CLEVELAND -- The numbers for home-schooled children are booming. Researchers say it's grown 28 percent over the past four years.
But does spending time outside of the traditional classroom hurt their social skills?
One of the biggest criticisms of home schooling is that children will lack the social skills necessary to become successful adults.
NewsChannel5's Debora Lee talked to two college students who got their elementary and secondary education at home in order to get their point of view on the homeschooling debate.
Jon Woodhams is a freshman at the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music, and he never graduated from high school.
Woodhams and his sister Debbie were educated at their home in Seven Hills. They tried public school for a while, but they just didn't like it.
"I remember a lot of homework and a lot of being lost. I didn't do very well in school," said Debbie Woodhams.
"Having the big classes ... and having the one teacher ... and having a set pace at how I had to learn things. That made it harder," said Jon Woodhams.
Debbie said she and Jon actually taught themselves during their middle and high school years, and in doing so, they learned to manage their time -- perhaps one reason homeschooled students tend to do well in college.
Grace Chalker is the associate director of admissions at Baldwin- Wallace, and says homeschooled students are academically better prepared for college.
"Our students that apply to Baldwin-Wallace coming from a homeschool background have higher test scores, certainly above average test scores for our overall student population," said Chalker.
But are they socially prepared? In home schools, students don't get together after class, or at basketball and football games.
When asked it he felt he was hurt by missing out on these activities, Jon Woodhams said, "Only once in a while. Being in music as I am, I didn't have time for it anyway."
Homeschoolers say you don't have to be in a school building to make a social connection. They interact with other children on field trips, at church and on community sports teams.
"They think we're totally isolated from other people and we're really not, and we have so many different types of people we interact with," said Debbie Woodhams.
"A lot of my social interaction was with adults and I actually view that as a benefit to me," said Jon Woodhams. "I'm able to communicate with my teachers. I'm able to explain problems I'm having and we're able to work out solutions."
If he could do it over again, Jon Woodhams said he would choose home schooling, and so does Debbie Woodhams.
"I wouldn't do anything different about myself ... and that's what I would do for my kids, too," said Debbie.
When homeschooled students apply for college, they are required to provide more documentation since there are no high school transcripts for admissions staff to review.
----------------------------
Copyright 2004 by NewsNet5. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.newsnet5.com
