Myths Dispelled

This post is a continuation of my earlier post called Homeschooling 101, and here I hope to dispel some of the myths about homeschooling. The National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) conducted a study of 7,306 adults who had been homeschooled for a significant period of their childhood. The statistics cited in this post are from the online summary of this study, called Home Educated and Now Adults.

Myth #1: Home schoolers are not adept in social situations and are, well...maladjusted.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard this one. While this stereotype may have its roots in truth, I think it is rarely the case today. When my parents first started homeschooling me in the late 80s, homeschooling was illegal in some states and frequently home schooled families were seen as anomalies. This was not entirely true where I grew up, but I lived in a somewhat unconventional community. Regardless, I believe that this left homeschooling parents feeling isolated, and it also led many home school parents to isolate their children from prying, judgmental eyes. So yes, some home schooled students were not well-adjusted socially, but this was not the case in every situation.
Thankfully, this stereotype rarely holds true today. Since homeschooling has become more mainstream, public schools have opened some of their programs to home schooled students. For instance, while I was in high school I had home schooled friends who participated in public school activities such as debate, music, etc.... This has given home schooled students more and more chances to become involved. Also, there are now co-ops and other groups where home schoolers can get together and participate in programs (for instance, making poster presentations for History Day). Furthermore, there are always other opportunities to get kids involved socially. I was active in my church's youth group, took private piano lessons, and for three years danced with the local ballet company. I had a few good friends and lots of acquaintances...no more and no less than my public-schooled peers. Like everyone else I have some weird quirks, but I like to think that I'm really quite normal :-). In their conclusion, NHERI's study states that “the concerns stressed by Apple (2000), Franzosa (1984), Lubienski (2000, 2003), the National Education Association (2002), and Reich (2001, 2002), that homeschooling would somehow interfere with home-educated adults participating in essential societal activities or that homeschooling inhibits public debate, have no foundation.” (italics mine).

Myth #2: Home schooled students have difficulty working in groups.
This is related to Myth #1. Many home schooled students have siblings who are also home schooled, which allows parents to assign group projects and collaborative-learning exercises. I remember that I would often help my younger sister learn her lessons, which I think has shaped my desire to teach. And, the only reason I hated group work in college was because I was always the one stuck doing all the work while everyone else slid by on my coat tails.

Myth #3: Home schooled students have more trouble adjusting to college and life away from home.
This is closely tied to both Myths #1 and #2. Really, when you think about it, moving to college is a difficult transition for everyone, regardless of their academic history. The important thing is to make the student comfortable in class situations before they go off to college, otherwise they have more adjusting to do than their public-schooled peers. I took a couple classes at a local college during my senior year of high school so I could become comfortable in a classroom with other students. This was a less threatening environment because I knew that I wouldn't see most of these students again, since I would be attending a school 90 miles away. I was really nervous the first day, but I loosened up pretty fast. Most of those nerves stemmed from the fact that the class was in a computer lab and most of our class work involved interactive computer work which was not my forte in high school (my appreciate for computers did not develop until college). I think I was more nervous about the computer work than anything else.

Myth #4: Home schooled students miss out on many key milestones of growing up (i.e. prom, graduation, that awkward junior high dance, etc...)
Personally, I think this is bogus. While at the time missing out on prom seemed like a big deal, once I got to college I realized how unimportant prom was...once I was in college it didn't matter who had been prom king, who was homecoming queen, or who had been the star in the high school production of The Music Man. Everyone was on a (virtually) level playing field. Needless to say, my regret quickly disappeared.
As for graduation, I was part of a co-op that had a real, live graduation ceremony. There were 12 (or 13?) of us. We all sat on stage, had our diplomas presented by our parents, and even got to toss our mortarboards. Yes, it was a small and unconventional ceremony, but hey, it was still a graduation ceremony. And, because my parents presented me with my diploma, it was a very moving and personal experience, unlike my public-schooled friends who had a graduating class of 450. I'm not knocking public-school graduations, but everyone will agree that they are frequently too long. Most of my home schooled friends did not care about these "milestones" once they got to college, and to my knowledge none of them feel that they missed out.

Myth #5: Home schooled students lack the skills and socialization necessary to become fully-functioning members of society, particularly in regards to civic and community involvment.
For this one I'll let the statistics speak for themselves. According to NHERI, “71% of subjects were participating in any ongoing community service activity (e.g., coaching a sports team, volunteering at a school, or working with a church or neighborhood association), while 37% of similarly aged U.S. adults and 39% of all U.S. adults did so.” As for civic involvement, "the degree to which the respondents thought they could understand and affect society and government was also addressed. For example, fewer of the home educated (4%) than the general public (35%) thought that ‘politics and government are too complicated to understand.’ About the same percent of the home educated (98%) and the general public (94%) thought that they ‘could write a letter to government official that clearly states his/her opinion.'" In the summary section, the study determined that "for all civic activities (e.g., working for candidate/political party/political cause, voting in national/state elections) and at all age groups, the home-educated adults in this study were more civically involved than the general population.”