Online Homeschooling

Archive for the ‘Social Interaction’ Category

Despite the common accusation directed at homeschooling parents that they are ruining their child socially by not letting him interact with kids his own age, it’s been well established by researchers that homeschooled kids actually grow up to be mature, well adjusted young people and that the “socialization issue” is no more than a myth.

We didn’t really need research to know this, although it is certainly good to have scientific backup to what we knew all along: there are many different ways to socialize children. Certainly children in past generations were socialized via going to church or to other social gatherings and simply spending time with family members. The best socializing happens when the child is naturally exposed to many different people from many different age groups – spending the majority of their day in a classroom with 40 other kids their age is not necessarily the best way to socialize and can be very hard on some kids!

Here are 3 great ways to socialize your homeschooler:

1. Spend time with family! Whether it’s the nuclear family or the extended family, the very fact that kids spend the majority of their time with family members means that they are getting plenty of opportunities to socialize. Of course, meeting the extended family is helpful because it expands the number of people your child is exposed to and also enables her to play with children of different ages.

2. Schedule play-dates and outings with other homeschooling families. You can start your search for other homeschooling families online, or you can ask friends and relatives, and befriend other families when you go to the library or to the park during a normal school day.

3. Go to church, or join a local community. Church is a wonderful place to build a community of like-minded people. Or you could join any other type of local community in your area. You could also sign up your child for enrichment activities or for a local sports group. If you do, make sure socialization there will be gentle.

The myth of the isolated homeschooler who spends her days next to the kitchen table with books is just that – a myth. Homeschoolers enjoy a very active social life. In fact, by not spending 6-8 hours each day locked up at school, they get to experience much more than a typical student who attends a traditional school.

Photo by D Sharon Pruitt

Does homeschooling lead to social dysfunction? Research’s resounding answer is: “No.” The myth of the socially inept homeschooled child is just that – a myth. In fact, in some studies, homeschooled children scored above average in relation to overall social skills, while public schooled children scored average. Other studies have concluded that “the concerns expressed by teachers, administrators, and legislators about socialization and home schooling might be unfounded.”

This is not to say that home schooled kids don’t need social interaction. Of course they do. It just means that a strong sense of self, a sense of belonging to a group, and the ability to acquire social skills don’t have to come from attending a traditional school.

3D homeschooling is a wonderful way to add social interaction to a homeschooled child’s day. Kids who attend a 3D online homeschool get to roam around the virtual school using highly personalized, expressive avatars. They use technology to interact with other students, they attend virtual classes and they work on collaborative projects. The give-and-take of human social interaction is there, with all its fun and complexity.

WiloStar3D’s virtual worlds provide students with highly creative ways to express themselves and interact with other students. Our students role-play historical characters, put on plays for other WiloStar3D students, create interactive games, and work on collaborative assignments.

Naturally, kids who attend an online homeschool will need physical, real-life interaction with other people. This is easily achieved through normal family life and by going to the library, to the playground or by performing any other “real-life” activity with your child.