A parent making an important decision for his or her child involving education is always a hard choice. Which one is better private, public or home schooling? There are many pros and cons for each option. A homeschooled child is less likely to be confident with socializing than a child attending a private school. The individuals don’t have the extracurricular activities offered and may have difficulty maintaining relationships. Although facts have proven that homeschooled children have better grades in college. Is that from the lack of socializing? A homeschool student lacks the availability of extracurricular activities.
He or she has church activities, girl guides, 4-H and boy scouts, but what about the competitive sports that may only be associated with public and private schools? Homeschooled children aren’t allowed to be involved with school sports in most of the United States (Dao, 2005). Homeschooled students only take up five percent of a school band or sports team where school districts accept homeschoolers (Lebeda, 2007).
Without these sports children don’t get the opportunity to build long lasting friendships with their teammates. Some homeschooling parent’s don’t think their child lacks any sort of extracurricular activities because they are involved in organized programs outside of the schools. It’s also thought that homeschooler’s watch less TV than public or private school attenders because of the amount of activities the students are occupied with. A reason found for why homeschool kids are into many organized programs is that their parents want them to have a social life and they think this is the way to do it (Medlin, 2000).
“Socialization is the process by which individuals learn to establish and maintain relationships with others, become accepted members of society, regulate their own behavior in accordance with society’s codes and standards, and get along with others” (Lebeda, 2007). In some cases homeschooled children have a problem with socializing because of his or her lack of meeting peers in a school setting (Lebeda, 2007). Studies show that school plays a major role in a child’s relationship development by providing children with ways to create their character, and learning to be able to work with their peers. “Homeschooling compresses the three spheres in which children need to be successful -home, school, and peers- into a single setting.”
Disadvantages to homeschooling and socialization may cause some struggles and loneliness. Studies also show that students not only need peer to peer socialization but a lot of adult communication. Both types of relations can be positive or negative (Lebeda, 2007). The studies that prove homeschooled students have better grades in college began with a study showing that self-esteem levels are equal for both traditional and homeschooled students, and that a homeschooled student is less likely to be depressed than a traditional school student.
The final test then showed that homeschool students have higher grades then traditional students and homeschooled students also claim to have a greater experience in college than a traditional student (Drenovsky & Cohen, 2012). An average homeschooled student may have better grades because of their absence of socializing. Not learning how to socialize at a young age can be reflected in your future for good or bad. A homeschool student wouldn’t have the distraction of going out on the weekend before a big midterm if he or she’s best friend was back in town for a break.
On the other hand they might not feel confident enough to strike up a conversation with an individual for a project or even to go out after a stressful week. Homeschooling will always have its pros and cons whether it’s socializing or the curriculum being taught. Parents and the school board will always have a reason to argue which is better for the students. Homeschooling will usually leave a child feeling insecure while speaking with their peers or adults. A cause of anti-socialization is the lack of extracurricular activities, and because of that children don’t have the skills to uphold a relationship. One of the advantages of not attending a traditional school would be higher grades after the transition to college or university.
