Yes, Homeschoolers Are Well Socialized

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Many years have passed since parents in the United States won the right to home-school their children in all the fifty states. In August 2013, a report released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) showed that approximately 1,770,000 students were homeschooled in the United States in 2012, up from 1.5 million reported in 2007. This number represents 3.4% of the whole school-age population (U.S Department of Education). However, are those 1,770,000 homeschoolers well socialized? Although critics of homeschooling believe that homeschoolers lack social skills, closer examinations have shown otherwise. Homeschoolers are well socialized because they are not affected by peer pressure or bullying, and because homeschoolers spend more time with different people in a variety of situations than regular students.
Homeschoolers are well socialized because they grow up without the social pressure that school life can bring. Everyday children are challenged academically and socially by their peers at school. Many of them are extremely harassed or bullied. The social phenomenon called bullying has been loudly sounding for years. Thousands of children have suffered from bullying at school and most of them have been traumatized by their peers. A bullied child could become a social misfit, a murderer, or he or she could end commit suicide. A recent study concluded that “bullies and bully/victims are generally at greatest of risk of being involved in violence, engaging in multiple types of substance use, and having academic problems” (Bradshaw).
Homeschoolers do not suffer from bullying at home, they learn in an environment of love by being surrounded by their parents and siblings. They are free to express themselves, they are fr...

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