Homeschooling Critique #1 - Socialisation

The biggest critique of home educated/homeschooled children is that they are poorly socialised - a fact which is unfortunately sometimes true. But it is my observation that often those children who are poorly socialised (or perhaps differently socialised might be a better term) come from families where everyone is a bit different. And my observation of children in school is that those who are poorly socialised come from families where everyone is a bit different. I suspect the main difference is that there is probably a higher proportion of differently-socialised families homeschooling than there are in the average school system.

Every homeschooled child is different. Some may well have turned out more poorly socialised if they went to school than if they stayed home, some the other way around. My personal belief is that socialisation is something you learn first and foremost at home. So if you want your children to have good social skills than the best thing you can possibly do is interact regularly with people in a multitude of social settings, with people from a multitude of ages and cultures. By doing so in front of your children, you will model positive socialisation to your children and have ample opportunities to teach and encourage their efforts towards positive socialisation themselves.