Welcome! We’re so glad you came to check in on us weirdos!

To the non-homeschooling parent who may be offended by our responses in this post:

Please forgive us a bit of cheeky candor today. Just as a public-school parent may find some of the responses below to pack a bit of a sting, we homeschool parent-educators have long been feeling the sting of some blanket (and wet-blanket) statements which more than insinuate that ultimately, we can’t possibly be what’s best for our children’s education. And, unfortunately for homeschool naysayers, the numbers to that argument confirm something quite the contrary. Please know that we are in no way trying to tear down any parent and his or her personal decisions on how they have chosen to educate their child(ren).

Our responses today are simply that: responses to statements and assumptions which are often deflating or provoking to a homeschool parent. Moreover, the purpose today is to empower home educators with real facts and figures to combat common (not to mention old-hat) myths about homeschooling.

*Please note: There is a large caveat not explored today regarding the millions of working parents or single parents. This is a very important, often-overlooked topic that perhaps I will attempt to address in the future. We understand that it can be hard for a parent who does not have either the desire or immediate option to homeschool to be confronted by statistics that show it to be a superior education model. For today’s purposes, however, we are only addressing the efficacy of a homeschool education, not the feasibility nor even the desirability of one.

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Debunking 7 Old-Hat Homeschooling Myths

1.) Homeschoolers are weirdos. Kids need proper socialization.

Our researched response: If I had a nickel for every mention of that socialization argument… but I’ll just cite a few statistics instead. According to Think Impact, 98% of homeschooled kids in the United States are involved regularly in an average of five extracurricular activities [eight according to other polls] outside the home. And Community College Review claims that: “Homeschoolers are often more socialized and cultured than traditional students due to the inclusion of travel, volunteer work, service projects, and extracurriculars in homeschool curriculum.”

My personal perspective: There are weirdos everywhere. When I was in school, and then later when I was teaching middle school, before I had kids of my own, there were all the types and/or labels: the “normal” kids, the “weird” kids, the “good” kids, the “bad” kids, the “thin” kids, the “fat” kids, the “special needs” kids, and the “gifted” kids. It’s common knowledge that at any given school there will be all the different categories of kids represented. No one even bats an eyelash at this. But if a homeschool kid happens to be an odd-ball, well, we all know why that is, right?

I was homeschooled myself growing up and I often got positively sick and tired of all the socializing. My mom is a piano teacher to this day and there were always but always throngs of kids moving through our house. Often we had to rush through homeschool lessons before the kids started coming and the endless social hours began. Then, as soon as the piano students were out, my mom would whisk us off to some evening activity –Pioneer Girls, or gymnastics, or Youth Group, or theater. I never even wondered once growing up if we were getting enough social time. There were too many people talking to me and banging on the piano all the time.

Fast forward to the present decade, and I now have the privilege of regularly interacting with many homeschool families in our valley. I am continually amazed at and inspired by how many extracurriculars my mom friends have their kids in! The majority of the homeschooled kids I know are usually in at least one sport, an art, a community group, a co-op group, some kind of lesson, and more, all in the same week! In short, homeschooled kids (in our community at least), are very well-socialized. Better still, the children in many of these families are some of the most delightful, most well-adjusted kids I’ve ever known. Are there any “weird” kids in the mix? Sure there are. Not mine, of course. I’m kidding! But maybe that’s not a bad thing, really.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines WEIRD as “of strange or extraordinary character.” So, on second thought, maybe we homeschoolers should just own this whole “weirdos” thing after all.

2.) Homeschoolers are indoctrinated.

Our response: Hate to break it to you, but all kids are indoctrinated, it’s just a matter of in what and by whom. Ever read a standard science or history text book? There’s not a little amount of bias therein. Ever sat in a middle school lunch room? There’s some serious indoctrination right there. Seriously though, if we each look objectively at the role indoctrination has played in our lives, I think most of us will agree that it is a rampant and pervasive force. You will find indoctrination in the home, to be sure. You’ll also find it at schools, in churches, in the news, on the internet, at that seminar, in the novel you’re reading, in commercials, and probably escaping your own mouth from time to time. Bias abounds and ours is an indoctriNATION. I couldn’t resist.

The antidote? Help a child develop logic and critical thinking skills so that he or she can first recognize bias and indoctrination, and then hopefully gain the strength of mind to discern which have merit, validity, or value, and which do not.

3.) Kids should be taught by the professionals.

Our researched response: Yes, we would agree. . . if the professionals were doing a better job, that is. But they aren’t. This is not my personal opinion, takeaway, or anecdote, by the way. Nor am I claiming that every parent outperforms every teacher. Of course, many homeschool parents were previously either teachers or earned their bachelor’s degree (all that is required to teach in most states) or higher degree, at a statistic even slightly exceeding the average of most public school teachers. However, the research is overwhelming that as a whole group, “the professionals” are not achieving superior results even when compared to non-college educated parents. This is an unprecedented finding. As cited by the National Home Education Research Institute, “The home-educated typically score 15 to 25 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests” and these higher-than-average results are “regardless of their parents’ level of formal education or their family’s household income.”

Did anybody else’s old hat just blow off their head?

My personal perspective: I am a homeschool educator who was formerly one of those “professional” teachers. Unfortunately for the adornment of my cap and its shocking lack of feathers, this really doesn’t mean much. Before I became a mom, I was a teacher in the public school system and I’ll tell ya . . . becoming a professional educator did not equip me in the slightest to become an effective educator.

Receiving a pass rate on an embarrassingly mediocre entrance exam did not prepare me for the classroom in any way. That test and “teacher training” I received accomplished exactly nothing besides checking a box for the state that affirmed I was of at least average intelligence, with no knowledge of whether I had the slightest capacity for passing any of it on or not. Any guesses what did prepare me? Being homeschooled by a mom who read, cooked, and sang with me. Volunteering in Sunday School and VBS programs. Competing in essay contests. Writing poetry in the herb garden for hours on end.

If I inspired any of my former students, if I inspire my current ones. . . it wasn’t the four hours I spent under the florescent lights of a testing center which equipped me, but rather a love for learning kindled and fanned throughout a unique, colorful, and largely free childhood and home education.

4.) Homeschool kids won’t be able to pass state standards tests.

Our researched response: Sigh. Why do we homeschool families keep being shown more interest on a debt we never owed in the first place? We’re like the come-back kid who never had anything to come back from. Homeschool kids have always (statistically speaking) out-performed public-educated students on standardized tests. This is old, old news, like the split of Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pitt. Are we seriously still talking about this??

No matter. Here are a few shocking new numbers on the topic:

• “[On] standard achievement tests, the homeschooled students average between 15% and 30% more points than the students attending public schools, notwithstanding the parents’ income and education.” (See Think Impact)
• “Homeschooled students average 72 points more than the nationwide mean performance in SATs.” (See Think Impact)
• “Homeschoolers have an average graduation rate of 67% compared to the 57.5% graduation rate for students from public schools.” (See Think Impact)
• Homeschoolers, on average and compared to public schooled students, are scoring 10 points higher on standard math exams, 66 points higher on writing exams, and a whopping 68 points higher on reading exams. (See Master Mind Behavior)

If you are still suspect, just research “homeschool test scores comparison charts” and you will find plenty of evidence to slam-dunk-debunk the myth that “professionals” are better equipped (as a whole) than parents to properly and effectively educate the next generation.

5.) Homeschooling takes over a parent’s whole life.

My personal perspective: No. Parenting does. If you do not want “your life” taken over, you probably shouldn’t have kids. Sorry to be so blunt. Parenthood is consuming. Homeschooling actually doesn’t have to be. Most homeschool families, in fact, spend a mere fraction of the time on education than the standard system and yet our community yields higher test scores and higher college admittance rates. This is a perfect example of less is more.

Our researched response: The statistics on this topic vary considerably, however the majority of my findings revealed that most students educated at home are studying/engaged in formal lessons for a mere two hours a weekday for only four days a week, topping out at roughly an eight-hour school week. Strangely enough, this matches up exactly with our family’s personal logbook! I had no idea we were so standard. Hmmm.

Moreover, many homeschool parents may merely match the minutes of an average public-school parent in the tasks of helping their child get ready for school, waiting for the bus, driving to and from school, sitting in car line, attending parent teacher conferences, baking cookies for the book fair, helping their child with common-core or “new math,” etc. Sound familiar?

In other words, homeschool parents may spend a similar amount of total time on home education as involved public-school parents spend merely facilitating their child’s education!

6.) Homeschoolers won’t be able to transition to college. They won’t be ready for the “real world!”

Our researched response: Exactly how is this “real world” defined, anyway? In the words of Community College Review: “Though homeschoolers often get a bad rap, they are some of the highest performing students in the country -especially in college . . . Many colleges recognize that homeschoolers are actually better prepared for college than traditional students and are recruiting and accepting them at higher rates -examples include Harvard, MIT, Duke, Yale, and Stanford.” Cue chin drop.

Ok, enough with the vague generalization though. What about real numbers, you ask? Sure. As of 2021, home-educated students average a 67% percent college enrollment following high school compared to a near 10% enrollment drop among public and private-educated students. In other words, the kids who everyone is worried won’t be ready for college are already 10% more likely to become enrolled out the gate. Cue mike drop. This statistic is available on Think Impact among many other sites at a random Google search.

7.) Homeschooling holds the parent back from personal aspirations, dreams, and fulfillment.

My personal perspective: Where to start. My dreams? I have so many I’m practically tortured by them. But our children certainly pull their rank in the lineup.

A few thoughts on homeschooling as the supposed “death” to the home-educator’s personal identity and ability to pursue his or her “own” dreams:

• My children and their education have a place in my dream basket. When I chose to get married, I chose not to remain a single identity only but a union of two identities, two dreamers, two converged paths. Then, when my hubby and I chose to become parents, that path widened again. Individualism works great if you’re an individual. Personally, I choose to nurture a family. That does, shockingly, come with sacrifice in certain seasons. But there is blessing as well.

Mine is now a family of dreamers, traveling along our ever-widening, converged path together; sometimes compromising the pace, sometimes giving a piggy-back ride, sometimes backtracking or resting along the trail, sometimes having to take a detour. I haven’t quit the course of my “own” journey, I’ve just complicated, decelerated, enriched, and beautified it.

• The development of our children is more time-sensitive than that of any other task or dream on my horizon at this time. I can still write books, go back to school, or start a new business when I’m forty-five or fifty. I can’t, however, rewrite our child’s upbringing and education once that voter’s registration form shows up in the mailbox declaring that a new adult is at the ready (whether or not one actually is). My “own” dreams, for now, take a back seat to the nurturing of our kids, although sometimes I have to remind myself of this.
• Our kids inspire my dreams. I was never remotely interested in homeschooling . . . until I had our first child. Homesteading was not on my bucket-list . . . until our city-raised baby freaked out the first time he touched grass. Our children play more than a small part in the formation of the parent and everything we endeavor to do and become.
• I will be disappointed if I never publish that book or start that business. But I will be devastated if I fail our children.

In other words, I’m still pursuing my “own” dreams, just a little slower and, perhaps, fuller. Even if our children do swallow up one or all of my other dreams, however, I’ll smile to remember I followed the best ones bestowed to me.

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Thank you so much for following our month of love letters to homeschool families! Power on! Power strong!

Love, ~Candace Arden~

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