SO, I am starting to "home-pre-school" with my next door neighbor. It has been VERY fun!! So exciting!!
A friend who is considering homeschooling her kindergarten aged daughter has been asking questions about it. Of the course the BIGGEST concern that EVERYONE has about homeschooling is SOCIALIZATION. (I must laugh, because this should not be your biggest concern. How 'bout, "Is my child LEARNING?")
Anyhow, just wanted to add my two cents as a graduated homeschooler myself. I was in public school 'til highschool when my siblings and I finally convinced my mom to let us try homeschool. ( We all loved it so much that we stayed with it until graduating highschool-my youngest sister who was just starting kindergarten when we started is now almost halfway through highschool!!)These are my conclusions on " socialization" .
First of all, if you rely on schools to teach your children social skills, you are in for a sorry surprise.
Secondly, I can't tell you how many social misfits I went to public school with.
My conclusion would be that there are limitless ways to learn social skills. We actually learn some of the most important social skills in the very fundamental unit of society, our FAMILY/home!! It is here that we learn the skills necessary to go out into the world and interact with others in a proper and engaging manner.
Of course it is important for children to have opportunities to practice these skills in places outside of the home. In my opinion, this is such an EASY little sidenote that it should not even be a concern. It's like, duh! Yes we are going to interact with OTHER people!!! I think people hear the word homescool and automatically think " hermit" or " hippie" . They think you are going to wander off into the woods and/or build your bomb shelter. Perhaps, not too long ago that was likely the case. There were not nearly as many resources or opportunities to homeschool even 20 years ago. It took the more radical thinkers who had sort of non-conformist, reclusive tendencies to get the ball rolling with homeschooling. The reality is, these people would probably have stayed that way whether they were in the public school system or not! The public school system would NOT have " saved" these people from their social ills. Likewise, homeschooling will not push you towards an automatic social death.
I truly laugh at the idea that social skills can ONLY be gained by going to public/private schools.
So, there you have it. My humble opinion, or an abbreviated version, on homeschooling and socialization.
What matters most is having loving, nurturing, involved parents!!! Whether the children are homeschooling, public schoolin' or private schooling will not have nearly as big an impact as having parents who want the best for their child! This is the most important thing your children can have!! Your child will turn out just fine if you are constantly striving for the best for them!
Afterthoughts:
Now that you know I homeschooled, you are probably about to scan through my post to pick out the spelling, grammar, punctuation and format errors. To save you some time, I can assure you that all of my writing foibles are due to laziness/non-interest/lack of talent. I did great in my English college classes. If you are thinking of homeschooling your children, they will not neccessarily become horrible writers like myself.
THANK YOU.
That is all.
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5 comments:
I thought that you must be a crop of freaks when I heard that your family was homeschooled, and then I met your family, and my thoughts have changed.
I know that I can teach The Jooj better than most public schools, but the four issues that I have with home school are the following:
1. I loved all of the extra-curriculars that came along: student council; clubs; plays; sports. I know that some can be taken through the local high school, but a homsechooler is never going to be voted class whatever.
2. Group work--It is becoming sucn an integral part of college and employment, and I am not going to have enough kids to qualify for a group. For the record, I HATE group assignments, but I accept them as a necessary evil, like exercise.
3. College. I don't want to risk my kids not going to BYU because of GEDs. Maybe in 18 years it won't be the case, but as it stands I am too snobby for it.
4. In 4 years I am going to want a break. Seriously. Plus, I LOVE the structure of school--book orders, uniforms, cafeteria lunch, all of that. I thrived in school, and I can't imagine it any other way.
That being said, she will ONLY go to a uniformed private or charter school, with required parental involvement. Unless we move to the most amazing magnet district ever, and then I will let public school have her for that brief period of time.
I love addressing peoples issue with home schooling. Not because I think that everyone should home school. But because most people that have issues with home school have never home schooled. There is this innate need within me to feel understood. It has nothing to do with trying to "convert" people to home school. You either want to do it or you don't. End of story!!!!!
That being said....
I will not force nor coerce my children into home schooling. If they exhibit needs or personalities that would benefit from being in a public or private school setting then that's where they'll get their education!
1. Extra-curricular's........ Extremely important to take into account!!! For ME this was not an issue. I had absolutely zero interest in being voted class whatever. Everything else was 100% available to me either through the high school or through the many resources in the community. I went to the dances, the football games ...even ate lunch with everyone. One cool thing, if your kid (me, for instance) happens to take interest in hobbies or extra curriculars that are not purely high school related, is that you have SO much more flexibility with time and schedules to fit in, or expose yourself to, multiple opportunities. The main thing on this one is your personal experience. Some parents are very attached to certain high school experiences. If a club, student council or whatever, really defined who you were in highschool, then you, of course, will identify that with the good/important things in that time of your life. I think it is only natural to want to pass those experiences on to your children. They might love 'em, they might hardly notice 'em. Their situation at the time will certainly influence their perception as well.
2. Group work. Important. No doubt. If your kid will not have many opportunities to work in groups, either within your own family or with other groups that you team up with, then home school is probably not a very realistic option for you. I mean... you could still do it. People do. But..... yah..... That goes hand in hand with social skills. Need to be able to work in a group. Excel in a group.
3. College. Unless you are going the route of "we make up our own curriculum" or "Brother Jim Bo Dunkenhimers Christian Home School of America" this isn't really a well-founded concern. For instance, the program that I studied through is a fully accredited high school. No GED's here. High school diploma. Also, BYU is probably one of the easiest colleges to work with when applying for college. They actually have a home-school counselor that works exclusively with home school applicants! (ok, so many colleges have this... We found out when we were looking into even trying home school.... wanted to make sure it wouldn't cause problems down the line if I decided to stay with it) Of course there are also a ton of brainiacs who home school for the advantage of being able to work at their own pace and start college at an earlier age. I've only known homeschoolers who have easily gotten into the college of their choice (including ivy leagues) In fact... I can't think of anyone who had a hard time getting into college.
4. I wanted to home school. I didn't have any horrible, traumatizing public school experiences that left me disillusioned with the "system". I was a straight A student. I enjoyed my school friends and activities. I have nothing to prove by staying home with my own daughter. I simply had a friend whose family homeschooled. They were awesome. Are awesome. Did neat things that I wanted to do, so we tried it. I fell in love and want to leave that option open for my own daughter in case it turns out to be something that she falls in love with.
I think what we all want, is to feel good about our own choice without feeling pressure or judgement from others on whether or not we are making the "right" choice.
P.S. Tia, this is not directed at you. I'll explain later.
Good for you, Amy. A boy in my hometown (my dad's best friend's son) was homeschooled and he is WITHOUT QUESTION the most social person I know; he has a learning disability (he's what's called 'brain-injured' due to lack of physical contact, etc., as a newborn from his biological parents) which doesn't hold him back. Each time I see him in NY, here's what he says to me: "Hello, Jenny! How are you? How are things in Utah? Does Darin still work at BYU? How is Little Rae? She sure is big..." And on and on. He remembers EVERYTHING, he knows EVERYONE. Social? Understatement. Granted, there have been people that I know that were homeschooled that were purely socially backwards, but, like you said, so were a lot of the people I went to school with.
I dont' think I could homeschool. I feel like I don't know enough of what's required to be taught, AND I accept the fact that often times, kids are better behaved for other adults than they are for their own parents.
I could go on and on. Nice post, Amy.
PS - I really love that you were homeschooled by your OWN choice.
What if you don't like your kids and you want them out of the house for 8-10 hours of the day? Hypothetically speaking, I mean...
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