What is socialisation?

Many of us assume that socialising means meeting our peers and just talking or playing together. In actual fact, it is that and more. These researches shows what socialisation is.

Socialization is the process of introducing an uninitiated member of society to the norms and habits of the society he is to be part of. For example, if you were to go to a foreign country with a culture different from your own and if you wish to be accepted, you would need to be socialized and taught how to behave in that society.

In this case, your child is a young member of the greater society you, as a parent, are already part of. It is your responsibility, as the child’s first and immediate contact with the world, to afford him/her the ways to learn how to behave properly.

Given this viewpoint, consider the kind of “socialization” that takes place in a traditional school environment. Children are grouped by age and are cooped up in a room for 6 to 7 hours. Time spent away from the classroom is usually only an hour long. The kind of contact they have with adults is confined to the kind of teachers that surround them. More often than not, performance is driven by trying to keep up or outdoing the other kid or team.

Of course, the above picture does sound extreme. But then again, you must also ask yourself: does that description truly reflect the society you are part of? Would you consider that environment suitable in teaching your child how to function as a member of society?

On the flipside, consider the home school environment. Children are in constant interaction with people of and outside their age groups. They have greater freedom to go outside and explore. Their performance is based on discovering their own capabilities and achieving their personal best. More The SocialisationIssue

Research conducted by Michael Brady entitled Social Development in Traditionally Schooled and Homseschooled Children, a Case for Increased Parental Monitoring and Decreased Peer Interaction endorses this idea. Brady states, "There seems to be an overwhelming amount of evidence that children socialized in a peer-dominant environment are at higher risk for developing social maladjustment issues than those that are socialized in a parent monitored environment."

In other words, socialization in homeschooling works better because children have more opportunities to be socialized through the modeling of good social behavior by caring adults rather than through peers, who do not know much more than they do. Parents give their kids the skills they need to interact with other people and also have the chance to protect their children.

So, the big question in homeschooling socialization is "Who do we want them learning life skills from? Caring adults, or peers who don't know any more than they do?" More What about socialisation

Familylobby.com“Home-schooled children are painfully shy.” There are shy children no matter where you look. Public and private schools are filled with children who aren’t overly social: a personal character trait that has little, if anything, to do with education. Most home-schooled children have more than enough social skills to interact with other people of all ages and backgrounds without any major issues.

In Current issue analysis: Thomas Smedley prepared a master's thesis for Radford University of Virginia on "The Socialization of Homeschool Children." Smedley used the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales to evaluate the social maturity of twenty home-schooled children and thirteen demographically matched public school children. The communication skills, socialization, and daily living skills were evaluated. These scores were combined into the "Adoptive Behavior Composite" which reflects the general maturity of each subject.

Smedley had this information processed using the statistical program for the social sciences and the results demonstrated that the home-schooled children were better socialized and more mature than the children in the public school. The home-schooled children scored in the 84th percentile while the matched sample of public school children only scored in the 27th percentile.

Smedley further found that:

In the public school system, children are socialized horizontally, and temporarily, into conformity with their immediate peers. Home educators seek to socialize their children vertically, toward responsibility, service, and adulthood, with an eye on eternity.
Is there a way to teach compassion, kindness, organisational skills and relating to people of all ages. Check this out! CCS Kids Care Club