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who the hell thought it would be a good idea to shove a bunch of kids of the same age into a room for most of the day and let them figure out social interactions from *other kids their age*?? For like, *all* of childhood and teenage years? What the fuck are we doing

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petrus is practising the art of falling

@PetrusTheron

Jun 26, 2019

Replying to

@Aella_Girl

To offer an #evolutionary explanation: peers have the highest chance of becoming long-term friends, and eventually mates. Older friends become infertile/die too soon, while younger mates can't survive in the same environment. Compare awkward home-schooled kids.

Aella

@Aella_Girl

Replying to

@PetrusTheron

I was homeschooled and think the awkward thing is sort of a myth? Most homeschool kids socialize with each other in homeschool groups/meetups, and develop their own internal culture, which looks weird to non-homeschooled culture.

11:02 PM · Jun 26, 2019

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and

It'd be interesting to explore what you define as non-homeschooled culture? Some sort of individual culture forged by parents ?

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and

If you put a bunch of people together and reduce their exposure to common culture, then you get a unique type of sense. For years I had a really accurate 'homeschool sense' - I could guess if someone had been homeschooled pretty fast after meeting them.

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and

Homeschooling (I was, but started part time community college at 13) def has its own challenges but *can* work well and does mean encountering and learning to interact with people of different ages maturities, which is a very good thing.

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and

Historically, esp if you think of people living in rural towns, people went to smaller schools with greater mixes of ages of peers. It seems clear the advantage of big homogenous age groups is likely more about curricular convenience and scaling than it is what’s best for kids.

petrus is practising the art of falling

@PetrusTheron

Jun 26, 2019

Replying to

@Aella_Girl

An internal culture that looks weird to the rest of society sounds pretty awkward.

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and

There's the rub. Publicly-funded schools have largely lost the supplemental element of parental inclusion and outreach, which sees children largely left to figure out social dynamics for themselves, rather than bonding through copying adult civil discourse. Happy PTA, happy kids

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and

There is nothing awkward about my M.D. son, homeschooled until college, where he graduated Cum Laude. More to the point: happily married, friends of long duration and more recently. Homeschool and very small schools are where children can thrive.

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and

We all love you and your weirdness but you're probably not the poster child for homescooled kids not turning out weird 😁

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and

Our homeschooled kids have very few homeschooled friends. They meet all sorts of "regular" kids in the neighborhood, at summer day camps, clubs, etc. I'd say they are pretty damn normal and social.

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and

It’s weird because the homeschool kids are nice to each other. Consistently nice. Inventive and open. There’s no cruelty, few hangups and insecurities. Yeah, weird. The kids in the battery farm have every right to regard them as odd.