that much. Wait til you get a job....do you think you're always going to get to work your own schedual? you might be getting up early for that. Same with college. I'm not a morning person, but unfortunately life isn't fair.

And with the 'bad stuff' thing, that's apart of growing up. Most people experience it whether they're homeschooled or not. Schools are not perfect, neither are teenagers. Everyone will come in contact with negative things, and shunning people from them isn't the best move.

xMari_Malicex:

Plus I'm straightedge and many of the kids in my grade at the public school are doing bad stuff and I dont have to worry about it. The good in homeschooling is not having to worry about bad stuff and not having to get up in the early morning if your not a morning person like me lol and the bad?? I really cant think of none.
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Personally, I don't think this should really affect your liking for homeschooling all that much. Wait til you get a job....do you think you're always going to get to work your own schedual? you might be getting up early for that. Same with college. I'm not a morning person, but unfortunately life isn't fair.

And with the 'bad stuff' thing, that's apart of growing up. Most people experience it whether they're homeschooled or not. Schools are not perfect, neither are teenagers. Everyone will come in contact with negative things, and shunning people from them isn't the best move.

I wasnt saying that for people to like homeschooling more I was speaking from my mind I know you have to get up I even do some days and when you get a job you dont always get nightshifts I didnt mean it like that it was late and I had gotten up early that morning and was also doing other things on the computer when I wrote that and the wording didnt come out right and for that I'm sorry I like homeschooling some people dont everyone has their own thoughts to everything and everyone lives their own life so please dont think I said it to change how people felt it just came out bad lol

Sorry double post
Everyone likes what they like and I like homeschooling and some people dont...

I'm homeschooled, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I hang out with plenty of other people. There's a homeschooling group I belong to. Even though I'm only good friends with one guy in the group, and I had a couple of nasty relationships with some of the girls, we all still get along and accept each other. I'm a total Star Wars fanboy, and a Trekkie, and Potter-Pickle, and I'm not made fun of. One of my friends went to a private school and she was betrayed by all of her friends, who were saying mean things about her as she walked by. But I do wish I could meet more people, though.

i have to get private tuition 5 hours a week because i got tortured in school and the school refused to help because the girls who were doing it were prefects so my mum took me out.

Some people think that if your homeschooled you wont get enough socialization and enough education. Well they are dead wrong.
Some people that are homeschooled skip grades and go to college way before everybody else. And there are always clubs and activities to make new friends.

I went to school and was bullied and called names because I was different. When your homeschooled you don't go through peer pressure as often.
Now I'm homeschooled and couldn't imagine it any other way.

Something good about homeschooling is that your not exposed to the patheticness of teenage drama and peer pressure.


it would be harder to make friends but when you do make friends, you know that they like you for you, and not for your social status.

i don't know, i mean i was homeschooled for a while and one thing that i really didn't like about it was that you weren't exposed to a lot of different types of people and ideas. in fact, you weren't exposed to any types of people other than your parents and your sibs if u have any. i think that to truly think for yourself you must first be exposed to all sorts of ideas and ways of thinking, and then take a deep look inside of yourself until you find something you can stand behind. with homeschooling it's hard to do that, one of the reasons why homeschooling is so popular in very religious families.

Im homeschooled,and its not like i don't talk to my friends. Its harder,yes.But i still communicate. I study. And i don't think im far behind. At least i hope not. But i might go back soon,and i kinda hope i can. But theres a part of me that doesnt want to. I should because then i can socialize with my friends better and actually learn at all my piers paces.

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It's a double-edged sword. With public schooling, they don't teach you as muh stuff. With home schooling, the kids don't learn to socialize. Having playdates with other kids isn't the same as seeing kids every day for 7 hours.

I think 'socializing' is getting confused with 'having friends'. I know how to socialize perfectly well, thank you, as do the majority of homeschoolers out there. If you think about it, you're not just friends with the people you have classes with, or eat lunch with. You have friends from sports, plays, ect. It's the same for homeschoolers, we partake in "normal" extra curricular activities, just like anyone who goes to school. We have friends their, as well as those from homeschool groups. Also, I haven't had a 'playdate' since I was eight.

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i don't know, i mean i was homeschooled for a while and one thing that i really didn't like about it was that you weren't exposed to a lot of different types of people and ideas. in fact, you weren't exposed to any types of people other than your parents and your sibs if u have any. i think that to truly think for yourself you must first be exposed to all sorts of ideas and ways of thinking, and then take a deep look inside of yourself until you find something you can stand behind. with homeschooling it's hard to do that, one of the reasons why homeschooling is so popular in very religious families.

Yes, homeschooling is popular with people who don't want their children to be exposed to other beliefs and ideas. I disagree with those people, their homeschooling for the wrong reasons. Also, my friends and myself, do not have any questions about 'who we are'. Believe it or not, homeschoolers are not locked up in a cave all day. We're exposed to the media, and peer pressure and whatnot, just like any person that goes the public school. We also have a lot of oportunities that others don't have, classes at community colleges just being one.

I was homeschooled from 12 to 14 after I begged my mom alot.I did good but being homeschooled kind of helped me withdraw so much I barely spoke to anyone,so,my parents stuck me back in school to be around people.Before being homeschooled I got Ds and Cs,after I went back to school I got A pluses and Bs.

In the documentary Jesus Camp it says that 75% of homeschooled kids are Evangelical Christians. It further implies that most of these kids are being isolated from non-Evangelicals, and taught (only) ideas like Creationism and that global warming isn't real. I just think that's interesting. It sort of perfectly illustrates stereotype people have that homeschooled kids are under-educated social weirdo's (not to say that they are, or that Evangelicals are, just...well, watch Jesus Camp and you'll see what I mean).

Anyway, I don't really approve of that; homeschooling kids for religious purposes. Kids should be exposed to different ideas and cultures, and you are certainly not getting that if your being taught only that "Darwin thinks we come from GOO! EWWWW!"