What are the negative effects of being home schooled?

Question

This can be answered by anyone who has been home schooled, anyone deeply involved within the home schooling process (i.e. parents as teachers), or anyone who knows someone who has been home schooled.

What was it like not interacting with peers - did that have a lasting effect? What was it like being taught at the comfort of home - was the delaying of due dates possible? Easy cheating?

Answer 1

When I was homeschooled, I had problems motivating myself to do my work. I lacked the incentive to succeed, since my competitive nature wasn't stimulated by a classroom setting. I had a terrible social life, and was unable to talk to girls. It took me around seven years after i finished being homeschooled to close the social gap between me and my peers.

As a rule, I think homeschooling is good for younger children, and detrimental for high-school aged children. Of course, it depends alot on the individual personality.

Oh, and since I hadn't had much exposure to the "real world", I became really rebelious for a while after I left homeschool.

Answer 2

I was home-educated for nearly two years, from when I was 12 to when I was 13, and the main negative effect it had on me was boredom. Although it is true that you can join clubs and that kind of thing, it still doesn't fill your day, and in the end I remember just feeling totally bored and miserable, spending most of my allowance on tickets to the movies, which I went to practically every other day (if you are considering home education, I have to tell you that movies are a great source of enlightenment). Also, spending so much time with your parents, especially when you're older, can be very dull and depressing.

As far as actual education goes, home-schooling is probably far better than going to your average public school. The lessons at public school are boring, the kids don't pay any attention, and you generally just don't learn anything at all. If you are educated at home, in many cases, you get to learn what you want, so it all seems more interesting. In answer to your question about due dates and cheating, most parents who home-school their children do not set them tests or give them 'homework', so cheating is out of the question. As for socialization, most home-schooled kids know lots of other kids, and have a relatively good social life, so that isn't really much of an issue. They usually either socialize with a network of other home-schooled children, or just make friends with the other kids on their block. Very few home-schooled children are bullied, in contrast to ordinary schools, where most students are bullied at some point in their life, so this can be a plus, since, contrary to popular belief, being bullied does not actually make you into a stronger, happier, or more secure person later in life.

All in all, I think home-school is no worse than real school. Being home-schooled for the short time I was, and then going back to public school again, opened my eyes to the fact that most American public schools really are rock-bottom for everything from education to socialization. Still, let me say, if you are considering home-schooling your child, make sure you ask them first!

Answer 3

My kids interact with each other and a wide variety of age ranges. They don't see their peers as being just kids who are the same age and in the same grade. Their peers are those they do things with. So, the question itself is faulty since all the homeschooled kids I know do interact with peers. They just have a broader definition of what constitutes a peer.

I would say it would have a lasting effect: the ability to interact with a wide age range. Furthermore, peers are very easily people they've only just met and they are quite able to interact with peers who are new to them and don't care one whit about grade or age. They also don't care about whether they're boys or girls for the most part.

My kids don't have due dates for things, except for self-imposed due dates. That's the particular style of homeschooling that we have, for the time being. They may have specific requirements to finish in a given day, which means every day has a due date for something. Is delaying the 'due date' possible? Depends.

I don't understand how a child could easily cheat at home nor what the point would be. My kids have no clue what cheating is and would have no motivation to cheat. Their focus is on the activity and the learning, not on getting some mark. Since we have almost one-on-one learning going on, it means my focus is to make sure they understand, not simply get through a ton of questions that they hand in.

Frankly, I think the primary negative effect is that there are a lot of ignorant people out there who are going to stereotype homeschoolers and our kids are going to have to deal with that nonsense. Those who talk about being sheltered and isolated have to understand that how some parents choose to homeschool has nothing to do with homeschooling and was simply a parenting choice.

Answer 4

What you mentioned concerning delaying schoolwork and cheating being fairly easy are really the only negatives to it, but both things can instantly be avoided if there's a stay-at-home parent. I was home schooled, and both of my parents were always gone. Looking back on it, I was so indolent about doing the work that was due that I may have only actually done about three days of it in a week. Which I'm not proud to say, but it's the truth.

There are far more positive aspects of it though than negative. Those two things are really the only bad things that can be said about it, and they be resolved if the parent's have enough time to devote to really making sure that their kids are doing the work, and have enough time to help them with it in any way needed.

Answer 5

The negatives fall to the parents. Cost, time to prepare, time for reading, more discipline. The positives far outweigh the negatives. If the parent does their job the whole experience can be fun and rewarding. I know many homeschoolers of all ages that are doing very well, some are in college now. If you don't have many children it is very important to get them out with other kids. Most towns have homeschooling co-ops that get kids together for fieldtrips and stuff. Ours even does Phy. Ed., Art, Music, Spanish, highschool formal, Christmas party, etc. through out the year.
Also, cheating is easy wherever you are in life. Studies of homeschoolers show that they are more likely to play by the rules, include people from all ages and races, have higher self-esteem.
One study of 1000 homeschoolers that had graduated found that 100% of the 1000 had never been arrested, all had jobs, none were on welfare. Sounds like they interact with others just fine.

Answer 6

Glurpy and Jeffrey have great answers.

Most of the "negatives" of homeschooling come from outside the family.

1) There are prejudiced, ignorant and frightened people who make generalized sweeping statements about homeschooling that are derived from very limited experience (or none at all). (I'm sorry to say, even from within the homeschooling community.)
2) There is pressure to conform, to put children in school, because homeschooling is different
3) It can cause family strife, unfortunately
4) Kids in public school will often times shun homeschoolers because they don't go to school (I thought public school kids were supposed to be taught tolerance and acceptance by "being around all different kinds of people" at school?)
5) Homeschooling families have to spend a LOT of time answering homeschooling questions. Ugh. It's OK here, because that's what this site is for. But really, it's like being pregnant, everyone and their gramma thinks it's OK to touch a pregnant lady's belly. And everyone thinks it's OK to ask personal and detailed questions about homeschooling whenever they please. *sigh* Oh well.

Also, I want to say that what one family would consider "good", another would consider "bad". It depends on the family's philosophy, cultural background and their life choices.

Often times, homeschooling gets tagged as owned by fundamental Christians. Whatever their reasons are, and whatever their styles are - the negatives of being homeschooled/educated in a fundamentalist christian home are NOT indicative of homeschooling's negatives in general. These negatives, if one would consider certain things to be negative, are a result of a parenting and family lifestyle.

That's one of the major negatives - people get confused between "education", "religion" and "parenting styles."

But alas, perhaps, one of the positives is that so many people don't like homeschooling, so only people who are serious about it will try it. People who homeschool are not neutral and uncaring about education. We may not agree with how some homeschoolers raise and educate their kids, but one thing is for sure - they take their jobs seriously. They are parents and educators. And that is a serious and important job. I wish I could say the same could be generalized about the parents of kids in public school. :(

Assuming that homeschoolers, universally, don't interact with peers = prejudice and a complete misunderstanding of homeschooling on the whole.
Asking about delaying due dates assumes that homeschooling is basically copying school at home. For some, it's like this, but teaching a person one on one is so completely different than what school looks like, that this question is irrelevent.
Cheating? I ask you this - how do you keep adults who are no longer in school from cheating? Do adults cheat? Because kids who are homeschooled are no longer in school. Therefore, asking whether homeschooled kids cheat is like asking if adults cheat.

If you are considering homeschooling, I recommend doing a lot more research on what homeschooling is. And read a variety of books - classical, unit studies, unschooling, eclectic, literature based, progressive homeschooling, etc. There are so many ways to homeschool, and so many educational philosophies, that you can't make any assumptions about whether it's positive or negative.

It's all perspective. Which perspective do you have? That will define the negatives right there.

Hope this helps you think out of the box a little bit. Good luck on your research.

Answer 7

My children are homeschooled by my wife. And I think there are a few myths that need to be dispelled about homeschooling.

1) Socialization - First there are plenty of opportunities for my children to socialize. They are involved in church, take dance classes, are in Scouts, in 4H and have a lot of contact with other kids. My eldest has no problems talking to boys, but she is not obscessed with them either as many over her friends.

Second the idea that school is an effective way to socialize children should be challenged. A lot of really negative things happen in school like drugs and bullying. Additionally, the socialization they get, both structured within the curriculum and peer socialization, are not soley positive.

2) Academic Inferiority - This one is a total myth. Home school kids average better scores on standardized exams than the school kids. Major universities such as MIT actually recruit home school kids. Does this mean all home school kids get a good education? Well let me ask you this, do all kids that go to public and private schools get a good education?

3) Trained educators are better teachers - I will concede that college can teach many skills that make a person a good educator. However, I will contend that these skills are not all that mysterious and can be learned by anyone who is motivated (and it doesn't take four years of partying with the occasional time out to study to acquire them). How many people who go to traditional schools get bad teachers from time-to-time? Everyone, that's who. That not to say that most teachers are bad, but there are enough that most of us came into contact with several throughout our carrier.

Effective teaching is in large part related to one's motivation to be an effective teacher. Do you think it is likely that on average a stranger will be more motivated than a parent?

Answer 8

I am a college freshman and I was homeschooled K-12. I would not say that my social skills were hurt, I was involved in many activities outside of the home and even went to homeschool prom. There are, depending on where you live, usually oportunities for social outlets for homeschoolers. I believe that homeschooling helped me in areas like learning to teach myself more than just being spoon-fed by teachers (I am not dissing public/ private schools). In the classes that I am in now I find that when my professor is unclear on something I can go back, look over the material and discover what I had missed in class. I enjoyed being taught at home, I believe it gives kids more opportunity to learn at their own pace. They do not have to deal with be picked on or bullied. It does however take A LOT of determination on both the students and the parents part to not slack off. There are classes that you can take via satalite or outside of the home where kids can get used to due dates and being taught by someone other than their parent. For example, I took AP english with someone who lived near by. There are difficulties in getting them in to colleges. I know when I enrolled at my college they gave me the run around because I did not have an "official high school transcript" so I had to take some tests to prove that I was literate. Some homeschoolers run into this problem some do not. Right now in school I am doing well in school and I do not believe homeschooling had a negative affect on me but instead had many positive ones. I hope this is helpful.

Answer 9

I was homeschooled all the way until college and there are definite goods and bads. its nice to not have a 8 to 3 schedule, and to be with your family and all, but it got hard with making friends and not participating in school activities. My homeschooling was more laid back then others might have been. I didn't have papers or grades or stuff I had to hand in, but I lived on a farm so I got my science and biology from that....homeschooling is different for each and every person so I am sure you are getting all kinds of answers! Let me know if you have any questions,
Kate

Answer 10

People think that I think I'm better than them just because I don't talk to them and they don't want me to make new friends.
True, sad story that I found out about last night.

I cringe when I hear that some people think that kids who are home schooled are affected socially. We're not. I think it is much more of a benefit to me.

Plus, your parents aren't really your teachers. Home schooling is also known as Independent Study or an ISP(Independent Study Program).
So, we study independently.

Home schooling has also brought up my confidence because unlike a Private/Public school I am not affected by my peers. My friends who are also home schooled have been home schooled their whole lives. I've only just started this year. They accept me and in just three months they've become closer to me than my lifelong friends have ever been.

Answer 11

I do find that one of the negatives of home schooling is that my son has forgotten how boring school was when he attended. He's been homeschooling now for 6 years. I spend at least a few hours a week finding interesting books (the 5 star-reviewed ones at amazon.com type),curriculum, and games centered around my two children's interests, and my ds now has gotten to the point where he expects every book we read to be the most exciting book ever written!

Sometimes I think I would love him to go to public school for a week and read some of the typical public school books he would have to read in a typical week. (He insists though he doesn't want to go back to school until college though).

Karen