Richard G. Medlin

Home Schooling and the Question of Socialization

“Why aren’t your kids in school? Do you have experience as a teacher? How do you know if you’re teaching the right things? Aren’t you worried that your kids won’t be able to get into college? Whatever made you decide to keep your children at home?” Home schooling parents, if they have been at it very long at all, have been asked these questions countless times by the curious and the disapproving. But of the customary questions home schoolers face, “What about socialization?” is perhaps the most familiar and the most puzzling. What makes this question so puzzling is that different people mean different things by the word socialization. Some people mean social activity: giving children the chance to play with friends and participate in traditional extracurricular activities like sports, school plays, and the senior prom. Others mean social influence: teaching children to conform to majority norms. And some mean social exposure: introducing children to the culture and values of different groups of people. All these things may be a part of socialization, but socialization can be more accurately defined as “the process whereby people acquire the rules of behavior and systems of PEABODY JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, 75(1&2), 107–123 Copyright

Homeschooling and the Question of Socialization Revisited

This article reviews recent research on homeschooled childrens socialization. The research indicates that homeschooling parents expect their children to respect and get along with people of diverse backgrounds, provide their children with a variety of social opportunities outside the family, and believe their childrens social skills are at least as good as those of other children. What homeschooled children think about their own social skills is less clear. Compared to children attending conventional schools, however, research suggest that they have higher quality friendships and better relationships with their parents and other adults. They are happy, optimistic, and satisfied with their lives. Their moral reasoning is at least as advanced as that of other children, and they may be more likely to act unselfishly. As adolescents, they have a strong sense of social responsibility and exhibit less emotional turmoil and problem behaviors than their peers. Those who go on to college are socially involved and open to new experiences. Adults who were homeschooled as children are civically engaged and functioning competently in every way measured so far. An alarmist view of homeschooling, therefore, is not supported by empirical research. It is suggested that future studies focus not on outcomes of socialization but on the process itself.