Socialization
When my husband and I began toying with the idea of home schooling our son, many people had opinions to offer on the subject. No one has ever disputed the academic superiority of home schooling with me as the evidence clearly refutes any such argument. However, there were plenty of other objections. One of the first concerns that people mentioned to us was lack of socialization. "You don't want him to be weird or lonely," people warned us. Admittedly socialization has been my major concern as well. I decided to begin researching this particular aspect of home schooling in order to ensure that I was making an informed decision. I turned first to the Random House Webster's College dictionary, which defines socialization as "a continuing process whereby an individual learns and assimilates the values and behavior patterns appropriate to his or her culture and social position." After reading this definition, the first red flag shot up in my brain. After all I had attended public school and I don't recall that the values and behavior patterns I was introduced to in school were particularly appropriate. In fact it seems to me that just the opposite was true. Consider the following statistics; according to the Bureau of Justice in 2002, 48.6 % of high school seniors reported that they had consumed alcohol in the last 30 days, 21.5% had used marijuana in that same time and 22 percent of teenagers smoked. Other sources have reported that 42 percent of boys and 33% of girls ages 15-17 have had sexual intercourse (Daly 2001) and that one in 12 children are no longer virgins by his or her 13th birthday (Collier, 2001). As you can see the schools today are a veritable haven of wholesome activity. One wonders how they squeeze in time for academics. Obviously, children of this generation should not be learning values from their peers. Many parents report that they home school in order to give their children "the opportunity to escape negative peer pressure (e.g. drugs, alcohol, and premarital sex) through controlled and positive peer social interactions" (Basham, 2001). According to Dr. Fred Worth at Henderson State University, socialization can be a negative experience for children in public schools. He explains that, "In order to gain the approval of a group, it is necessary to conform to the behaviors and norms of that group." Dr. Worth also brings up concerns about the idea that children need to spend their time with other children of their own age in public school settings in order to be properly socialized. He states that, "constant exposure to the immaturities and abuses of other children does not effectively bring about the good aspects of socialization". In other words, if the only behaviors children witness during recess and free time are bullying and teasing, the concern becomes that these are the behaviors a child will conform to in order to fit in with his or her friends. This phenomenon is commonly called peer dependence and avoiding this sort of negative socialization is another one of the reasons cited by parents who have made the decision to home school (Basham, 2001). As Mary Pipher Ph.D., therapist and author of In the Shelter of Each Other, Rebuilding Our Families states, "Good parents used to introduce their children into the broader culture; now they try to protect their children from the broader culture. Good parents used to instill the values of the broader culture; now they try to teach their children values very different from the ones the world at large teaches."(1996). Once I had discovered that I definitely did not care for the type of socialization that children experienced at school, the next step was to discover how home schooled children are socialized. I soon discovered though that this is not a concern. Social activities for seem to be varied and plentiful for home schooled students. They participate in a lot of the same outside activities that other kids do. These activities include but are not limited to Little League, music lessons, dance lessons, and Scouting. Many home schooled children also attend Sunday school and participate in church youth groups. (Lyman, 1998). There are also activities that are more exclusive. Home school associations are cropping up all over the United States and Canada. "Home school associations offer students the chance to interact with other home schoolers whether on the Internet, in study groups or for field trips. Some home schooling associations offer shared facilities, such as a library or gymnasium, and some have organized athletic teams and competitions for students"(Raycroft,2000). Many school districts are now offering assistance programs that provide many opportunities for social interaction with other home schoolers as well as curriculum advice and other assistance for parents. All of these programs "aid the successful socialization of home schooled children" (Basham, 2001). There are other aspects of socialization that these children are exposed to that children who are in school do not often experience. They spend time every day with people of varying ages and learn from their examples. Ideally the behavior modeled by mature adults and older children is far more beneficial to children than the examples set by their peers seemingly; even public schools officials are beginning to grudgingly admit the advantages of this situation as evidenced by their experimentation with mixed-age classrooms. One type of socialization that seems to be lacking in the home school environment is the television. Home schooled children watch significantly less than the national average. 63.5% report watching less than 1 hour of television per day and less than 0.1% watching six hours or more a day. This statistic is in striking contrast with the overall nationwide average. 19% of children report watching six hours of television per day (Rudner, 1999). This difference could be explained by the fact that as the average homeschooled student is involved in 5.2 social activities per week, (Basham, 2001) they have precious little time for television viewing. While we were impressed with this information, my husband and I wanted empirical proof that this type of socialization was indeed beneficial to children. . We found this information readily available on the Internet. In a study of self-concept of home schooling children John Taylor found that "The self-concept of home-schooling children was significantly higher (p<.001) than that of the conventionally schooled population...Insofar as self-concept is a reflector of socialization, it would appear that few home schooling children are socially deprived. Critics of the home school should not urge self-concept and socialization rationales" (Taylor, 1987). In another study performed by Larry Shyers of the University of Florida the researcher videotaped children that were both homeschooled and conventionally schooled. He then asked professional counselors to observe the children's behavior without telling them which children were home schooled. According to Shyer there was "no big difference between the two groups of children in self-concept or assertiveness, which was measured by social development tests. But the videotapes showed that youngsters who were taught at home by their parents had consistently fewer behavior problems" (Lyman, 1998). The most convincing statistic is found in the results of a study of over 7,300 adults who were homeschooled conducted by Dr. Brian Ray from the National Home Education Research Institute. 92.4% of the respondents feel that "having been homeschooled is an advantage to them as an adult" (Ray, 2003). With all these facts in hand, we became fairly confident with our decision. Only one concern remained and that was our location. After all in the middle of Iowa, new ideas often take a little bit longer to catch on. So when I went back to the computer to search for local opportunities available to us, I was pleasantly surprised. The first group I stumbled across was a Yahoo Group known as IDEA -"Iowan's Dedicated to Educational Alternatives "a non-profit, non-sectarian organization dedicated to providing information, support and encouragement to pursue life-long learning outside the school environment." This group is on the web at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IDEA-2. The group currently consists of about 180 Iowans. Members are available for discussion about home schooling issues through e-mail discussions and occasionally social outings. I posted a few questions concerning socialization to this group and received many helpful replies. IDEA member Kate Hess responded by saying, "Socialization is something that happens during contact with other people from the moment a baby is born..."socialization" in the way public school supporters talk about it is definitely *not* something I want my children to experience. It's all about fitting in, being one of the crowd, and interacting only with people of *exactly* the same age." Another member Katie replied, "From birth, children begin to socialize unless they are penned in a box 24/7. The world is filled with a plethora of different people and even a trip to the grocery to library is a chance to socialize." Some of the IDEA members were also able to direct me to a local group, the Iowa City Home Education Network. Their web site is located at www.ichen.org. According to their site, the group offers many opportunities in the Iowa City and Coralville area. "In addition to our meetings, which allow parents a chance to socialize and kids an opportunity to play with other home schooling kids, we arrange a variety of field trips throughout the year. Given all these opportunities I am certain we will be able to provide our children with more than adequate amounts of socialization.Authors Note: I wrote this quite some time ago. My family and I have been involved with ICHEN for almost four years now, as we started attending events when our oldest son was two. We are also looking forward to participating in the Homeschool Assistance Program being organized by the Iowa City School District as well. We have found more than enough opportunities to provide our children with positive socialization experiences.
Works Cited
Basham, Patrick, (2001) Home Schooling: From the Extreme to the Mainstream. Public Policy Sources Number 51, On the Internet at http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/admin/books/files/homeschool.pdf, June 1st, 2004.
Collier, Lisa. "The Secret Sex Lives of Kids". Ladies’ Home Journal. 2001
Daly, Melissa (2001) "Let's Talk About Sex". Seventeen Magazine, July
Lyman, Isabel (1998) Home Schooling: Back to the Future? Cato Institute Policy Analysis No.294, Jan 7 (2000). "Home School and Histrionics." The Cato Institute (May 31)
Pipher, Mary Ph.D. (1996), The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families. New York:Putnum, 1996.
Ray, Brian D. (2003) "Homeschooling Grows Up" On the internet at http://www.hslda.org/research/ray2003/Socialization.asp, June 5, 2004
Raycroft, RuthAnn (2000). "Teach the Children at Home? Who-Me?" Women Today, September 18. On the internet at http://www.womentodaymagazine.com/family/homeed.html. June 15, 2004.
Rudner, Lawrence M. (1999) "Scholastic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students in 1998.", Educational Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 7, no. 8 (March 23) On the internet at http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/rudner1999/FullText.asp, June 4, 2004.
Taylor, John (1986). Self Concept in Home Schooling Children. Ann Arbor, MI. On the internet at http://www.moorefoundation.com/Socialization.html.