Revision of Annotation 2

Annotation 2

Structure of Homeschooling's annotations

Do homeschooling’s children lack of the ability in communication of society?

The questions of socialization come out as majority of people think of homeschooling. The quite important part of education is socialization. From the dictionary, it defines that “socialization is a continuing process where by an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position.” And the significant way for socialization is through communicating with others so that people may know their self-identity and      the skills of cooperation with others in the society. Besides, human beings who live in the world shall convey their messages through interaction with each other, so the ability of communication in society is essential learning process for children. Consequently, homeschooling seems to deprive the right of children’s communication with peers in public schools.

According to Education Policy Analysis Archives, the opposites of homeschooling refer that “the students who are homeschooled will not be able to cope with the harsh realities of life beyond their family environment (Luffman, 1997).” There is other similar argue statement that” homeschooled children will be unprepared for the harsh and competitive nature of the labor market.” From the aspect of arguments above, homeschooling seems to confine children in the limited environment of home and isolate children from the world. Another argument reveals that “parents know full well what the dominant social attitudes, beliefs and understandings are, and they have deliberately chosen to teach their kids something else.” Therefore, children of homeschooling may not receive the variety of concepts of knowledge, cultures and ethnic backgrounds. In addition, the opposite are worried that homeschooled children might lack of the tolerance and adaption in society. (Gene V Glass, 1999) As a result, they may have difficulties in communicating with people as they enter to the society in the future.

However, the supporters of homeschooling debate that “the average home schooled student is regularly involved in eight social activities outside the home (Van Pelt, 2003, p.90). These include afternoon and weekend programs with public school students (e.g., sports, scouts, church groups, ballet, Little League, neighborhood play, part-time employment, and voluntary work), and day-time field trips and cooperative programs with groups of other home schooled students (Mattox, 1999).” (Patrick Basham, John Merrifield, and Claudia R. Hepburn, 2007) The supporters show the fact that children who are in homeschooling seem to own more opportunities and time to be exposed in the variety of social groups rather than merely in the public school for all day. In contrast to the homeschooled children, the students of public school are regulated in the regular daily schedules so they have limited time to participate different kinds of activities outside the school. They are usually confined in the small spaces to learn the subjects without getting more information of international aspects. While the children of homeschooling may have opportunity to travel around the world to learn the history instead of only memorizing the knowledge in the books; hike to the numerous mountains in height for camping to learn self- independence and geography of the world; attend the performance of opera singers or different instruments in theater to appreciate the music. Once they encounter with the international people, they may get more ideas to exchange their thoughts with others and attend more international affairs. Consequently, they own the ability of interaction with people and get the lots of chances to communicate with society.

There are three awesome examples of attending international affairs and acquire the ability of communication. From the report of Mujen Chinese Christian Home Educators Association (May 7, 2013), three Taiwanese homeschooled students, Hui Jie (Rebecca) Chen, 15, of Yilan, Taiwan, Emma McDaniel, 13, of Inman, SC, and Emily Fabre, 12, of Salem, the newest in a long line of homeschooled students who offer real-life examples of the benefits of homeschooling, received International Volunteering Awards at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. “Chen has raised more than $10,000 for the poor over the past six years; last year alone she donated nearly 5,000 pounds of rice to East Africa in response to a news report about famine on that continent. McDaniel uses her couponing skills to acquire food and hygiene items for those in need, hosts an annual fashion show that has raised over $8,000 for disadvantaged children, and gives speeches on using coupons to help others. Fabre collects recyclable bottles and cans to help a local agency fund a transportation service for senior citizens and has raised $1,500 so far, which has been used to buy new tires for the Council on Aging’s vans.” These three children of homeschooling show their actual actions toward the international needs. Besides, during the process of raising funds, children may need to communicate with friends or strangers, explaining the activity of donation to the public and negotiate the difficulties so that they may possess the capability to deal with the problems and communicate in the society.     

 Moreover, the homeschooling children own abundant creativity and imaginations in their minds rather than just following the rules and opinions of teacher’s authorities in class. Additionally, homeschooling children frequently interact with different ages of learners in the community of learning network rather than simply coping with the same age of peers in class of public school or even speaking with not one person during the school’s time. (Gene V Glass, 1999)

In conclusion, homeschooling provides children the unlimited stage to develop their talent and fulfill more splendid things in the world. Furthermore, they own the actual ability to communicate with people from their countries to the globe.

Reference

Gene V Glass, C. o. (Ed.). ( 1999, September 6). ( Number 27), pp. 2-4.

Patrick Basham, John Merrifield, and Claudia R. Hepburn. (2007, October). Home Schooling: From the Extreme to the Mainstream. Studied In Education Policy, pp. 16-17.

Mujen Chinese Christian Home Educators Association (in Taiwan),Mrs. Chuo-chuin Fan,Steven Huang, retrieved from http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/taiwan/