This Friday, Dr. Phil will weigh in on homeschooling on a show entitled “The Great School Debate”. I have only seen one tiny bit of the trailer, which seemed to imply that perhaps if you’re unschooling, you’re not really learning. But that was only a 2 minutes segment of an hour long show–so perhaps what I got out of it was just dead wrong.
Dr. Phil stirred up the homeschooling community a few years ago when he touted on his national TV show that there was no social damage done to kids who were homeschooled. . .up through the 8th grade. However, you should really start thinking about sending them to school after that so they can get socialized.
On his website, Dr. Phil.com, he notes the following research (research without sources sited I might add):
*Kids who are home schooled through 8th grade exhibit no disruption in social development. To make home schooling work, the parents must make the time commitment, the money commitment, and the commitment to provide the academic environment at home.
* In addition, parents must make an effort to have the child participate in activities of their own peer group.
* “Limited tests” have shown that home schooled students have above average psychological and social development due to exposure of multi-aged groups and a more diverse array of activities.
* However, once kids get to high school age, social development is important and so it becomes necessary to send them to school.
I have to question his comments on several counts. First of all, the “limited research” he’s referring to has tracked thousands of home schooled kids. I am wondering how many more you have to track before the research isn’t ‘limited’ anymore. And of course I question the validity of saying that kids need the social interaction of high school. But I won’t go into that today.
In any case, when I read statements like these, I often wonder why I couldn’t have made a fortune dispensing highly expensive advice. But then I likely wouldn’t have time to home school! I will be watching on Friday and you can check back for an update to see what he had to say. I do hope that he gets it right this time.
Related Articles:
Homeschools Run by Well-Meaning Amateurs: Part 1
Homeschools Run by Well Meaning Amateurs: Part 2