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Anecdote; I was home schooled. I know/have met probably 100-200 homeschooled people, mostly as a kid, in a large Catholic group, although a couple as an adult w

Anecdote; I was home schooled. I know/have met probably 100-200 homeschooled people, mostly as a kid, in a large Catholic group, although a couple as an adult when I was getting my PhD. The vast majority, probably > 90%, functioned just fine socially after reaching adulthood. The remainder were usually on the autism spectrum. I believe autistic children are probably over-represented among homeschoolers. This "homeschooling results in poor social skills" trope is absurd and needs to stop. There are a number of other problems with homeschooling, among a number of upsides as well. But barring Branch-Davidian type social isolation, social skills are just not an issue.

voisin 3y ago
> This "homeschooling results in poor social skills" trope is absurd and needs to stop. I think it will stop shortly. Thanks to COVID the vast majority of the western world got to see what a version of homeschooling could look like and perhaps unsurprisingly, many found it to be as good for the mind as WFH is for adults and chose to keep their children homeschooling post-COVID. I know a ton of people who have done this. Soon it will be seen as just another option for education without the social stigma.
- viraptor 3y ago
  > vast majority of the western world got to see what a version of homeschooling could look like Did they? I've only heard of what the experience looked like in 3 schools really, but all of them were essentially "same program, more homework, fewer lessons, all online". That seems very different to an actual homeschooling situation.
  - fsagx 3y ago
    Indeed. The pandemic at-home schooling I witnessed was just a much worse version of regular school over zoom. It was very far removed from the homeschooling I was saw pre-Covid.
kcplate 3y ago
> This "homeschooling results in poor social skills" trope is absurd and needs to stop. There are a number of other problems with homeschooling, among a number of upsides as well. But barring Branch-Davidian type social isolation, social skills are just not an issue. I never understood that to be honest. Most of the people homeschooling their children that I know also participate in homeschooling groups where there is a lot of social interaction, as well as church/religious events etc. It maybe rather ideologically siloed, which can be a bit shocking when the child starts emerging from the silo, but that is different thing than having “poor social skills”.

voisin 3y ago

> This "homeschooling results in poor social skills" trope is absurd and needs to stop. I think it will stop shortly. Thanks to COVID the vast majority of the western world got to see what a version of homeschooling could look like and perhaps unsurprisingly, many found it to be as good for the mind as WFH is for adults and chose to keep their children homeschooling post-COVID. I know a ton of people who have done this. Soon it will be seen as just another option for education without the social stigma.

viraptor 3y ago
> vast majority of the western world got to see what a version of homeschooling could look like Did they? I've only heard of what the experience looked like in 3 schools really, but all of them were essentially "same program, more homework, fewer lessons, all online". That seems very different to an actual homeschooling situation.
- fsagx 3y ago
  Indeed. The pandemic at-home schooling I witnessed was just a much worse version of regular school over zoom. It was very far removed from the homeschooling I was saw pre-Covid.

kcplate 3y ago

> This "homeschooling results in poor social skills" trope is absurd and needs to stop. There are a number of other problems with homeschooling, among a number of upsides as well. But barring Branch-Davidian type social isolation, social skills are just not an issue. I never understood that to be honest. Most of the people homeschooling their children that I know also participate in homeschooling groups where there is a lot of social interaction, as well as church/religious events etc. It maybe rather ideologically siloed, which can be a bit shocking when the child starts emerging from the silo, but that is different thing than having “poor social skills”.