Please note that this article is extremely old and, therefore, rather out of date.  Although the information in it is still generally applicable, the exact numbers may or may not be perfectly accurate.  (For instance, I would be shocked if the number of colleges mentioned in the “What about college?” section has not gone up.)  Also, there are so many other homeschooling resources now, with much more thorough answers to these and other common homeschooling questions!  I am still reposting it, only because I already have it written.

What about socialization?

There are probably a few homeschool families who keep primarily to themselves. This, however, is the exception, not the norm. While public-school children interact almost exclusively with children their own ages, homeschool children often have opportunities to interact with people of all ages, from birth on up.  (This is much more “real-life” than the typical school setting.) The average homeschooler participates in 5.2 extracurricular activities (dance, scouting, music lessons, etc.). 94% of homeschool students watch less than 3 hours of television per week, as opposed to only 38% of their public-school peers.

Most areas have local homeschool support groups. These groups can offer a variety of activities, ranging from group field trips to game nights to sports teams to bands to moms’ fellowships, depending on the group. (This is not an exhaustive list.)

In short, socialization is not nearly the pitfall it may initially appear to be.

[Added 9/23/2009] Besides, what public school emphasizes socialization?  Don’t students usually get in trouble for that during the vast majority of their school hours?  “Stop talking!”  And a fairly recent study in Britain showed that children who went to institutional preschools had poorer socialization skills when they reached elementary school than those who did not – not a glowing recommendation for the ability of an institutional school setting to foster socialization skills!  (As soon as I find the link again, I’ll post it.)

What about college?

I read in Parents magazine that only about 450 of 3,688 colleges in the U.S. have accepted homeschoolers. Articles like this cause unnecessary concern for parents who wonder if their children would be able to get into college if they were homeschooled. The problem is that the article only gives us half of the picture; it doesn’t tell us to how many of those colleges homeschoolers have applied. The number could be 3,688, only 450, or somewhere in between.

I am a homeschool graduate, and neither I nor anyone else I know had any trouble getting into college. As a matter of fact, several of the colleges I applied to had sections in their catalogs telling exactly what paperwork they required of homeschoolers. (An accredited high school diploma is rarely among the necessities! Many private school diplomas are not accredited, either.) Usually a transcript and a diploma or GED will suffice. You can type the transcript yourself; and they don’t care whether the diploma is accredited or not.

Oral Roberts University and Harvard are among colleges that seek out homeschoolers.

Studies have shown that homeschoolers adjust more readily to a college environment than their public-school peers.

How can children get a good education when they aren’t taught by certified teachers?

While it is, in fact, true that in most cases teacher certification is not required for homeschooling parents, it has been proven that this has no negative effect on students. There is very little difference in achievement (3%) between homeschool students of parents who were never certified and homeschool students of parents
who are or have been certified. There is, however, a 35% difference between homeschool students and public-school students (who are all taught by certified teachers), in the homeschoolers’ favor.

All statistics are from a study titled Home Education Across the United States.
It can be obtained through HSLDA:

17333 Pickwick Drive
Purcellville, Virginia 20132
(540) 338-5600
www.hslda.org

-OR-

National Home Education Research Institute
P.O. Box 13939
Salem, Oregon 97309
503) 364-1490
www.nheri.org