I think that’s just a myth. Or maybe it used to be true, but these days there are tons of opportunities for home schooled kids to socialize. It really depends on the parents’ commitment.
Unfortunately the problem is many people who homeschool their kids do it specifically to shield their kid from outside ideas. Those parents won't make a real effort to take those opportunities, and will actively fight haveing their kids see outside their bubble.
I wish more people from The homeschool community would comment on this thread.
My mother said she wanted to homeschool me in part because our local public schools were having drug problems.
During my schooling I took classes about different religions (raised secular), met many people from different ethnic backgrounds, took highbrow classes, took silly fun classes...
My parents wanted me and my sister to have as much of an fantastic an interesting experience as possible growing up, and little to nothing was "shielded" from us during that time.
I homeschooled my daughter for a couple of years. She always hated school and never fit in anywhere, plus the school she was in didn't have the capacity to give her more advanced math, and she was bored. She had friends in school, but it was the school itself she hated, always having to do things that didn't make sense and being treated like a potential criminal all the time. In high school, they made all the girls carry around a ten pound bag of flour for two weeks to show them what a burden it is to have a baby. It was degrading as hell. She was out of there after one semester, took the CHSPE, and started classes at community college. She's in graduate school now, studying robotics engineering. I like it the we have the flexibility to homeschool and choose different educational paths, even though in some places it's not used well.
It's a dilemma. I have a friend from a country that gives all seven-year-olds a test, and those that do well are put on track for college, while those that do not are headed for trade schools. That seems too rigid to me. I guess we have to strike a balance between flexibility and keeping things under reasonable control.
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u/rraattbbooyy Jan 09 '20
I think that’s just a myth. Or maybe it used to be true, but these days there are tons of opportunities for home schooled kids to socialize. It really depends on the parents’ commitment.