"Socialisation" - Turned on Its Head!

For the past 20+ years, the question most asked of homeschooling parents has been "But what about socialisation??" The world believes that if you don't send your little darling to hang out with their peers for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 12 years they will emerge into the "real world" lacking in social skills by which they mean the ability to communicate & interact with people in a meaningful, appropriate and healthy way. (Truly, socialisation is something else all together, but I'll leave that for another day's post).

I want to share with you an article recently published in Home Schooling NZ's term newsletter (courtesy of Todd Roughton). Read it, think about it...more comments below....

Do you get that folks?? Public school students with enough ability to get into Otago Uni, have been proven to be so lacking in appropriate social skills that now the uni is going to include courses to teach them the lacking skills......and meanwhile, a psychology graduate who attended uni as a adult, shares their observations of how socially advanced home educated students are.

Of course, I'm not surprised! But I just love how these two things counterpoint each other, and turn the whole socialisation myth on it's head.

Maybe the next time someone tells you their child goes to school, you should slap your hands to your cheeks, look horrified and say:

"You send your child to public school?? But what about socialisation??!!"*

*Disclaimer: This article is not meant to cause any offense. Its purpose is simply to emphasis the irony and encourage home educating parents that are being bombarded by well-meaning but misinformed socialisation questions that home educated kids usually have very good social skills by the time they are grown, while sending a child to school does not guarantee they will emerge with good social skills.