Comment by ripped_britches 4 days ago
This piece makes a lot of unsubstantiated claims.
Just because you are putting a child in a siloed environment doesn’t mean you’re teaching them that everyone else is beneath them.
If you are homeschooling and not teaching humility, kindness, etc then you’re doing it wrong.
- parent of 6 homeschooled kids
Our two kids are homeschooled and are generally equally excited to play with all their friends (some homeschooled, some in regular public school, some in private school).
I have yet to see or hear any "othering" of their friends. In fact, I'd say the breadth of different social situations they are exposed to makes the "othering" less likely.
Isolation is not a requirement in home schooling. It can happen? Yes, it's a risk.
Can the opposite happen? Yes, I've seen it personally. My home schooled nephews know and are known by everyone in their village and surroundings. Sometimes I feel at 6 and 8 years old they have more diverse professional connections and acquaintances than I have right now.
Yeah, the whole "maladjusted home school kid" is a thing we were cognizant of when making this decision.
To your second point: I think the best predictor of success in any education setting is intentionality and involvement from the parents. That said, with home school you get nights and weekends AND days to spend in whatever way is most optimal for your kids.
In what way is the ”othering” different than what children otherwise do, apart from being in different kind of schools? As you wrote children (or more generally) people can make up all sorts of reasons for that.
There is still an implicit "othering" of other children. They are in one camp and yours are in another. If they have any semblance of imagination as kids do, they will dream up reasons beyond the one you gave them