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Are Homeschooling Children School Phobic?

According to a UK website for anxiety care, school phobia can and should be treated. According to this website (which is attempting to sell counseling services) school phobia or school refusal affects 5% of students and is most common among boys. The onset of school phobia is around the age 11-12. It is likely to occur after a prolonged school absence, or during a time of uncertainly such as going from elementary to middle school. This program works to get kids back into school as quickly as possible and at avoid using homeschooling as an option,

While this is the first time I have ever encountered the phrase, the are thousands of websites online that offer help for school phobia. It is more accurately described as an irrational fear of going to school. Most people seem to think that forcing a child to go to school through a combination of psychiatric services and sheer force. My problem with this is that many kids have perfectly good reasons to fear school, and so therefore refusing to go to school doesn’t necessarily mean they have a phobia (irrational fear.)

For example my refusal to go to school in the forth grade was based on a very real fear of getting beat up on a daily basis. My brothers fear of school in the sixth grade was based on a very real fear of a girl bully tormenting him because (it was later revealed) that she had a crush on him. Another brother’s fear of school was based on the fact that he was actually stabbed.

Many homeschooling opponents claim that homeschooling parents coddle children by not making them face the real world by sending them to school. The problem is that school no longer reflects the real world… unless you are a prisoner. No where besides in prison is a person told they cannot speak unless they are spoken to by a superior, that they cannot go to the bathroom without permission, and are also in constant danger of another inmate turning on them in a fit of frustration and victimizing them.

Yes, there are many homeschooling kids who refuse to ever set foot in a school, but I would never call such school-refusal a symptom of a phobia.

In my opinion, homeschooling is an excellent solution for “school phobic” students. It is not however the only solution, as there are private school options that help. Changing schools can also remove a child from the real dangers that they fear.

*Have a question about homeschooling? Just ask.

* Have you seen the homeschooling curriculum glossary?