People always ask, “What about socialisation?”
How will our children learn social skills if they are educated at home?
Well, we wonder how children in schools learn social skills if they are kept in a classroom with one age group for most of the day, while we are out and about interacting with all age groups in all kinds of places.
Research has revealed that most homeschoolers participate in a wide variety of outside activities, interact with a broad spectrum of people, and make positive contributions to their communities. Experience has shown that homeschoolers are well socialised and they are able to make lasting friendships across age and cultural divides.
In South Africa (as elsewhere in the world) homeschooled learners are involved in various sports and cultural activities, eco-schools projects, San Parks Junior Rangers programmes, various churches, ministries and other religious groups, scouts, charities and various other community activities. In addition to all that, we have regular play dates and get togethers, just like the rest of the population and our support groups have frequent outings and activities. We do not live isolated lives in cocoons at home!
People often comment that our children are so confident when speaking to adults and are able to engage in meaningful conversations with them. The reason, is that unlike school children, our kids do not view all adults as authority figures (teachers) who expect them to be seen but not heard, but rather as adult friends.
Outsiders are also often amazed at how competent older children are at caring for younger ones. They learn these skills by being together with all ages at home!
Homeschooled children are also exposed to much less negative peer group pressure than their school-going counterparts and tend to be more self-assured and self-confident about their own identities. They are less inclined to need to conform to find peer-acceptance.
We will admit that they are not very good at lining up and being quiet as a group or raising their hands first to ask a question, but we are working on that, even though we don’t think that it will hinder them much in life!
If you are a concerned grandparent, friend or family member, the best thing you could do is to learn all you can about homeschooling (read our FAQs), ask non-threatening questions and be supportive of the family you know who has chosen to homeschool, even if you don’t agree with their decision. This is unlikely to be a decision that they have taken lightly. We know their fears and worries as we have to answer the many questions of prospective homeschoolers before they make a definite decision! They are very aware that they are making an unusual choice for their family and they usually anticipate a lot of negativity and criticism from others.
In the interests of maintaining good relationships, listen and do not criticise. In time you will probably be pleasantly surprised when you see the good fruit of homeschooling! Read some of our Homeschool Success Stories and see that homeschoolers can achieve anything they want to!
If you are still in doubt about homeschool socialisation, we challenge you, find us research that shows that homeschoolers lack social skills!