Are homeschoolers sheltering their children from the world?

Answer 1

Oooooooooooooooooooooo ! Homeschoolers are obviously a defensive & arrogant lot. It's disturbing to see such an innocuous question generate so many vitriolic responses. Why are they so intimidated ? Across most of the world families use 'homeschooling' in one form or another, it's nothing to be ashamed of !!

Answer 2

In today's psyco world that can be a great thing. However the children that I personally know that are homeschooled are not sheltered. In fact quite the contrary. I envy their parents for being able to do such a great job and provide a comfortble living at the same time.

Answer 3

My own reasons for homeschooling are many, but primarily, I was dissatisfied with the level of work required from the public school. I knew my son was capable of more than they were asking, but the school was not able to challenge him, other than assigning him MORE work (not more CHALLENGING work).

He is somewhat sheltered, in that he's not learning about sex, drugs and homosexuality in elementary school, but he has many friends in the different groups he belongs to (church, co-op classes, sports classes, art classes). Plus, I like the fact that he regularly gets to interact with people of different ages and cultural backgrounds - something he wouldn't get in the public school.

All the homeschool parents I know are very diligent about getting their kids involved with others and not just locking them away to do hours of workbook pages. We go on field trips at least once a month and have get-togethers (park day, pool day) every week or two.

Are there homeschool parents that are trying to protect their kids from the 'world'? Probably. But I'd guess they are in the (very small) minority.

Answer 4

This question is pointed and therefore irrelevent.

Children who are homeschooled are still children. They grow up, react, get a job--much like the rest of us. They learn, grasp ideas, and finally form opinions themselves. To say they are brainwashed is ridiculous and blasphemy.

It all depends on the parents (teachers, that is). If they are significantly poor, then their children will display it. Likewise, decent homeschooling parents can often times produce children who excel at areas of schoolpertise (such as Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon and a homeschooled child).


All in all, I think blame lies with individual parents--not with the concept itself.

Answer 5

Well, I had a lot to say, but Angie said it all for me. My goal is not to shelter my children from the world but from mediocrity. My kids learn at their own level/pace which is different for each subject. They are not sheltered. I do unlock the basement door once a week so they can get a few beams of sunlight...JUST KIDDING! My kids spend much of their day in the real world as opposed to locked in a fascist classroom.

Have a great unsheltered day!

Answer 6

now to answer your question DEEPBLUE62, I will tell you why homeschoolers are SO defencive, its because how would you like it if every day people go, OOOO that kid over there is HS, that kid you see over there is not very smart because its HS, or would you like this one,right when you walk into Walmart the old women at the door is looking at you like you are here to steal some thing, you then go check outs to pay for a MOP and the check out women is asking why you are paying with a debit card. So O.K if I a 15 year old girl in Walmat on a Wednesday at about 1:00pm I just stole a debit I would buy like a Xbox 360 with 12 games NOT a $5 MOP don't you think! they where 3ins from calling the cops on me because I was using MY debit card NOT my moms but my card. so just because you walk into a store when SCHOOL in on you are markt as a stealer not as a HS coming in to shop today!

Answer 7

Personally I think that is a good idea to a certain degree. Although children should know what is out there ,just so they will know what to expect when they run up on it. In there growing years if they don,t know how the real world is or should I say how some people really are , then how will they cope with it .

Answer 8

Are people who walk their kids to school, or stay at the bus stop with them until the bus comes, sheltering their children from the world?

Answer 9

Some may be. Some are just trying to give their children more attention than they would get in a class of 30. And some parents do it because they can't bear to be parted from their children.

Answer 10

Wow, Angie, that was well stated. I agree with you 100%. I don't isolate my children from the world, but I do make an effort to expose the world to my children in a controlled manner. I show them what they are ready to handle, with the goal of having my children capable of making good choices for themselves when they are grown.

Answer 11

Mmm, sticking a child in a classroom for 8 hours a day, dictating how they will work, how they will learn, forcing them to do things they might not be interested in(certain sports during p.e., giving speeches in front of the class), and doing this for 12 years is sheltering their children from the world. In the real world, a person decides what type of work they want to do, they can establish their own way of learning and living, they're not forced to do anything unless the job they chose to accept forces them. It's much the same with homeschooling. Our kids decide, with our help and guidance, how they learn best, not what works best for the class of 30 students. So, they retain knowledge much better than those who learn to pass a test and then forget it all. Our kids interact with a wide range of people everyday, from the grocer to the banker to the neighbors on the street, with the advantage of a mature adult to show them how to be polite, sincere, and compassionate to people, as opposed to having obnoxious peers as their influence, and really only learning to socialize with their peers, nobody else. I don't think pulling pranks on a substitute teacher is the ideal way to introduce socialization to a child. We are able to gear their curriculum around things that interest them, so they are more willing to learn. If they don't like football for P.E., we can go to the batting cages, or whatever else they like. It's all exercise, but geared to their interests. They do learn about social aspects of life, but not first hand by hanging out at the school bathrooms smoking dope. They use the internet and discussion groups to talk about drugs, why people use them, what effects they can have on the body and on those around them, and ways to avoid them. WE teach them, not a govnt. run facility who wants to teach kids in 4th grade sex education. They hear things from the parents first, as it should be. So no, I don't believe most of us are sheltering our children. While public schooled kids are stuck in a classroom listening to the teacher ramble on about the holocaust, my kids will be at the Museum of Tolerance, learning about it in a much more vivid way. We could find someone in the community who survived the holocaust, or a decendent, and talk to them about what it was like or stories that were passed down from the person who survived it. I really wish I had been homeschooled, to be honest.


Deepblue, nobody is ashamed of homeschooling, it's something we're all VERY proud of, and passionate about, for all the reasons listed here. We are simply explaining why we do it, and we we don't feel we're sheltering our children, as the question was asked. You have to understand, though, that we are used to defending ourselves and our right to homeschool, because family doesn't usually support it, because they haven't studied it. School boards typically will fight us, because that's precious money they are losing. Neighbors have been known to call CPS on us because our kids are playing outside during 'school' hours, because they do not know that our kids are done with their work in a much shorter period of time, because it's condensed. Nobody on here sounded arrogant, that I read, it's just that we jump at the chance to educate those who don't know what homeschooling is all about. And, yes, on Yahoo answers we do get tired of a lot of the attitudes on here, and that can carry over from one question to the other, unfortunately.