R homeschoolers really smarter than people who go 2 publics schools?

Question

hey i was just wondering (being homeschooled) if any one had some test results to show if homeschoolers were ACTUALLY smarter than people who go 2 public schools if u found some please link them thxs

Answer 1

It depends on the child. Homeschooling allow motivated children to excel beyond the levels they would be taught in a school setting, only if the child desires it. I was home schooled until high school and am now a college senior. I'm not trying to sound conceited, but I do out perform the vast majority of my classmates on most tests. I'm not smarter than they are, I am just more motivated to learn. I dare say I enjoy learning. And we aren't all socially awkward. When I tell people I was home schooled, they don't believe it. I have several friend here that were home schooled all the way through high school and they are some of the most involved and outgoing people on campus.

One of the main differences between homeschooling and public/private schooling is that home schoolers get options. They can choose when and where to study their subjects. If they are getting bored with biology they can study another subject for awhile until they are ready to jump back in. You can't do that in schools. You study what everyone else is, at the same pace, for the same amount of time. Homeschooling tend not to recent schooling as much and are therefor more open to what they are learning.

Answer 2

Smarter? No. Do many children excel beyond the expectations and limitations of public school in a home based educational environment? Yes.

There is data that shows homeschoolers tend to score higher, on average, than public schooled students. Notice that anti-homeschoolers will try their very best to explain this away. However, even if they did not score higher on average, I would still homeschool. It is not what is good for the largest number of children that interests me. That is the way public schools are forced to operate. As a parent, I can focus solely on what works best for my child. Therein lays the greatest strength of homeschool.

Answer 3

I am not sure wether smarter

Put if u were home shchooled and had learning diffucilties u would b better @ school as they would be more help!!

I have 2 say i know a few people ome schooled

They arent as socialble as school children!!

You have better life opptinities @ school as well

Id say go 2 school when you schold b in Y10 so u can get GCSE's!!!

Answer 4

No, homeschooling does not automatically make a child more intelligent.  Your intelligence is just part of who you are - it isn't affected by outside factors.

Homeschooled kids are often more excited to learn, though, and take more responsibility for their education.  They study things because they want to, not because the school system makes them do it.  Learning is just part of their lives - it's just part of most of what they do.

Because of this, they often are ahead of their classroom-schooled agemates academically.  It's not that they're more intelligent, it's that they're allowed to go faster, and they're allowed to study in a way that makes sense to them.  In a school, things are taught in one basic way - maybe more, if a teacher really has the freedom to teach (which isn't common these days).  In a homeschool, the student can help pick their own curriculum, and can move through it as quickly or as slowly as they need to.  They can also work at their ability level, rather than at the level the state says they should - for example, my 10yo is working through an algebra text (at a 98% average), but is about at grade level in spelling and one grade ahead in grammar.  I tailor his coursework to his needs - that's just where he is.

So no, they're not smarter; they just often enjoy learning more, and are often involved in more activities that cause them to learn.

Edit - Kate, we mention test scores because the asker requested info about the intelligence of homeschoolers.  This is often asked because statistically, homeschooled kids consistently score several percentage points ahead of both public and private school students.  Academics is not the only benefit of homeschooling, and we're not saying that schools are bad (at least I'm not); however, there is proof that homeschooling provides a very sound education when done properly.

(And yes, there are some families that probably shouldn't be homeschooling, just like there are teachers that probably shouldn't be teaching.  No one option is perfect, but true homeschooling works very well for hundreds of thousands of families.  And no, the kids are not more intelligent - just more open to receiving an education.)

Answer 5

While the Home School Legal Defense Association (www.hslda.org) reports that home schooled children have higher levels of achievement that students in public schools, one must be cautious about over-generalizing. There is a high level of "self-selection bias." This form of bias means that  home schooled children (and/or their parents for that matter) have additional qualities about them that influence their child's achievement. For illustration, a parent that chooses to home school their child may be super-involved with their child, or be more likely to take an active role in their educational attainment while most parents are content with letting their children attend school. We see this in charter schools; more involved parents are more likely to send their child to a charter school if they think they're going to get a better education.

So, in the end, I'm not aware of any experiment (or quasi-experiment) for that matter, that definitely teases out these other variables to demonstrate if a child who is home schooled is receiving something different that just a very involved parent.

Answer 6

it depends what you mean by smarter.  Book smart, or street smart.  My idea of it is, you learn NOTHING while inside your house all day.  Meeting new people, developing a personality and a social outlook, making decisions, getting involved in relationships, exploring the world outside, human interactions.  All these are what make you smart and what prepare your for the real world, not just reading from books.

Answer 7

1- It is not a matter of being smarter - it is a matter of being better educated. There are many sites out there with links to studies showing homeschoolers do well. The latest one I saw was a homeschooler winning a spelling bee. Try searching for things like 'homeschooler wins' in search engines and 'studies show homeschoolers'.

2-My nine year old daughter knows that you spell the word are and that a sentence always starts with a capitalization.

Answer 8

I don't believe that they are any smarter!  That isn't the point.  

They are given better opportunities to learn more, know more, and do more.

Please go to www.nheri.org for the statistics about home-schooling.  

Public school kids are very very smart -- but the system holds them back from attaining their full potential.

Home-schoolers are free to learn to the best of their ability at all times.

Answer 9

I do not know if the raw intelligence of the home schooled is any different, tho it could be higher because of the parents being more intelligent to start with to select and carry through on home schooling.  There is some evidence that intelligent parents produce, in general, more intelligent kids.  Eugenics works in animals and we use it extensively, and there is evidence in humans too, even tho politically incorrect currently

In general, home-schooled children will advance faster than public-schooled children, because of the parental input, and a wider variety of experiences, and not being held back to the rate of progress of the slowest learner.  "No Child Left Behind" usually should be read "No Child Allowed Ahead" in practice in the public schools.

My children got some of all three...home schooling early on, then a private church-related school of very good reputation, where they also learned soccer, and then in a really good Public school, where they added instrumental music and football and baseball to academics.

I feel they came out well educated overall, and learned to their ability levels in the various areas.  3 have gone on to various levels of college, with one working and expecting a good promotion when his college is completed, and one took vocational education and has gotten good employment.

But no, they are not necessarily smarter, just have had more opportunities to learn effectively, and move as fast or slowly as they are capable, so came out not smarter but better educated.  By and large.

And as home schooling gets better organized, with home schools joining together for music and sports and PE in groups, and combines with local colleges for support in group activities, it will continue to improve.  I know one college I worked at provided auditorium and stage facilities for the local home-schooling groups.

Also taught the kids that college was not a scary place!

Answer 10

book smarts depends on how good the school is and how hard the student works

intersocial interaction prolly not

i don't mean they are INTROVERTS but they certainly won't know how to handle the popular girls "u know what i mean"

cause i know if i was home schooled i would be soo sooo quite and not know how to deal with people

Answer 11

Well most of them are, that's why most colleges want home schoolers over public schoolers, because they know they're smarter.

Answer 12

People on these boards are very anti-school and I wonder how many of them are familiar with the excellent schools out there.  Homeschooling is a reasonable option, but schools aren't necessarily bad.

I've only met a few home schoolers, but I haven't found them to be more or less bright than average.   Intelligence is in large part genetic, having a supportive enviroment can help a child achieve more but supportive education comes in a lot of forms.

Comparing the tests of homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers will not show one group to be smarter because the people who homeschool/public school are different in more ways than their schooling.  Methodologically, it isn't sound.

Answer 13

No -- there is no reason to suppose a difference in intelligence.  But there certainly can be a difference in the quality of education; home schooling can be better -- or worse.

Answer 14

Among the groups of people who choose to home school are parents of gifted children. Most school districts can only accommodate the mildly gifted. Sometimes regular gifted children do well in the full time gifted programs typically designed for the mildly gifted. More often than not though, the highly, exceptionally and profoundly gifted children have to be withdrawn from school. In grade school, they tend to home school, but by middle school they can attend a community college.

Because children on the other end of the spectrum have an IEP, they tend to attend school. Thus, public schools by their actions tend to drive very smart kids out of the school.

Answer 15

There's no guarantee. I know kids that have been homeschooled and some are geniuses and some are completely unintelligent, it just depends on how hard their parents work at teaching them.

Public schools are the same way, there are extremely intelligent public school kids who go to Ivy League schools, and there are really unintelligent ones who can't read.

Answer 16

There not smarter They can just comprehend stuff more because They don't have all the distractions like they do in a public school I'm home schooled i went to a public school thee 9th grade year and dropped out It was way too much drama and distraction for me i have to have peace and quite when i work i cant have any talking or anything so home schooled kids are not smarter in my eye were all the same and we may get done faster but there not big diff. in there we may have a slim chance of being a little smarter because we have a one one session or we teach or selves like i do but it all depends on the person who is doing the schooling its depends on much they can comprehend and if they want to comprehend what they learn it doesn't matter what kind of schooling u do it mind of matter!

Answer 17

I am not sure that "smarter" is the correct word, many are better educated.  Here is a link that shows the differences in their Test scores:

http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/20...

Here are some other links that look at other aspects of their success levels:

http://www.hslda.org/research/ray2003/de...

http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/comp2001...

http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/rudner19...

Answer 18

i was home schooled and on home bound for three months of my senior year of high school and i didn't learn or do anything. i had a teacher come to my house once a week. i barely did any school work and didn't have to take tests or study or anything. and i still graduated.

Answer 19

People always seem to have an uncanny ability to find studies that support what they believe.  There are many very educated homeschooled children, and there are many children who's parents were neglectful.  A lot depends on the educational level of the parents/tutors.  Many religious parents homeschool to provide a religious education free of the trappings of society.  Oftentimes, these parents have little or no education themselves.  Some parents with very intelligent children or with  high education, choose to homeschool with an emphasis on a particular subject....say science.  Most realize they only have expertise in a certain area and hire tutors  for other subjects.  If you are trying to prove homeschool is better, you cannot.  You will find as many studies that conclude homeschool is great as it is terrible.  You will find many studies that conclude public schools are great as they are terrible.

Answer 20

Home school dosent mean socially isolated.  Some homeschooled children have large social circles. It depends on your parents. In public school your social isolation or exposure depends on you.

My niece has a year book of all things. And no its not just pictures of her Brothers and Sisters. There are 60 homeschooled children in there that she knows and attends class with, and is on a basketball team with.

Answer 21

I think that both have very good educations. Homeschoolers probsbly get smarter, because their parents (usually) teach them. I am homeschooled and smater than my friends. So I guess homeschooling has smarter people.

Answer 22

Define "smarter"?

Here are some links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooli...

http://www.geocities.com/nelstomlinson/r...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/homesch...

Answer 23

Not smarter but they have the opportunity to get an education that will be pertinent to their career goals, talents, and interests.

There was a response from a homebound student in the replies.  Homebound is a public school education done at home.   It does not give you the freedom to self direct your own education.  

If a person does not do well with public school curriculum in a classroom, they probably will not do well with public school curriculum done at home.

Answer 24

i dont have any particular results but i can say from personal experience that public schools like to put children in an ideal mold to produce citizens that think and act a certain way.  if you homeschool your children, the only ideals imposed on them are the ones you impose yourself and that doesnt necessarily make the children turn out to be smarter or dumber.  it really boils down to the students and the teacher (be they a parent or 3rd party of some sort).  public school districts vary significantly as well.  I was at one public school in 7th grade where i was doing algebra and i transferred to another school in the same county and they had 9th graders doing the exact same math they had 7th graders doing at  the other school.