Are homeschooled kids weird in a bad way?

Question

I was looking at some of the resolved questions and one of the answers, voted Best Answer, said that all the homeschooled kids he'd met were weird. But are hs'ed kids truly weird or are they just different from public schooled kids? If you have found hs'ed kids you've met weird, can you explain what specifically?

Please be VERY specific with your experiences if you're going to say that homeschooled kids are weird. Is it what they say, how they say it, what they're interested in, what they're not interested in, etc. I'm not interested in hearing, "They don't have good social skills." What, specifically, are they not good at? Bring out personal experiences, no personal opinions!

Answer 1

Being a homeschooler and in high school, I get a front-row seat to a *lot* of these stereotypes.

Homeschoolers aren't "weird", per se, they just develop differently from "normal" public schoolers. Not being exposed to 2000+ other kids and peers per day will do that to you. On the bright side, a lot of the negative influences you see in PSers (heh) aren't there for HSers. Or at least, aren't as prevelant. Hence they tend to be better at saying 'no' to certain things (drugs, smoking, etc.) They also tend to be more worldly, as in better at life skills, since they can learn for themselves.

On the other hand, not all of them are very well off. Most of the ones I know are Christian, and in effect, incredibly sheltered. Sometimes this comes from the parents, other times simply because the kid doesn't know any better. I was one of the latter type. Drugs? What are these drugs of which you speak? Yeah, like that. ;P

Anyway, it just gets a little tiring to see this same stereotype being played over and over again like a broken record. *Sigh*

Answer 2

They seem to be more respectable and don't have so many hangups like most public school kids. Plus I believe they don't treat kids with problems like they don't belong. Not like some kids in public schools. The way some kids in school pick on overweight or not quite as smart or even some with real disabilities are picked on by public school kids. It seems like hs'ed kids treat them all with respect.

Answer 3

I think home-schooled kids tend to be more mature and very focused than other kids their age...so that would make them appear odd to their peers. But homeschooled kids are generally more well-adjusted than other kids...they are able to converse with people of all different ages, they are intelligent, articulate (for the most part)...generally very respectful towards adults...are they different than other kids their age? Probably...but are they any less mentally healthy...absolutely not...in many cases, they are more secure as teenagers and certainly as adults.

I am totally for home-schooling and if I ever have kids of my own, plan on doing it...and the biggest arguement against it is 'socialization'...which to me is moot...the kind of socialization that goes on in a school setting is not the kind of socialization my kids need...they will still have to deal with peer pressure and jerks just like anyone else...but since they were sheltered longer than other kids, they will have a more secure sense of self and be better equipped to deal with the cruelties of the world.

Answer 4

Our 13 year old, always homeschooled son, just sad, "some of them" in answer to the main question here. Just as schooled kids are weird. The 'weirdness" I typical see in homeschool kids is that they don't care what the latest tv shows, fashion, or other crazes are - they don't accept their culture from corporations - and they can actually talk about and care about ideas.

I do find that the poor 'christian homeschool' kids are often wierd, because their parents have to go through extreme mental gyrations to explain away the world's tendency to contradict their bizarre and ignorant ideologies. the kids are very anxious, because they are not allowed to play with a lot of other kids they meet (including other homeschooled kids), having been told they aren't godly enough to associate with. So, in school or out, these kids are going to be messed up - because their parents are messed up.

Like the poster below notes, homeschooled kids are willing to let their imagations go, and play much older than schooled kids do. Interestingly, my dad told me 'in his day' young boys certainly still engaged in imaginative play through 13/14. Only today are kids too cool for that - if they go to school.

Slightly off-point, but by several measures comparing us with other primates, like size of leg bone at weaning, humans should nurse 4 - 7 years. In many countries in the world, kindergarteners still go home to nurse during the school day. There are many benefits that come to the child from milk, well after the minimum two years recommended by WHO.

It is the use of artificial food for infants/toddlers, food that is known to lower iq and cause diabetes and increase risk for cancer, that is actually profoundly wierd. We live in strange days, where behavior in harmony with nature is weird, and being as artificial, conforming, and scripted as possible is 'normal.'

Answer 5

I was home schooled for eight years and I am really weird. I spent eight years with my nose buried in a book and it hindered my social development. I am weird in a good way, I never engaged in all the absurd activities that kids my age did and my speaking doesn't contain any slang. I also had a lot more time to study because I had no social life. What made me weird was that I could never relate to kids my age when it came to fashion, music,and speech. At least I am cultured and intelligent.

Answer 6

Yeah... my Aunt's friend home schools her kids, but they do go to church. The youngest kid... he was breast fed until he was 7... that's as weird as they come. Home-schooled kids are ignorant in social ways. You need the social interaction at school so that in the future, you relate well in the work place. Not to mention, they are innocent in a bad way. If a child hears about drugs, sex, and is explained what it's about and talk about it responsibly from a young(ish) age, then it's not shocking when you're suddenly 18 and on your own, and you have no idea how to deal with all the responsibility. A lot of the kids at my high school, who were home schooled throughout elementary school were very WEIRD when they were "mainstreamed" in high school. A lot of them ended up as part of the "druggie group," others were part of the "goth group." Just, in general, druggies and goth kids are weird... but the home schooled kids really seemed to relate to those groups' social structures?

Answer 7

Both of my kids are homeschooled. They have many friends and are very social. They have respect for people young and old, and do not have the nasty habits that some public school kids tend to have. They are great kids, couldn't ask for anything more.

Answer 8

Maybe he meant they were kind of shy and kind of anti-social? I would think that home-schooled kids might have some difficulty, or even at first, to socialize with the other kids when they haven't been around them. I don't know, I'm just guessing. I have always been kind of shy and it gets confused as weird or snobby or something like that. Social skills are learned, it doesn't make them bad just inexperienced that's all.

Answer 9

some home schooled kids just don't know how to communicate or interact with other people(peers and authority) because of lack of experience...some home schooled kids know a lot about whatever they or their parents are interested in but nothing about a variety of subjects or topics...some don't understand why they are not the center of attention all the time...their experiences in life are just limited no matter how the parents try to provide experiences and the parents can provide rich experiences but the child is still without interaction with a global community

Answer 10

They're weird because they are never around anyone alive, but the parents and family. They have no one to make contact with in the real world. There's a girl on my soccer team that is like that. Red head. Long hair to. Smells bad. It's like she hasn't done anything, except school.