*Ugh* The ruling in California has created quite the uproar, eh? Now, on so many message boards (even non-home schooling boards) people are discussing the oversight of homeschoolers. I am hearing all of the usual arguments- “If public schools have to be accountable, why don’t homeschoolers have to be?” “Homeschoolers lack basic social skills.” “Those kids should have to take the same tests and pass them. If they don’t pass, then they should be forced to attend public school.” “In many cases, home schooling is used to hide abuse.” “Moms that home school should be required to have a teaching degree.” “Kids have to face the real world (drugs and bullies) eventually. You can’t shelter them forever.”

Well, hmmmm….. I know that some people that read my blog are not proponents of home schooling, so I feel the need to go through all of these myths carefully. Maybe, with careful dialog, I can help others have a better understanding of home schooling. At the very least, I can just point people to this so that I do not have to keep explaining my positions on these myths, lol. Time management.

1) “If public schools have to be accountable, why don’t homeschoolers have to be?” This is easy: Public schools are funded with tax payer dollars, so of course the tax payers and the government have a right to know exactly how the schools are doing. If the government were giving me money to home school, I’d expect to answer to them, but since they don’t, it’s none of their business.

2) “Homeschoolers lack basic social skills.” All home schooled children that I have been around seem to have no problem at all socializing. Oh, they may not be up to date on the latest fads in schools, but is that really so bad, lol? Actually, I believe that a good portion of public school children lack manners and social skills. I mean, those poor children are stuck all day in a class, surrounded by other children usually born within 12 months of themselves. They don’t have nearly the opportunities that home schooled children do to converse with adults, play with younger and learn well rounded social skills. Public school kids spend so much time with same age peers that they seem to struggle when around people that are not the same age as them. Try talking to a teenager that grew up always going to public school. So many of them won’t look you in the eye, they mumble answers to any questions asked, they pick on younger kids and seem to have a hard time discussing anything not related to current pop culture.

3) “Those kids should have to take the same tests and pass them. If they don’t pass, then they should be forced to attend public school.” We all know that homeschoolers tend to outscore public school children on standardized tests. ( http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000000/00000017.asp ) Also, would this work in reverse? What about the public schools that bomb the tests? Could the children be forced into private or home schools? This might not be such a bad idea, LOL. I find it funny that the same people that say that these tests do not accurately reflect knowledge learned (when it affects their funding) say that they think homeschoolers should have to take and pass the very same test. Hmmmmmmm……

4) “In many cases, home schooling is used to hide abuse.” Could we see some proof of this one? I have never seen a study that shows that homeschoolers are more likely to abuse their children. If you know of any, please show me and maybe I’ll change my view. Besides, when children are kept home and abused, and not educated, you do not have a home schooling family. We need to call it what it is: TRUANCY. This is not a home schooling problem. More home schooling laws would not stop this kind of abuse because the abusers would not register or test their children. They would continue to hide the children away and mistreat them. All you do is punish the innocent homeschoolers that are doing their job.

5) “Moms that home school should be required to have a teaching degree.” Studies have shown that there is no correlation between having a degree and higher test scores. http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000002/00000214.asp

6) “Kids have to face the real world (drugs and bullies) eventually. You can’t shelter them forever.”

I can’t believe that so many parents buy into this lie. How many of us, as adults, face bullying, drugs, negative language, etc. on a daily basis? The last time I dealt with a bully I was in high school. If someone were to even attempt to bully me today, I’d press charges (a school child doesn’t have this option and due to the fact that public schools must educate everyone, they have to see the bully every single day). If I am surrounded by negative language or people doing things I do not agree with, then I can get up and leave. Kids in school do not have these options. I don’t know about you, but I do not want my child ‘getting use’ to these types of behavior and accepting them as normal, ya know?

The myths bug me. And there are so many more that I haven’t even addressed here. I think that most of the myths come from people that have never had any experience around homeschoolers and so they just can’t understand. I really hope that they can become better educated on the subject because it would save me from repeating the same old answers to the same goofy questions, LOL