How do homeschoolers turn out as adults?

I’ve been writing and speaking about homeschooling for more than 20 years, and this is a question that everybody asks me, from homeschooling parents to media outlets such as the BBC and Psychology Today.

The short answer is that homeschoolers turn out fine. They turn out great, even. Researcher Mitchell Stevens wrote a book about the homeschooling movement back in 2001, and in the book’s acknowledgement he captures the overall tenor of the outcome beautifully: “To anyone who has grown cynical about the kindness of strangers,” he wrote, “meet some homeschoolers. They will renew your faith.”

Homeschoolers do not typically turn out the same as other children, however. They have gone through a vastly different experience than the mainstream during a very formative period of their life, and the values implicit in their experience are not necessarily in line with the prevailing wisdom in the U.S.  This has implications, and that’s why sites like unschooler.com and Kate Mende-Fridkis’ blog exist.

After having produced a documentary about grown homeschoolers and interviewed literally hundreds of homeschoolers over the years about the lasting influence of home education, here are 9 ways that homeschoolers are different than your “average” person:

1. Lots of questioning. If you can question something as fundamental as schooling, what else can you question?

2. A willingness to try something new. Homeschoolers innovate, both because they have to and because they are asking questions others are not always asking.

3. Genuine friendliness. Homeschoolers often grow up in a strong family, and spend more time around family, so kindness toward others and loving relationships is the expectation.

4. Feeling like a foreigner in their own country. Homeschoolers are sometimes at odds with both the values and the social norms of mainstream society, just like a person from China might be when coming to live in the U.S.

5. Remaining an academic. Learning is a lifelong process, so homeschoolers don’t stop studying when they leave school.

6. Self-direction. Often homeschoolers have to take responsibility for their own education, and this breeds a high degree of self-direction and entrepreneurship.

7. Eclectic knowledge. There often isn’t a standard curriculum for the homeschooler, especially the unschooler, so homeschoolers surprise with their knowledge and also sometimes have quirky gaps in what they know.

8. Postmaterialism. Homeschoolers are more likely to care about happiness and making the world a better place than material wealth and traditional measures of success.

9. Thoughtfulness. Homeschoolers have had, and continue to prize, the opportunity to be thoughtful and think critically.

Note that I’m not saying homeschoolers are the only people who exhibit these traits, nor that every homeschooler will have some or all of them. What I am saying is that these are traits that you often find in grown homeschoolers, and they represent a good starting place when considering the lasting effects homeschooling has on a person.

Did I miss something? Write me.