One only has to mention the word "homeschooling" and everyone will regale you with the latest myth of how your child will get into Harvard at the age of 14 or how they will grow into social morons because they were not in a public school. Homeschooling is neither a magical passport to collegiate stardom, nor a kiss of social death: it is simply another option for parents looking to provide the best education possible for their children.
It's time to replace the homeschooling hype with the truth.
HYPE: Homeschooled children become social rejects because they don't go to public school.
TRUTH: Homeschooled children have plenty of opportunities to be socially adjusted with their peers. All normal parents involve their preschoolers in play-dates, and the practice hardly stops as your children grow. Your children will socialize with cousins, your friends' children, and play with all the children on the block. There are plenty of formal or organized activities that homeschoolers can take part in. Homeschoolers are often in homeschool small groups, club sports, or even college classes as teenagers.
HYPE: Homeschooled children get into college at the age of 14 and become rocket scientists.
TRUTH: Homeschooling is not the magical serum that produces child prodigies. While it can help highly intelligent children move quickly through grade and grammar school, it will not make your children any smarter than public schools will. Many children flourish under the individual attention and tutoring homeschooling provides.
HYPE: Homeschoolers will never get into college.
TRUTH: Homeschoolers get into college every year in droves. While it is not so automatic as a child attending public school, parents can recreate the pipeline by keeping careful records, getting their children standardized testing (SAT), and tracking their participation in club sports and community volunteering. Each college has different standards, so contact the college your child wants to go to as soon as possible to start a good relationship and set yourself on the trajectory for success.
HYPE: Homeschooling is a tool for religious nuts to bludgeon their children with God and limit what they learn.
TRUTH: The vast majority of homeschoolers are Christians, and some do it for that very over-hyped reason. The rest of the people, Christian or not, homeschool for its scholastic value and the chance to be a part of their children's lives. While homeschooling parents have a chance to impart their spiritual and moral values to their children, very few cut out typical scholastic content. Homeschoolers learn about biology, chemistry, physics, history, and math, just like any other child in public school.
HYPE: Parents cannot possibly provide as good an education for their children as a public or private school.
TRUTH: Homeschooling parents have access to a wide variety of support to help them in any areas they feel weak. Parents can call in tutors, join homeschooling groups with other parents (many of which have licensed teachers among them), and order the next year's curriculum ahead of time to read up on and prepare. Parents know their children best, and can tailor the method of learning and timing of learning to best suit their child's ability to learn, instead of their child forced into a "one-size-fits-all" schoolroom with a distracted teacher.
HYPE: Homeschooling does not prepare children for the real world/college
TRUTH: Homeschooling does help shield your children from the evils of the world while they are young. It does help you instill solid values and a moral framework into your children before they have to face the world around them. Wise parents prepare their children to make sound moral decisions in the face of an immoral and shady world. Moral training is vital to prepare your child to make right decisions, yet public schooling avoids moral teaching at all costs. Head knowledge does not produce wise decision-makers, as evidenced by any Friday night in a public high school world, or the drop-out rate of freshmen in college. The things children need to succeed in college and the workforce are: discipline, study habits, strong moral fiber, and knowing how to learn for life. None of these qualities are taught in public schools. Fact: most businesses look at the quality of the person they want to hire, knowing they are going to teach them how to do their job once they join their company.
The moral of the story is, never believe the hype. Homeschooling is neither the key to the enlightened future, nor the bane of modern society. Life is what you make of it, homeschooling is what you make of it. But if you love your children and want the very best for them, even an average parent can homeschool their children for a successful life (including college).