“When I wrote my socialization post, I said that the Number One homeschoolers got was ‘What about Socialization?’ When I was growing up, this was actually the Number Two question. The Number One question I got when I told someone I was homeschooled was: ‘What’s that?’ Nowadays, everyone knows someone who has been homeschooled. But that doesn’t mean that stereotypes have gone away or even changed.”
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“When I started this series, the question ‘Do former homeschoolers want to homeschool their children?’ was one that was very personal. In my current circle of friends, I know lots of parents who are currently homeschooling or are planning on homeschooling. But none of these parents were homeschooled themselves.”
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“This post is the ‘big picture,’ the reasons that former homeschoolers list as the best thing(s) about homeschooling. The second half of this post is the responses of these adults about what they wish had been different about their homeschooling experience. I hope this post encourages you and gives you some food for thought as well.”
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“The issue of socialization and homeschooling is so dynamic because, whether homeschoolers like to admit it or not, what they are doing is counter-cultural. It isn’t ‘the way’ most Americans are educated or how most adults learned to interact with the world. This is neither good nor bad. It simply is. But because it is ‘different,’ it may and often does present some challenges.”
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“Honestly, I don’t believe I was prepared academically for college, especially in my chosen field (woefully unprepared in writing and critical thinking!) but I got by because homeschooling taught me to be an independent learner and I was extremely self-motivated.”
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“The truth is, everyone goes through ‘crap’ during the high school years, either in public, private or homeschool. The struggles for public/private school students are often very different — and not just the ‘unholy trinity’ of sex, drugs and alcohol. Like it or not, homeschooled high schoolers still experiment sexually and are tempted by drugs and alcohol. But homeschool students often go through personal struggles that their non-homeschooled peers do not have to deal with.”
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“Emotionally, the numbers were a little different. 65% of adults (or 28 people) said that their emotional memories were good (‘I loved it!’) or that they had no memory of how they felt (2 participants or 4%). 30% (13 participants) of adult homeschoolers said that they struggled with negative emotions concerning this time in their lives.”
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“Most of the homeschoolers who took the survey cited multiple reasons that influenced their parents’ decision. But the # 1 reason for homeschooling on the surveys mirrored my own family’s reasons for homeschooling: Religious Reasons or Convictions.”
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“in my own experience, homeschooling families tend to have large families. As you can see, the range of siblings in each family is pretty dramatic (from an only child to a family of 14 children!) The average of 4 children in a family seems pretty ‘normal’ to me. Many homeschoolers talked about relationships with siblings in the surveys so that is why I included this information.”
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“The purpose of my series was to look at the ‘good, bad, and ugly’ issues of homeschooling in an honest and fair way, with the underlying thread of hope by sharing the experiences of many adults from all around the USA. I hope that, as you read, you will be able to identify with the stories of these men and women.”
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