Posted in Life

Surfing the net, I came across an interesting title of an article.  Are Homeschoolers Prepared for the Real World?  Of course this title piqued my interest.  Tell me you don't feel compelled to read articles pertaining to homeschoolers and socialization.  We are so tired of the question, yet we still read about it whenever it crosses our paths.

The article chronicles the opinions of 2 previously homeschooled men pursuing their doctorates, regarding their homeschool background.  The article is interesting, as it isn't filled with meaningless statistics, but the voices of actual people. 

Part of the closing article, gave me a chuckle.  You can always tell when a reporter isn't familiar witht he subject they are reporting on. 

There are exceptions to every rule. However, it appears that overall, homeschoolers are getting along just fine in the world. They are blending in with public and private school graduates and entering the same professions. They are involved with civic, community, political and religious affairs.

Anyone remotely informed about homeschooling, knows that homeschoolers are always blending in with the public.  So why should it be such a surprise that they blend with students from all walks of life?  Perhaps the reporter was unaware that theya re not only entering the same professions, they are leading them and it is their independent entreprenurial drive that gives them focus to run their own businesses.  Part of homeschool consists of a focus on being informed about political affairs and giving back to your community.

What the article doesn't mention, isw public school students have a much lower drive and motivation in general.  This has been programmed into them within the school system.  Community service is nothing more than getting credits to the students.  When the credits are fulfilled the students go back to their own lives.

This past week, I picked my son up from the library.  I noticed that a librarian was outside chatting with him.  When I asked about this, he told me that the librarian came out to thank him for his work and express her appreciation for his sincere commitment.  My son has been volunteering his time twice a week at our library for over a year.  To me, that is no big deal, however, to the library it is.  The library regularly gets teen volunteers, who stay 2-4 weeks and apparently don't have a good work ethic.  These students come because they have to fulfill a credit and think the library the easiest place to do that.  Then when their credit is fulfilled, they leave.  I had not known how deep seeded this was, prior.  Unique to the library was a young teen, seeking to volunteer, solely to give back to his community. 

Why is it that people are always amazed, astounded, flabbergasted, that homeschooled students grow into adults who are involved and motivated beyond themselves?