Homeschool Myths: Homeschool Kids Are Too Lazy for Real School

Myth #3

As the concept of homeschooling continues to ease back into the mainstream, where it began, more and more questions and myths seem to follow. There is a great deal of controversy and confusion surrounding what exactly homeschool is, where it originated, what motivates people to choose homeschooling, and what may or may not be involved in the daily activities of of a home school. In this, and other articles on the myths of homeschool, I plan to explore and help shed some light on some of these myths surrounding homeschool. My findings will come from personal experience and sometimes be combined with research studies or other evidence.

Some people tend to believe that a child who schools at home is too lazy to attend a "regular" school. While browsing various websites, blogs, and forums online, I noticed something very sad. Many homeschooled children were complaining that their friends in public or private school thought they were lazy and couldn't handle "real" schoolwork.

Some of the home schooled children recalled being in public school and compared it to what they do in homeschool. Most of the ones I came across that mentioned this stated they had more schoolwork in their home school, but many still preferred it because there was also more time to concentrate on work.

Sometimes people assume that because you're at home, you have the freedom to lax on your schoolwork. However, for many homeschooling families, that isn't even a consideration. School time is still school time. Just because the classes might be held at home or in another location besides a public or private school, that doesn't make them less important.

Another topic where laziness came up was during homework time. Some homeschooled children do not have homework. I have found that when this is the case, it's generally because there is a great deal of school work completed during the day. To give homework afterward would be overwhelming for the child in that case.