How do homes chooled children get the benefits of

Question

working with diverse cultures, personalities, and genders in group settings? How do they learn to deal with real world situations and people? How can they learn to be a part of a team?

Answer 1

I don't agree with the answer, but love the term "gaping gaps".  

Anyway-

Homeschool children get the benefits of working with diverse cultures,personalities and genders in group settings  by volunteering at the homeless shelter, traveling with parents or relatives on business trips,  visiting the neighbors,  home businesses,  working with others in community projects,  working at part time jobs,  dual enrollments at community colleges, hanging out with friends at the mall, community sports  and helping public school children with their homework.

Real world situations are in the real world.  The public school gives children experience needed to live in a rest home where they will be again be given the schedule to eat, sleep, bathe, socialize and have group activities.    

I work in the public schools.   I know about gaping gaps.

Answer 2

I am really tired of people thinking that because kids are home schooled that they are sheltered.  I am in an area that is mostly caucasian so even when my daughter was in school she wasn't exposed to a lot of different cultures.  She will be doing plenty of after school activities and that will benefit her socially.  She will also belong to her churches youth group.

Answer 3

They learn about the real world by living in it and experiencing it, rather than being cooped up in a classroom reading about it.

My children are homeschooled.  We are upper middle class caucasian Americans and we are Christian.  In our network of friends, family and acquaintances we know people that are Jewish and Catholic.  We know white people, black people, Indian people, Asian people.  We know poor people and rich people.  My children associate with other homeschoolers as well as children that are publicly or privately educated.  We DO NOT stay in our home, nor do we associate with only other upper middle class caucasian Americans who are Christian.  They also experience the diversity of people younger and older than themselves.

They experience diversity because they live in the real world.  Generally, a school setting is not all that diverse.  It is limited to 29 or so other students born the same year and from roughly the same neighborhood.  WHERE else in "the real world" are you segregated just by your year of birth?

Again, my children learn to deal with real world situations and people by living in it.  The difference is, they have their parent as a guide.  If they are bullied, we step in and stop it.  They are not taught that it is acceptable to bully, a "part of growing up" nor something they have to "get used to so they can survive in the real world".  The real world I live in does not accept bullying.  Just because they are homeschooled does not mean they do not experience any negativity-we have had to discuss sexual abuse, alcohol and drugs, murder...with us teaching them what is proper and what is not, of course.

My children learn to be a part of a team because they work as a team, both with themselves, with our family.  They work together in teams at church, Scouts, 4H, baseball, and the variety of other activities they participate in.  They work together in teams at their coop classes and at the other classes within our community that they take part in.

Homeschoolers lack nothing, atleast nothing that one would want anyway.

Answer 4

I think the most simple answer is...they don't.

Unless of course they're involved in extracurricular activities where they have interaction with their peers. But the point of homeschooling is to protect your child from outside influences (aka: the real world) so I'm not entirely sure these kids really get out of the house too much.

Answer 5

Wow, where do these nutty people come from?!  I have never met any parents that homeschool to keep their kids away from the real world.  And trust me, I was homeschooled K-12, I know/have met more homeschoolers than I could count.  

Now, you want to know how homeschoolers get the benefits of being with people from other cultures, people with different personalities, and how they learn to deal with real world situations, right?  So lets talk for a second about the 'benefits' of going to a public school.

I don't know about your area, but in my city/suburb almost everyone is white, comes from a middle class family, and wears Hollister or A&F.  The kids you go to elementary with are the same kids you go to middle school with, and are the same kids you go to high school with.  I live in the Bible Belt so most people attend a Christian church, and vacation at the lake during summer weekends.  The kids are not in the real world because they are in school eight hours a day (with the same people since kindergarden) and after elementary field trips become almost nonexistent.  

Now let's look at the homeschool world and to be fair, I will just talk about my experience (and my homeschooled friends experiences) as all homeschoolers have different experiences.  I'll just talk about what I know.  Had I gone to school I would not have been able to be a part of art classes, dance classes, violin and piano classes (that were taught in groups), orchestra, choir, quartet, and starting my own business.  True, I could have taken art and orchestra in school, but it would have been set, graded projects/material that was approved by the school board.  And I would not have been able to be in choir because in our district you either sing or play an instrument.  Since I started taking violin lessons at age three (public school kids start violin in 6th grade) I would have been much more advanced than everyone else in the orchestra I would have been bored to tears.  Plus, I know from friends and students I have now that the string orchestra teacher doesn't even have a degree with a string emphasis, he's a tuba player!  So I would have been better than the teacher!  I don't care for sports but always loved dance and music, and dancing with others and playing in an orchestra/quartet is about as 'team-friendly' as it gets.  Other homeschool freinds of mine did play sports with city or homeschool leagues and almost all my friends were on homeschool debate teams.  Many of the debate kids received huge scholarships from their debate work.

As for the real life experiences, I was always running errands with my mom, doing volunteer work, and taking trips here and there.  I don't know how anyone thinks going to the same building eight hours a day for years is getting real world experience.  The atmosphere of school seems to me to be the most 'fake' kind of experience you can get.

Now, because homeschoolers come from all different walks of life, all different income backgrounds, and all different religions, I probably experienced more cultures and personalities than the average public school student.  And I don't know what you mean about 'genders in group settings'.  Hello, if you have a mom and a dad you are experiencing different genders in your family group.  I think most people are ok in that area.

Answer 6

Well, seeing as going away to school would take me away from the real world and away from the many 'real world' situations (about 800kms away from) that I'll spend my entire adult life both living in and dealing with, I'd say it is far more of a problem for those kids who do choose to go away to school; they are the ones who  time and time again I see return at 18 (or 21) with very little, or no, idea of how to survive out in the real world!

Different genders?!? How many different genders do you imagine there are? I have to live and work every single day with both males and females including:

- Mum & Dad;

- 5 brothers;

- 3 sisters;

- sister-in-law;

- nieces;

- nephew;

- many male & female residents of our property (aged from 0 - 90 or thereabouts, btw);

- male & female employees of my parents, their kids and their extended families;

- visiting contactors;

- friends;

- fellow venturers, cadets, young farmers etc

- teammates on sports teams;

- the nurses, patients and their families at the old folks home where I volunteer;

- co-workers (during lambing, shearing etc);

- the kids (boys and girls) who I help teach at Swim Camp; to name but a few.

Diverse cultures? I'm a 15yr old white girl living in a westernised Asia-Pacific nation, in an ultra-macho culture, whilst also being surrounded by various ancient, tribal and/or hunter-gatherer societies. The diversity on offer within 100 kms of my home is almost certainly wider than anything any city-based school anywhere in the world could offer me or my siblings.

As for 'being part of a team', I live in a remote area, where kids are forced to learn to be part of a team looong before they ever think of picking up a pen or a book; I learnt to be 'part of a team' at the very same time as I was learning to walk. Whether or not one goes to school has *nothing* to do with it: kids either learn to work as part of a team and learn early...or else the chances are they'll die. Without any shred of a doubt, kids here'd certainly wind up dead if they just sat round waiting to be old enough to go to school in order for them to learn how to work with *ALL* other people (regardless of age, gender, race, ability, prejudice or liking).

Answer 7

They learn these things by actually living in the real world, with all of its diverse cultures, personalities, and genders.  Just because they're "homeschooled" doesn't mean that they're at home - it means they're not restricted to a classroom.

They learn to deal with real world situations and people by living in the real world with people.  Most homeschool kids are out in the world every day...trust me, they learn plenty about dealing with bullies, working with people who aren't "like them" (or who don't like them), and learning to keep who they are in the midst of a great big world.

They learn to be part of a team by working with others.  Many attend co op classes (where homeschool kids get together for classes, often with an experienced, degreed teacher); others volunteer heavily for community and private ventures.  In high school, many homeschool kids attend college by age 16 or so, and very few find that they are not ready for it in any way, including socially.

They gather these skills in the real world, in real world situations, rather than in a room with 30 desks and a pseudo-society that only exists in the confines of the building.  :)

Edit...Mizz, you might want to check out the facts on homeschooling, rather than the stereotypes.  Homeschooling has nothing to do with "protecting our kids from the real world" - rather, it has to do with wanting them to actually grow up *in* the world that they will someday be a functioning adult in.  Sadly, other educational options often run counter to that goal.  

Anon, where are these "studies"?  Funny, I have only seen the ones that note that homeschool kids score several percentage points better than their classroom-schooled age mates on standardized tests, that they are often more academically and socially prepared for college, that they tend to have much less stress (and therefore are healthier), that they tend to have a more mature outlook on life, and that they (on average) are more civic-minded and tend to become more involved in their communities and in government than classroom-schooled kids and grads.  I would really like to see the ones you are talking about.

Seriously.  We do not isolate our kids, a huge majority of them do have outside instructors (or access to instructors by DVD and internet for various subjects, and they really do have access to the great big world out there.

Answer 8

Our kids simply live in the real world. They learn how to deal with diverse cultures and real world situations by actually going through them. They learn team work by being part of a team. They are on your little league or  peewee teams (I'm willing to bet you didn't know they were even there) They learn these things by going to the public library, public parks, joining groups like girl/ boy scouts, dance lessons, karate, and a thousand other things that are open to everyone.

Are you one of those people who think that we lock our kids up in closets and never let them see the light of day? News flash! Home school kids are among all the others and you probably can't tell which ones are home schooled, unless you hear them speak and they aren't using the current slang, they are speaking with respect and they actually make since.

Edit: Anon: Sources please I would like to read those studies and unless you can sight sources we will assume that they are made up. There are so many here who say there are studies showing things but don't sight a source because there really is no study just there own stereotypes. If you provide one many of us will actually look at it and be able to decide for ourselves and not just believe what you say.

Answer 9

So, before schools and all the places today where there aren't diverse cultures (even little towns in the US) and all the kids going to all-boys or all-girls schools are missing out on the "benefits" of public schools? Think about your thoughts behind this--that these things you are citing are somehow going to make for the ideal person or situation and that those who don't live it, and the many who never lived it, are somehow short-changed.

Also consider that schooling before the 20th century meant sitting in your spot and not working together at all. Plenty of schools still follow that model. Did those people not know how to work with others as a team? Most probably did--they would have learned first of all how to be a team at home and that would have extended outwards.

Your thinking aside, let me say that my kids have done things with homeschooled kids whose families are from South Africa, Chinese from South Africa, from Germany, from the UK, black family from the UK... You think all homeschoolers are a single culture? Or do you just think that homeschoolers never do things with others? What about lessons? Sports teams? Do you think that all the people who grow up in countries where there really is only one culture are going to be "less than" American kids who grow up in schools where there MAY be diverse cultures? (And racism to go along with it?)

Do you think all members of a family have the same personality? That all homeschoolers have the same personality? Or does it go back to the mistaken notion that homeschoolers don't do things with other people?

Do you think school models the real world? My kids deal with true real world situations because they're out in the real world--the kids on our street and things that happen at the playground and things they see and do while we're out and about when the school kids are in their desks listening to the teacher or doing their work.

My kids have never had a problem being a part of a team. They had their first practice with it at home. As they started participating in group activities (homeschooling workshops, lessons, sports teams), there was never any problem with them being part of a team and working with other people.

ADDED: I find Anon's post rather funny. S/he cites two main categories (which, I have to say, may be true or not, but it's certainly not reflective of the homeschoolers I know) and then attempts to link it with research on how kids become stunted without proper contact. Again, a person who seems to think that homeschoolers just stay home all the time. Some do, unfortunately, but not most. And if they do stay home, it's not the fault of homeschooling, but the fault of the people involved and perhaps that individual family should not have taken homeschooling up. I'll be the first to say that homeschooling is not something that every family should do!!

Then there's her/his comment on knowledge and experience... Good grief.

Answer 10

Studies have show that home schoolers fall into two main catergories:

1) Very gifted children from parents who give an accelerated learning approach, to try and get their child through academic work fast.

2) Parents who think they know best for their child and are afriad that sending their child to a school in the real world will somehow corrupt them into 'bad' behaviour.

Unfortunately the case isn't good for either of them. Most studies show that children who don't have adequate contact with people of their age develop into emotionally stunted children.

Often homeschool parents cannot match the dedication and hardwork of a school and it's facilities, 12+ subjects and 12+ specialist teachers. And of course friends of the child's own age.

So children end up with gaping gaps in knowledge and experience if dealing with the variety of people and personalities we have on the earth.

Im sure people can learn to become part of the real world, having lived in a cocoon form a young age, but it is not without difficulties.

One of the problems is religious / ideological homeschooling, which tend to make children who are prejudiced and judgemental about the real world, since the things they learn don't always correlate to the real world (eg creationism)

Answer 11

When I was being homeschooled through middle school and high school, a typical week for me could involve most (if not all) of the following activities:

- Violin and piano lessons (with two different teachers).

- Participation in the local children's choir until I was too old.

- Paticipation in the local homeschoolers' band, which worked with the children's choir. There was a period when I was a member of both the band and the choir.

- Weekly swimming meets with the other members of the local homeschooling group.

- I wrote plays, and my friends and I performed in them.

- The local arts center and nature center offered weekend and after school classes for the local children and teenagers, and I attended those regularly.

- I performed with the local contra dance band and, when I wasn't needed as a musician or when I didn't know the songs to be played, I joined the dancers instead.

- I attended concerts and plays at the local arts center, sometimes just with my parents but often with all of the members of my local homeschooling group.

- When I was 15, I started taking college courses at the local community college

- I led my local homeschooling group in folding origami cranes to send to Hiroshima.

- Different members of the larger homeschooling group formed smaller subgroups, such as the American Girls Club and the Star Wars club.

- Participating in normal, everyday activities with my family and friends, like shopping, going to the library, going to various appointments, going to church, going to the gym...

- Got to know several of the Japanese students attending a local college and even had some of them tutor me in Japanese.

So, a quick breakdown of how those activities fit your question:

- Unfortunately I live in a very homogeneous area, so there wasn't much in the way of exposure to diverse cultures even in the public or private schools I attended before being homeschooled. Frankly, had I stayed in school, I would not have had the time for Japanese tutoring (and therefore would never have met my Japanese friends), I would not have had time for college classes (where I met students from all over the world), and would not have had as much time to devote to reading about other places, their histories, and their cultures as I did.

- Many of my activities were group activities that required me to work with a wide range of people. For example, most of the people who attended and participated in the contra dances were much older than me, as were most of the people in my church. My plays and the origami project had me working with people my own age, as well as their younger siblings (some of them just barely out of the toddler stage) and parents. The band, choir, and arts and nature center activities were similar.

- Again, since my home area isn't very diverse, I was not exposed to much gender diversity until I went to college. Frankly, that has not hurt me one bit.

- The only way to learn how to deal with real-world situations is to actually participate in them, which I did by accompanying my family and friends on their real-world excursions.

- Being part of a band or choir, being in the cast of a play, being part of a club, and participating in the group activities at the arts and nature centers all required some degree of teamwork.

Of course, no two homeschoolers are going to have the same experiences. And yes, it can take a bit of extra work on the parents' part to make sure their children are involved in lots of different activities so that they don't miss out on these important experiences. The point is that public and private schools are not the only places where children can have these experiences. In fact, they may not even be the best places for children to have these experiences, especially if you live in a place like I do -- a place so lacking in diversity that you really have to go out of your way to experience true diversity in much of anything.

Answer 12

well have been to public school so i might not be the most reliable source but now that i'm home schooled i volunteer at the variance hospital and during the summer there are alot of kids my age but not very many during the school year so thats how i learn about every day situations also there are alot of home school groups out there  

Answer 13

They get taught.  

Answer 14

I was a home-schooled child from 10 years old. My parents DID take me out to shelter me from the world and it worked. I was horribly shy and was only exposed to what my mother wanted me to be exposed to. It's set me back a bit but I think I've come out on top regardless. Hey I can look into peoples eyes when I talk to them now!

Once I grew up, took hold of my education on my own (because it suffered horribly), and met people outside of my mother's bubble I began to see things in a new way and really experience things. I learned that doctors AREN'T bad and that I can function on my own and (surprisingly!) public schooled children grow up to be quite nice most of the time and are astonishingly intelligent, more so than I am that's for sure. I learned that my s*x education (which solely came from staying up late to watch Showtime) was a little faulted....

I volunteered.....at the nursing home my mother worked at. I met diverse personalities; new agers who moved out to the country and hoarded water during "Y2K". I was mainly around women with my Dad being the one exception. I didn't date until I was 18, not that that was really a bad thing. And ahhhh, thehome-school homeschool groups.....not, I met worse kids in those groups than I EVER met in public school with the exception of my best friend (still going strong 10 years later!).

So, all in all.......you DON'T.

Answer 15

Working with diverse cultures, personalities, and genders in group settings:  By living life, part time jobs, homeschool co-ops, boys and girls clubs, scouts, 4H, community center classes (dance, art, etc.), missions trips with religious organizations, volunteer work, clubs at the library, etc. etc. etc.

How do they learn to deal with real world situations and people: By living life, part time jobs, homeschool co-ops, boys and girls clubs, scouts, 4H, community center classes (dance, art, etc.), missions trips with religious organizations, volunteer work, clubs at the library, etc. etc. etc.

How can they learn to be part of a team: By living life, part time jobs, homeschool co-ops, boys and girls clubs, scouts, 4H, community center classes (dance, art, etc.), missions trips with religious organizations, volunteer work, clubs at the library, etc. etc. etc.

Mizz, the point of my homeschooling is so that children get an education, the U.S. Public School system is horrible.  I don't know anyone who homeschools their kids just to protect them from outside influences.

Anon M,  This is not the first time you've claimed to base your answer on studies.  Please provide links to these studies.  When I claim to have seen "studies", I provide links.  Otherwise, people will assume I am making it up, like you probably are.