Does homeschooling affect a child's social skills?
The question is not so much whether or not homeschooling affects a child's social skills- because it does, for better or worse- but how their social skills are affected in comparison to a school with peers. This can be positive or negative depending on what schools are available in the area, what kind of teacher the parent in question will be, what kind of extracurricular activities the child performs in to interact with others of their age group (I should note, mental age group may be more important than physical age group depending on the activity), and the preferences and learning styles of the child themselves. On the one hand, if they're experiencing an expansive curriculum in a home environment tailored to their learning needs and are otherwise able to participate in sports, boy scouts, book club or etc. out in town- pat yourself on the back, you're doing alright as a parent. On the other hand, if you're homeschooling a kid and teaching them that genesis is the truth and evil-lution is from the devil, condoms are from the devil, homosexuals worship the devil, the government wants you to give up your guns because they're the devil, and their only other interaction with humanity is Sunday Baptist church group, you're either raising an future Atheist with PTSD or a future serial killer. 1
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Yes, it gives them social skills. If you enter the public school system, the system will be telling you what to think and say, thus no need for social skills. And that's a good thing... The part they don't tell you is that they are turning the place into Naxi Germany or Stalin's Russia or Mao's China after you hand them your nuts in a bag. |