Welcome to The Educating Parent Beverley Paine's archive of articles about homeschooling and unschooling written over a period of 30 plus years

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Are Children Really Happy to be at Home with their Parents All Day?

by Gareth Lewis

"When home educators are asked about the 'social aspect' they usually give a standard answer along the lines: "Our children have many other home-educated friends", "Our children are in lots of clubs", "Our children mix with all sorts of people of different ages", or "Our children have lots of friends who go to school".

"Whilst these answers may be factually correct, they obscure the real truth, which home educators barely dare admit to themselves and which other people are certainly not prepared to hear: children are happy to be at home with their families. They do not particularly want to go to clubs, to schools, or to meetings, and they are not consumed with a desire to make friends with people of their own age. Surprisingly enough, when home-educated children get together with children who go to school, the school children never ask the home-educated children about friends, they simply say how wonderful it must be to not have to go to school and to be able to be at home with your mum and dad."

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The information on this website is of a general nature only and is not intended as personal or professional advice. This site merges and incorporates 'Homeschool Australia' and 'Unschool Australia'.

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