Educating Germany 

ARTICLES AND ABSTRACTS from a variety of standpoints, but still none that I have found that prove conclusively that a child is advantaged by going to school. Let me know if you ever find one!



The Development of Social Competence in Children. ERIC Digest.



Home Schooling and Socialization of Children. ERIC Digest.



Enhancing Students' Socialization: Key Elements. ERIC Digest. by Jere Brophy.
This article makes it appear that facilitating positive socialisation is extra to a teachers role, so therefore can one deduce that a teachers main function is teaching and the rest perhaps is what they have to do because parents don't?



Developing Social Competence for All Students.ERIC/OSEP Digest.
This makes me tired just thinking of the work of being a teacher.



Children's Peer Relationships.
This article states that schools are imperative in developing peer relationship skills and then goes on to say

Children require help from adults if they are to overcome serious peer relationship problems. The most successful helping strategies are matched to the specific needs of the children involved.

So, put them in schools until they have a problem and then let us sort it out. Oh, yes how cynical that sounds but tell me it is not what they are saying.



Social Skills and Satisfaction with Social Relationships in Home-Schooled, Private-Schooled, and Public-Schooled Children

Abstract: Despite the fact that 1.5 to 2.1 million children are home-schooled, there is limited research on the impact of home-schooling on children’s social skills. This study compares 53 home-schooled, 49 private-schooled, and 48 public-schooled children between the ages of 8 and 12 on social skills, as measured by the Parent and Student Forms of the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS). In addition, the groups’ satisfaction with social relationships were compared using the Peer Network and Dyadic Loneliness Scale (PNDLS), the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire (LSDQ), and the Friendship Qualities Scale (FQS). There were significant differences between the home-schooled children and private-schooled children on the SSRS-Student Form and between home-schooled children and the public-schooled children on the FQS.
Marcia J. McKinley, Jesika N. Asaro, Jamie Bergin, Nicole D’Auria, and Katherine E. Gagnon, Home School Researcher, Volume 17, Number 3, p. 1-6



Home Schooling and the Question of Socialization, Richard G. Medlin, Ph.D., 2000, Peabody Journal of Education, 75(1&2) 107-123.



The Home Education Movement in Context, Practice, and Theory, Susan A. McDowell, Brian D. Ray, DOI: 10.1207/S15327930PJE751&2_1, Journal Peabody Journal of Education, Volume 75, Issue 1 & 2 April 2000 , pages 1 - 7.. TO ORDER



Comparison of Social Adjustment between Home and Traditionally Schooled Students, L. Edward Shyers, Ph.D., University of Florida, 1992, 311 pp.



Socialization Skills in Home Schooled Children Versus Conventionally Schooled Children, Lindsey D. Koehler, Trent J. Langness, Sarah S. Pietig,Nicole L. Stoffel, Jamie L. Wyttenbach

Cynicism, Trust, and Internal-External Locus of Control Among Home Educated Students



Succinct overview of research



Socialization: A Great Reason Not to Go to School



More links to research for all things homeschooling



And yet more paper citations about all things homeschool



This could be the one study that the German (educational) authorities have found ???

Educational Leadership, April 2002, Volume 59, Number 7
The Civic Perils of Homeschooling, Rob Reich

An illegal activity in some states just 10 years ago, homeschooling has become legal and increasingly popular throughout the United States. Although homeschooling may satisfy parents’ desire to customize education for their children, such customization has its perils. The author argues that customizing a child’s education through homeschooling represents the victory of a consumer mentality within education, as if the purpose of education were to please and satisfy the preferences of the consumer. Also, customizing education through homeschooling compromises citizenship in several important ways, including potential lack of exposure to people with beliefs different from one’s own, sharing common experiences and values, and exercising freedom to choose among a range of possibilities. The author argues that we should not allow a new consumer mentality to become the driving metaphor for the education of children.



The response to the above article:
Perry L. Glanzer (2008) Rethinking the Boundaries and Burdens of Parental Authority over Education: A Response to Rob Reich's Case Study of Homeschooling, Educational Theory 58 (1) , 1–16 doi:10.1111/j.1741-5446.2007.00272.x

ONLINE or PDF



The rebuttal:
Rob Reich (2008) ON REGULATING HOMESCHOOLING: A REPLY TO GLANZER
Educational Theory 58 (1) , 17–23 doi:10.1111/j.1741-5446.2007.00273.x

ONLINE or PDF