Welcome to the Sneak-Peek Edition of
Education Alternative's Series on Homeschooling!
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Progressive homeschooling sparks strong reactions in Kossacks, both for and against.
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Last week on DailyKos, there were three diaries on homeschooling within 24 hours of each other. In all three diaries, the major complaint about homescholing was the same:
I know exactly one home-schooled kid personally, and he's far behind where he would have been in a public school, and not well socialized. http://www.dailykos.com/...
School teaches socialization skills ...as much as anything. I think homeschooling a kid regardless of your political stripe would rob them of that important skill set. So while homeschooling may or may not superannuate their intellects, it could retard them re their social skills. http://www.dailykos.com/...
I worry about homeschooling, just because I think there's less socialization with kids from different backgrounds. http://www.dailykos.com/...
And these Kossacks are not alone. In an academic study from 2006,
Common Myths About Homeschooling, Michael Romanowski sites a study that found that "92% of public school superintendents surveyed believed homeschooled children do not receive adequate socialization experiences." The study came from more than 10 years ago but I don't think public perception has changed very much since then.
More than ten years later, it's time to blow this myth out of the water. It's time to blow lots of homeschooling myths out of the water! Tomorrow, we begin a brand new series here at DailyKos all about Homeschooling. But, before we start, we wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page about the dreaded Socialization issue. Seriously... it's not the problem everyone makes it out to be yet it is often the first complaint in any diary about homeschooling.
Join me below the fold for an honest conversation about socialization. I promise to include some facts and figures, not just anecdotal evidence, that homeschooled kids are socializing just fine.
First, it's really important to define what socialization actually is - the dictionary definition that seems most appropriate is this one:
a continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position.
In the United States, I think it would be fair to say that the social position is one of a contributing citizen with equal rights to every other citizen. For children, this social position is limited by parents - whether they attend school or not. Parents are the ultimate decision makers in their childrens' lives and they determine how much of a role they will play in society. Most people seem to believe that homeschooling parents severely limit this role and prevent their children from participating in our society in order to limit the influences of that society.
So let's start the conversation there, what are the roles of social activity and of social influence in homeschool life?
If you wanted to sit down and talk with a group of homeschoolers, you better get out your social planner. Homeschoolers have busy days and it seems that very little time is spent around the kitchen table studying. Your best bet would be at a weekly playgroup - moms and dads can talk while the kids are socializing and you can ask all the questions you like! I will guarantee you that there is at least one homeschooling group in your community - most have many more. And why? The answer is in Common Myths About Homeschooling, that study cited above:
It seems that most homeschool parents are aware of the issue of socialization and are strongly committed to providing positive socialization opportunities for their children.
It doesn't hurt that those same parents are looking for positive socialization opportunities for themselves. The great thing about homeschool groups is that they tend to draw from the community at large. If you live in an economically diverse community, you'll find homeschoolers that from all economic levels. If you live in a culturally diverse community, you'll find homeschoolers from different cultures. Parents get to provide an example to their children through their own interactions with these other adults.
Kids learn from their parents - that much is clear from the time we bring that baby home and he or she learns that crying will get them picked up and that smiles are usually returned by smiles. Positive child/parent relationships teach more about positive socialization than any child can learn in school.
The author of the above study, Romanowski, tells us how active the vast majority of homeschool students are, "On average, homeschooled students are involved in 5.2 activities outside the home, with 98% or more engaged in two or more."
Basically, homeschool kids are busy and actively engaged with the society around them. They are attending play groups, support groups, learning co-ops, classes at the local community center, and sometimes even the occasional class at their local public school. They are joining Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, sports teams, theatre groups, Civil Air Patrol, book clubs, and more. They participate in Science Fairs, History Fairs, Spelling Bees, Poetry and Literature contests, and just about any other academic competition you can think of. They do all of this and still have time at home to think, to ponder, to wonder, to actually be bored. Homeschool kids play outside and build forts and they can spend hours constructing a unique futuristic air ship from their legos. They have time with other children and apart from other children, which is exactly what homeschool parents want for their kids.
Still not convinced that the majority of homeschool kids are socially active? I don't blame you. One study isn't enough to prove anything - those us that have followed the climate science 'debates' should know that!
In 2004, Susan McDowell, a PhD in Educational Leadership, conducted a review of 24 studies on socialization of homeschoolers. She came to the conclusion:
"It’s a non-issue today," said McDowell, who earned Ph.D. in educational leadership from Vanderbilt University. "All the research shows children are doing well."
Furthermore, when asked to find evidence that homeschoolers are socially deficient compared to traditional school students, she claimed that no one in the academic field had supported that hypothesis by research. The idea that homeschooled kids aren't socialized is a huge myth.
The same article points out that McDowell is not alone in her conclusion. She is joined by another researcher, Dr. Larry Shyers, who holds a Ph.D. in counseling:
His studies found that homeschooled children are not disadvantaged when it comes to socialization. He said that those taught at home were more likely to invite others to play with them, they were not as competitive but more cooperative, and they kept their noise levels lower. Homeschooled children also played with peers of both genders rather than with those of the same gender, he added.
Anecdotal evidence supports this - ask homeschooling families here at DailyKos about their kids and how they play. I know my own had easy going friendships with both boys and girls when they were young. They also played with mixed ages from the get-go. Now they are both young teenagers and have no issues getting along with both sexes. If anything, I could wish for a little less confidence in the girl department; this year, both attended a traditional school in Argentina and the boys at school have often asked my kids where they learned to be so easy going and how they learned to talk to girls, and this is in a foreign language.
Another article at Homeschoolers.org tells us more about Dr. Shyers' research study:
Dr. Shyers’ study went a step further. For his doctoral dissertation, “Comparison of Social Adjustment Between Home and Traditionally Schooled Students,” he compared the actual behaviors of two groups of seventy children from the ages of eight to ten. One group was homeschooled and the other group was drawn from public and private schools. This was a “blind” study, in which the children’s behaviors were evaluated by trained observers who did not know which of the students were homeschooled and which were not. The Child Observation Checklist Direct Observation Form was used to categorize each child’s conduct while playing in mixed groups of children from both sample groups. The homeschooled children were found to have significantly fewer problem behaviors than the children from public and private schools.
Now you know what we homeschooling parents have known for a long time. Our kids are not only socially active, they are socially normal and the studies are there to prove it. What the studies also show is that homeschool kids are not like public school kids and I think that is part of what many people don't like. Americans aren't always great at accepting difference and homeschoolers are different.
A well known homeschooling mom and writer of homeschooling issues, Diane Flynn Keith, addresses the issue head on, bolding mine:
The truth is, homeschoolers are not well-socialized.
There. I’ve said it. Someone had to.
I say this with the greatest respect and affection for the homeschooled or unschooled. Nevertheless, in my experience, homeschoolers deviate from the norm. They are not well-socialized in the traditional school sense. They are odd ducks swimming in a big, standardized social pool. They stand out from the crowd, and a trained eye can spot them a mile away.
She isn't trying to say that this is a bad thing. Exactly the opposite. She wants homeschoolers to embrace this difference and to quit trying to justify our choices just because some of you are uncomfortable with the idea that our kids are not public school socialized. And she does a very convincing job of it:
How could it be any different? They haven’t been indoctrinated in the same way. They have not been steeped in the popular consumer culture to the degree that most schooled kids have been. They are not adult-phobic and peer-dependent.
They haven’t been grouped and sorted according to age and academic track. They haven’t been expected to know their place and stay in the “class” to which they have been assigned. They haven’t been trained to respond to the bell and do assignments without question.
They haven’t had to surrender their individuality and will to an authority figure who may not have their best interests at heart. They aren’t subjected to judgment, grading, and the bestowment of rewards and punishments without the ability to object or appeal.
They haven’t been conditioned to be passive and compliant or dependent on others to tell them what to do or how to spend their time. They are not powerless. They have the choice to remove themselves from bad situations or people and change the curriculum when it’s not relevant, interesting, useful, or meaningful.
And then she hits the nail right on the head. It's not the kids, it's the homeschool parents who are the real social misfits:
And just to throw another fly in the ointment, if you have dared to challenge government schooling or conventional private schooling, I suspect you aren’t normal or especially well-socialized either. Somehow you were impervious to social conditioning enough to think outside the box. You’re probably a little odd too. No offense, but most of the homeschool parents I know, are. I include myself among them. We’re either deliberate, accidental, or reluctant social misfits who imbue our children with a set of values and beliefs that resist the siren songs of government schooling, pop culture, and social engineering.
Well, she said it and I think you will find a large number of homeschoolers who agree with her. Often, we don't see ourselves as social misfits but society certainly thinks we are more than a little strange. But many of us progressive homeschoolers would like to change how American society views lots of people. We would like a more accepting society overall. It is it so strange that we might be social misfits to some?
Could it be that we are vertically socialized rather than horizontally socialized? What's that you say? A graduate student, Thomas Smedley, from Radford University in Virginia wrote his master’s thesis about “The Socialization of Homeschool Children.” He introduced me to the concepts of horizontal and vertical socialization. From Homeschoolers.org:
He used the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales to assess the personal and social skills of matched groups of homeschooled and publicly schooled students. His results showed that homeschooled children had greater social skills and maturity than students attending public school. The differences were rather dramatic, with the homeschooled students ranking in the 84th percentile, while the public school students scored only in the 27th percentile. Smedley noted that public school students are socialized “horizontally” into conformity by their same-age peers, while homeschooled students are socialized “vertically” toward responsibility and adulthood by their parents.
I know many adults who are socialized "horizontally." They hang out only with like-minded people and have little interest in expanding their knowledge of the world around them. A few of them are fellow homeschoolers who happen to have me in their circle. At times, they seem stuck in a time warp and unable to move forward but they are also sometimes forced to into vertical social situations, situations that are not often found inside a public school. We have all met folks who are uncomfortable in new social settings and the ability to conquer that fear is a learned one. One that homeschool kids learn while very young.
I also know many "vertically" socialized people... a lot of them are my friends here at DailyKos and many are fellow homeschoolers. They don't fear meeting people outside of their regular social circles and are willing to welcome folks that may not be like themselves. Vertically socialized adults are more likely to talk comfortably with kids or with teenagers. They value the differences that everyone brings to the social conversation. People who attend public school can also be vertically socialized - obviously not every homeschooling parent was homeschooled. Figuring out how that happens in a public school setting could be an important clue in finding better ways to educate our children.
What would you say if we reversed the question? If we questioned the socialization of public school kids? If we asked if there were ways to lessen the impact of negative social influences? Or to improve the their social skill set? Could we agree on what those negative influences even were? Or what social skills we would like them to have?
Maybe this would be a great place to talk about smaller classroom size so that teachers could have more positive social influence on the students in their class.
Or maybe this would be a great opportunity to talk about mixed age classrooms that don't group kids by age so that social influence comes from a broader range of kids and that kids can practice a social skill set outside their own age range.
Or how about inviting parents and teachers to have a conversation about what kind of influences should be appropriate in the classroom - because, believe it or not, different communities will come up with different answers to that question. Imagine asking that question in Arizona today where the schools have recently banned so many books that encourage pride in Hispanic American culture? Or in a small, rural community in the Southern United States where desegregation may still not have succeeded in bringing equality to the classroom?
Instead of accusing homeschoolers of lacking in socialization skills, maybe we should start studying the positive aspects of homeschool socialization and consider incorporating some of those into public schools.
Just in case you're still concerned, after all this reading, I want to share one more study with you; "In 2003, the National Home Education Research Institute conducted a survey of 7,300 U.S. adults who had been homeschooled (5,000 for more than seven years). Their findings included:"
Homeschool graduates are active and involved in their communities. 71% participate in an ongoing community service activity, like coaching a sports team, volunteering at a school, or working with a church or neighborhood association, compared with 37% of U.S. adults of similar ages from a traditional education background.
Homeschool graduates are more involved in civic affairs and vote in much higher percentages than their peers. 76% of those surveyed between the ages of 18 and 24 voted within the last five years, compared with only 29% of the corresponding U.S. populace. The numbers are even greater in older age groups, with voting levels not falling below 95%, compared with a high of 53% for the corresponding U.S. populace.
58.9% report that they are "very happy" with life, compared with 27.6% for the general U.S. population. 73.2% find life "exciting", compared with 47.3%.
If after all this, you are still not convinced that homeschool children are sufficiently socialized and participating in their society even after their schooling is finished, I have one question for you:
Who socialized kids before public schools existed?
My intent in today's diary has not been to convince you to embrace homeschooling wholeheartedly. But I do hope that this diary has convinced you that socialization is the least of our concerns... when you next encounter a homeschool family, whether on the internet here at DailyKos or out in the 'real' world, please encounter them with an open mind. If you must, ask politely about how they socialize their kids. We're used to it... the question has become somewhat of a joke in homeschooling circles, to tell you the truth. But we would rather you ask than just make assumptions about us.
In the weeks and months ahead, you will be offered the opportunity to get to know some progressive homeschooling families here at DailyKos - families that truly do consider themselves liberal and who believe that the path they are following is not only the best one for their children but is actually the best one for our society. We ask that you greet them as equals in our quest for better public education. As Romanowski concludes in his study:
Our main concern should be that education, whatever form it takes, maximizes the potential of all children. Inevitably, this will lead some parents to select alternative and less institutionalized options for their children's education. As educators and community members, we need to respect parents' choices because this is the essence of a democratic educational system. Instead of constantly comparing and contrasting public schools and homeschools, we should look at how each can learn from one another and then use this information to improve the learning experiences of all children, no matter what form of education takes place.