Monday, December 21, 2009

The Socialization Myth Debunked

Great article and a must read for every homeschooler:
http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/washingtontimes/200912140.asp

Here is an excerpt:

Until recently, “Homeschooling Grows Up” was the only study that addressed the socialization of home-schooled adults. Now we have a new longitudinal study titled “Fifteen Years Later: Home-Educated Canadian Adults” from the Canadian Centre for Home Education. This study surveyed homeschooled students whose parents participated in a comprehensive study on home education in 1994. The study compared homeschoolers who are now adults with their peers. The results are astounding.

When measured against the average Canadians ages 15 to 34 years old, home-educated Canadian adults ages 15 to 34 were more socially engaged (69 percent participated in organized activities at least once per week, compared with 48 percent of the comparable population). Average income for homeschoolers also was higher, but perhaps more significantly, while 11 percent of Canadians ages 15 to 34 rely on welfare, there were no cases of government support as the primary source of income for homeschoolers. Homeschoolers also were happier; 67.3 percent described themselves as very happy, compared with 43.8 percent of the comparable population. Almost all of the homeschoolers—96 percent—thought homeschooling had prepared them well for life.

2 comments:

  1. yes, this is excellent! thanks so much for sharing!!

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  2. It's true. My homeschooler will go to any group of kids and say, "you are all my friends." If they are public schooled and he is not in their group they usually ignore him until he proves himself "worthy" of their attention.

    Marie-Anne

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