Are Homeschoolers Adequately Socialized
Michelle Bailey Research Writing/COM220 January 9, 2013
The issue of adequate socialization among homeschoolers has been an unnecessary topic of debate for many years. As the homeschooling population has grown so has the speculation regarding the lifestyle of these families. The first question that a homeschooling family is normally asked is in regards to socialization. There is a natural tendency to believe that a child can only be socially prepared if they are schooled in the public school system. The mass socialization that occurs in public school has always been considered the ideal way to school children. There are two sides to this debate and each side is adamant that they are correct. In recent years there have been numerous studies that are changing the way that America views homeschoolers. For many years it has been a statistical fact that homeschoolers score above public schooled students. A recent study ,” Homeschool Progress Report 2009” ,which was done by Brian Ray showed that home-schoolers scored an average of 37 percentile points higher than public schooled students on achievement tests(Smith ,2009). Homeschool graduates exceeded public school graduates in 42 out of 63 indicators of college success in research shared at the National Christian Home Educators Leadership Conference (CBN News,May,2007). Studies such as this have muted the concern that parents could not provide an adequate education at home.While no one can argue that most homeschoolers are normally intelligent , successful students the argument that remains is that of socialization. Outsiders wonder how these students can maintain a life without their parents by their side no matter how intelligent they may be. The general feeling is that a parent should begin to let go of a child once he or she reaches school age.
The issue of adequate socialization among homeschoolers has been an unnecessary topic of debate for many years. As the homeschooling population has grown so has the speculation regarding the lifestyle of these families. The first question that a homeschooling family is normally asked is in regards to socialization. There is a natural tendency to believe that a child can only be socially prepared if they are schooled in the public school system. The mass socialization that occurs in public school has always been considered the ideal way to school children. There are two sides to this debate and each side is adamant that they are correct. In recent years there have been numerous studies that are changing the way that America views homeschoolers. For many years it has been a statistical fact that homeschoolers score above public schooled students. A recent study ,” Homeschool Progress Report 2009” ,which was done by Brian Ray showed that home-schoolers scored an average of 37 percentile points higher than public schooled students on achievement tests(Smith ,2009). Homeschool graduates exceeded public school graduates in 42 out of 63 indicators of college success in research shared at the National Christian Home Educators Leadership Conference (CBN News,May,2007). Studies such as this have muted the concern that parents could not provide an adequate education at home.While no one can argue that most homeschoolers are normally intelligent , successful students the argument that remains is that of socialization. Outsiders wonder how these students can maintain a life without their parents by their side no matter how intelligent they may be. The general feeling is that a parent should begin to let go of a child once he or she reaches school age.