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A child who is homeschooled compared to attending a school meet so much fewer people in their lives - all else kept equal; This means they're more likely to be

by meric 13y ago

A child who is homeschooled compared to attending a school meet so much fewer people in their lives - all else kept equal; This means they're more likely to be socially awkward when they grow up. How to compensate for that?

briandear 13y ago
Is that a hypothesis or based on scientific research? Homeschool kids have plenty of outside activities and extracurriculars. One could argue that spending time on prison introduces you to a lot of people as well, but that doesn't mean it's socially beneficial. Besides, social awkwardness happens with all kinds of people, regardless of academic background and circumstances.
coldtea 13y ago
Not to mention that, because of they types of people that choose homeschooling for their children, the child is more likely to be indoctrinated to all kinds of BS shit. With all the failings of the school system, home-schooling still remains a fuck-you to the humankind -- like some BS bubble created by the kid's parents is inherently better.
charlescearl 13y ago
That doesn't have to be the case. You might find Leo Babauta's blog http://zenhabits.net/unschoolery/ http://zenhabits.net/unschoolery/ interesting reading. It's encouraging to see the discussion. Hopefully its the kind of debate that challenges and redefines what "school" in the 21st century should be about.
dnautics 13y ago
I would argue the opposite. A child who is homeschooled (typically homeschools operate like co-ops, these days) interacts with a few individuals across a broad spectrum of ages. This is a better model of adult social interaction than schools where you are jammed in with a firehose of your near-exact-age-peers.
- mikeash 13y ago
  I'm always amazed at how artificial the school environment is. In the real world, I interact with a diverse group of people of many different ages. I have a lot of control over who I deal with, such that I can usually avoid dickheads. If I can't avoid them and one of them causes trouble to the extent of physical threats or attacks, I can get them hauled off by the police. In school, everyone around you is the same age, you can't avoid the dickheads no matter how much you might want to, and they can harass you with near impunity. I realize that some allowances must be made for children (can't give a 10-year-old total control over their lives the way an adult has it, after all), but the massive differences in something that's supposed to be preparing them for adulthood are a bit crazy.
mikeash 13y ago
Is there a demonstrated correlation between the number of people you meet in your childhood and social awkwardness in adulthood?
bartonfink 13y ago
One of the common mechanisms that homeschooling parents use is a co-op mechanism. A group of homeschooling families in an area decide to school their children together, with varying degrees of cohesion. This, especially coupled with extracurricular activities, can easily address any concerns about socialization. The adults I know who were homeschooled and seem to have socialization issues by and large were homeschooled in a bubble and not encouraged or given opportunities to socialize. Another benefit of these co-ops is that they can allow for shared resources and expertise that replicates some of the other benefits of a more traditional school environment. An easy example of this might be to take advantage of guided tours of theatres or museums. It's not often easy to get a guide for one parent and one child, but organizations will accommodate a group of 30 more frequently. Another example of this collaboration is electives. Even the best-intentioned homeschooling parent might not know some skill their children have taken an interest in (e.g. cartooning), but if another homeschooling parent knows that skill (e.g. a professional cartoonist), it's common for such parents to make arrangements for lessons in the interest of the group. A parent with an interesting hobby (e.g. model rocketry or electronics) could very easily expose other children to that hobby in an educational way. A group of willing parents can go a long way towards replicating the breadth of educational experience that a traditional school and its resources can provide, without any of the drawbacks.
vaadu 13y ago
This is an incredibly ignorant opinion. You make it sound like home schooled kids are raised on Mars. It wasn't that long ago that people grew up, went to school and worked in the same neighborhood always dealing with the same people. They rarely traveled and moving was unheard of. Did these people grow up socially awkward? No. Home schoolers are in little league, pee wee football and quite often a very large religious community. Being home schooled doesn't cut you off from the world.
solistice 13y ago
But putting them in a room with 30 strangers that might dislike them is somehow going to fix it? Most high school cliques rarely get larger than 5-6 people, so simply giving your kid opportunities to meet other children (it could be some sports club, or the boy scouts, or a science club, really anything) will allow them to get a small but tight social circle, which is more than some kids have.

by meric 13y ago

briandear 13y ago

Is that a hypothesis or based on scientific research? Homeschool kids have plenty of outside activities and extracurriculars. One could argue that spending time on prison introduces you to a lot of people as well, but that doesn't mean it's socially beneficial. Besides, social awkwardness happens with all kinds of people, regardless of academic background and circumstances.

coldtea 13y ago

Not to mention that, because of they types of people that choose homeschooling for their children, the child is more likely to be indoctrinated to all kinds of BS shit. With all the failings of the school system, home-schooling still remains a fuck-you to the humankind -- like some BS bubble created by the kid's parents is inherently better.

charlescearl 13y ago

That doesn't have to be the case. You might find Leo Babauta's blog http://zenhabits.net/unschoolery/ http://zenhabits.net/unschoolery/ interesting reading. It's encouraging to see the discussion. Hopefully its the kind of debate that challenges and redefines what "school" in the 21st century should be about.

dnautics 13y ago

I would argue the opposite. A child who is homeschooled (typically homeschools operate like co-ops, these days) interacts with a few individuals across a broad spectrum of ages. This is a better model of adult social interaction than schools where you are jammed in with a firehose of your near-exact-age-peers.

mikeash 13y ago
I'm always amazed at how artificial the school environment is. In the real world, I interact with a diverse group of people of many different ages. I have a lot of control over who I deal with, such that I can usually avoid dickheads. If I can't avoid them and one of them causes trouble to the extent of physical threats or attacks, I can get them hauled off by the police. In school, everyone around you is the same age, you can't avoid the dickheads no matter how much you might want to, and they can harass you with near impunity. I realize that some allowances must be made for children (can't give a 10-year-old total control over their lives the way an adult has it, after all), but the massive differences in something that's supposed to be preparing them for adulthood are a bit crazy.

mikeash 13y ago

Is there a demonstrated correlation between the number of people you meet in your childhood and social awkwardness in adulthood?

bartonfink 13y ago

One of the common mechanisms that homeschooling parents use is a co-op mechanism. A group of homeschooling families in an area decide to school their children together, with varying degrees of cohesion. This, especially coupled with extracurricular activities, can easily address any concerns about socialization. The adults I know who were homeschooled and seem to have socialization issues by and large were homeschooled in a bubble and not encouraged or given opportunities to socialize. Another benefit of these co-ops is that they can allow for shared resources and expertise that replicates some of the other benefits of a more traditional school environment. An easy example of this might be to take advantage of guided tours of theatres or museums. It's not often easy to get a guide for one parent and one child, but organizations will accommodate a group of 30 more frequently. Another example of this collaboration is electives. Even the best-intentioned homeschooling parent might not know some skill their children have taken an interest in (e.g. cartooning), but if another homeschooling parent knows that skill (e.g. a professional cartoonist), it's common for such parents to make arrangements for lessons in the interest of the group. A parent with an interesting hobby (e.g. model rocketry or electronics) could very easily expose other children to that hobby in an educational way. A group of willing parents can go a long way towards replicating the breadth of educational experience that a traditional school and its resources can provide, without any of the drawbacks.

vaadu 13y ago

This is an incredibly ignorant opinion. You make it sound like home schooled kids are raised on Mars. It wasn't that long ago that people grew up, went to school and worked in the same neighborhood always dealing with the same people. They rarely traveled and moving was unheard of. Did these people grow up socially awkward? No. Home schoolers are in little league, pee wee football and quite often a very large religious community. Being home schooled doesn't cut you off from the world.

solistice 13y ago

But putting them in a room with 30 strangers that might dislike them is somehow going to fix it? Most high school cliques rarely get larger than 5-6 people, so simply giving your kid opportunities to meet other children (it could be some sports club, or the boy scouts, or a science club, really anything) will allow them to get a small but tight social circle, which is more than some kids have.