Homeschooling : But What About Socialization - or - Why My Kids are Weird

 This is the number one thing I hear when I say we are homeschoolers. I'm always taken aback at this question because socialization is exactly one of the reasons we want to keep them out of the school system. Someone has written a spectacular rebuttal here:

One research study even concluded, “The socialization of home-educated students was often better than that of their schooled peers.” The research proves homeschoolers surpass standard social expectations, and in exceeding them, they fall short of social mediocrity. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but there’s nothing “normal” about our kids. Your homeschooled child is odd compared to the schooled population because they have not experienced ongoing school-based socialization and standardization. 

My husband I were odd as children. I was the kid who wore a full-length black cape to school and could quote most sci-fi movies from a young age and never missed an episode of Jeopardy!. However, no one considered that it had anything to do with our schooling. So when the children of two geeky, odd people are also a little weird, why is it assumed that it must be because of homeschooling?

I recall teachers often telling me to stop socializing, that we were at school to learn. The socialization that occurs in school is unique - at no other time in our lives we will be separated by age and have little contact with real world scenarios. The benefits of school socialization are overstated. My children happily play with kids far younger and far older, and are able to carry on polite conversations with people of all ages on many varied subjects. 

We hope our children will give our children the freedom to be themselves, pursue their interests and learn to march to the beat of their own drummer rather than just follow the crowd.