“Home-schooling” connotes daunting things for students as well as their parents. Not a few would think home-schooling coops students in an insular universe, hampering the growth of their social skills.

Nothing could be further from the truth, according to renowned radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger. On the contrary, home schooling breeds well-adapted students.

Detractors of home schooling play on the fear of children acquiring monolithic perspectives and becoming pariahs in a multicultural community. Furthermore, detractors say home-schooled students are likely to be ill-equipped for the elusive “real world,” setting them for heartbreak and misery vis-à-vis their peers.

In Jackson, Mississippi, the psychology department of Belhaven, a Christian college, researched home-schooled graduates’ capacity for traditional school life. The researchers contrasted two sets of freshmen in their school: one comprised of previously home-schooled students, the other traditionally schooled.

For the study, the researchers used the College Adjustment Scale as their barometer. Students were gauged on nine scales that were designed to measure their academic, emotional, behavioral, and social skills.

Their findings, released in a 2007 issue of Home School Researcher, have consistently discovered home schooling students to have good knack for academics. These students simply score higher on standard achievement tests — even higher than the national average. Moreover, home-schooled students post higher GPAs than their traditionally schooled counterparts, at least in the first semester.

Emotionally, home-schooled pupils complained lesser agitation than their traditionally schooled equals. On the anxiety scale alone, the former had low scores. The two groups tied in all other scales.

Such findings imply that previously home-schooled freshmen of Belhaven College have effectively assimilated themselves in a traditional community with a diverse populace. Other studies could corroborate the Belhaven research.

Home-schooled students develop their sense of fortitude through a strong relationship with family. Besides, they also have friends outside the house.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger opines that home-schooling tailor-make the learning experience to the individual, unlike the traditional classroom setup. She particularly recommends home-schooling for persons who have difficulty focusing.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is the host of an internationally syndicated radio show and author of the New York Times bestseller The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands.