Homeschoolers from New York City say they don’t miss out on socialisation opportunities

Hannah Harnest
Aug 28, 2017 · 5 min read

Hannah Harnest, 27thAugust 2017

Day-to-day, the Youth Wing at the magnificent Brooklyn Central Library on Grand Army Plaza is resonating with the youthful jauntiness and buzzing activities of its little visitors, who truly represent New York City’s cultural melting pot.

In a smaller room at the back, overlooking the main space, where creativity knows no boundaries, you will find shelves stocked with manifold oil and water color tubes, brushes in every size, multicolored threads and paper, crayons, and small fanciful objects in every shape.

Creating stories through art at Brooklyn Central Library

Monique Price, while working on a collage, exchanged occasional thoughts with the other boy and girl present, who both drew complex portraits of people with the help of just one, never-ending line. They were guided by a young instructor from Project Art, which is an organisation that provides free arts education to teenagers in public institutions.

“When I used to attend both Shell Bank and Rachel Carson public high schools in Brooklyn, the contact with the other children felt really overwhelming,” said 14-year-old Price, who has been home-schooled since the age of 12, and whose mother has since then rounded up her daily education with many such workshops.

“There were times during class, where I sort of had to adjust to the environment, because I’m not really talkative. I was also bullied. This here feels much more comfortable!”

With an estimate of more than two million children (International Center for Home Education Research — ICHER), homeschooling is still a somewhat unusual alternative to the conventional public and private school system in the US. Notwithstanding, it has grown in popularity, according to Dr. Robert Kunzman, who is Professor of Curriculum Studies, as well as Philosophy of Education and Teacher Education at Indiana University. He said that this is thanks to the expanding various opportunities and extracurricular activities for children in big cities such as New York, and the developing cooperatives and support networks.

The biggest challenge for parents however, who have chosen to take their children’s education into their hands, is the so-called “socialization question,” as shown by studies of the ICHER. At times, proving the ability to socialize, might seem like this unshakeable accusation that hovers in the realm of public discussion, since Kunzman said that it is so difficult to quantify and defend if need be.

Price’s mother Renee Mitchell, who is a 51-year-old home carer and a clothes retail business owner from Ditmars Park, Brooklyn, doesn’t think that her daughter will have any problems with social skills later on.

“I bring Monique to all these different workshops — robots, building bridges, and arts classes — and she connects with all these kids and makes friends when they’re talking,” she said. “If my daughter had problems with socialization, she wouldn’t communicate at all, ok,” she continued, strongly articulating her opinion and shoving off her anger at the current system.

Renee Mitchell, a very engaged homeschool mom, and her daughter Monique Price

Mitchell even bothered going to the New York City Chancellor of Education, Carmen Fariña, with her complaints about how public schools are run, and was then labelled as a trouble-making mother. “They give them free education at school, but you have so much stuff going on, you got gangs at school, you got drugs at school, ok, and you got teenagers getting pregnant,” she said.

Originally, homeschooling had mainly religious and counter-cultural motivations. Kunzman said that nowadays there is an increasing number of parents, who are not comfortable with the context of institutional schooling, or the goals of schools, particularly with the ways in which it becomes difficult to personalize instruction. There really isn’t anything irreplaceable in an institutional setting in his opinion.

“Whether or not children are properly socialized, depends largely on the homeschool context, and how well the parents handle it,” he explained.

Valentina Giovannini, 19, recently talked to a lot of parents, who are thinking of homeschooling their kids.

“They are always so nervous about the social aspect, and when they are coming to New York City, I have no problem saying that ‘you don’t have to worry!’”, she exclaimed, laughing.

“If they’re always doing activities, if they find a good homeschool network, they will find classes to take with other kids. There’s so many people!”

Giovannini, who has an Italian father and an American mother, was homeschooled from age 13 in Monaco, Europe, and moved to New York at age 15. In both places, she did “a ton of extra-curricular activities.”

At the moment, she is a rising Sophomore at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, studying history, psychology, dance, and sociology. Empowerment and embodiment through dance is what has caught her fascination, since she thinks that knowing your body can really improve the quality of life.

Valentina Giovannini, presenting a professional partner dance

Through professional dance training since Giovannini was little, she has met many people from different age groups.

“My brother and me were always comfortable talking to adults, and we’ve never had issues with it,” she said. “People are always so surprised by the fact that we’re so comfortable by that, and then they’re also surprised that we’re doing something so out of the ordinary,” she said, smiling.

“Homeschooling is not cutting off the ability to socialize. In a lot of ways, it opens up possibilities, because you attract a much wider range of people.”

Giovannini’s ex-boyfriend was six years her senior. She is convinced that her former peers from school will experience shock, once they get out of “that bubble”, whereas she herself is just a person like anyone else, thanks to her educational background, when it comes to “finding a significant other.”

Giovannini and Price might have been homeschooled for very individual reasons, but they both share the dislike for crowded classrooms and the associated issues for healthy socialization.

“I always felt less comfortable in a classroom full of kids, and that definitely determined where I applied for College,” said Giovannini. “So, I knew I can’t be in a room with a hundred people. I’m getting distracted. I don’t feel they’re talking to me, but at me, because there’s so many people.”

Price also wants to go to College. “I don’t know yet how it will be like, when I have to deal with a whole lot of people again,” she said. “But I think it will be fine, because you get your own dorm at College, where you can switch off.”

According to Dr. Kunzman, there are socialization challenges that almost every student faces when they transition to College. Depending upon what their homeschooling experience is, that might be easier or harder.

“If I can give one advice to homeschoolers, it would be the following,” said Valentina, grinning. “Like my mom has always told me, go to College, it’s more of a life experience, than necessarily an academic one.”

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Hannah Harnest

Written by

Citizen of the World. New Yorker. Classical concert pianist. Reporter at Columbia University Journalism School. Collaborative piano fellow at Bard College.

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