Beware this Pitfall of Crowdsourcing Education Information

Let me give you a tip that is more difficult to follow than it seems: ask the right people your education questions.

At its most basic, I mean this:

• Ask experienced homeschool advocates and homeschool organizations about homeschooling.
• Ask school administrators about school.

The experienced homeschoolers who have become true authorities and the legit organizations that support them are the experts on homeschooling.

School administrators are the experts on school.

School admin can get homeschooling wrong

Asking a school expert about homeschooling can mean you get incorrect information about what “must be true” or “should be true” about homeschooling.

Long-time homeschooling parents have learned from experience that school administrators often do not know their state’s home education laws, the policies colleges have for homeschoolers, how homeschooled children learn at home, homeschool curricula, or how homeschoolers get a diploma.

And why should public school administrators know about homeschooling? They are experts on the ways schools work and how students and teachers must meet the requirements of school. Their opinions and assumptions about education will be based on their understanding of school.

Worse, sometimes some school administrators may believe they know about homeschooling, and in general, parents do tend to regard administrators as authorities on education. If you’re getting your homeschooling advice from a school administrator who has incorrect information, you may not be getting accurate information—but it may sound really, really official.

And the reverse is just as true. When you are enrolling your child in school, asking homeschoolers about school policies will not give you reliable answers. School administrators make the decisions about re-enrollment in school, about grade placement, and about accepting credits from homeschooling toward a school diploma—or not.

Homeschoolers can get public school wrong

Over and over, I see some homeschooling parents dispense incorrect information about school enrollment on social media. Often, they generalize the experience of one person they know (or their own family’s experience) to homeschoolers in other states and other situations. This can have really negative results for some students, making enrollment in school disappointing or tumultuous.

Homeschooling organizations and some individual homeschool advocates tend to have better info about school enrollment because they’ve learned about common pitfalls. For example, TheHomeSchoolMom has an article to guide you on your child’s transition from homeschool to public school.

But, in general, why should homeschoolers know about school policies? They have been following an independent path for a long time. Their opinions and assumptions about education will be based on their understanding of homeschooling.

And yes; sometimes homeschoolers will insist they are right about school. They have never known or have forgotten the vagaries of school bureaucracy. Homeschoolers can guide you wrong on school policies, folks. It’s not necessarily their area of expertise.

Even homeschoolers can get homeschooling wrong!

Here's the other hard thing about getting information about homeschooling: current homeschoolers also often share incorrect information about homeschooling, too.

Again, on social media and even at in-person gatherings, I regularly see and hear homeschoolers casually dispense incorrect information about testing and evaluation requirements, whether kindergarten is required for homeschoolers, who is qualified to do assessments for homeschoolers, whether umbrella schools are required in our state, and what subjects homeschoolers "must" study.

Sometimes fellow homeschoolers even tell new homeschoolers the wrong deadline dates for submitting important legal paperwork!

These (sometimes somewhat "experienced" homeschoolers) can be emphatic about their knowledge, too! The reasons this happens can vary:

• Their incorrect information has never caused a problem for them, so they've never had an occasion to discover their error.
• They know what works for their family and generalize their advice to everyone.
• They live in another state with different requirements or in a different locality with a different homeschool culture.

Recently, a homeschool parent on social media advised a mom looking for activities to march down to the public school and demand access to the football team for their child. "Schools are required to allow kids to play sports at the public school," she said.

Nope.

That's true in her state, but it's only true in about half the states in the U.S.

The advice-giver was surprised when so many people commented that this is indeed against the law in their states—not to mention that even in states where allowed, schools typically allow homeschoolers to try out but don't have to let all homeschoolers make the team or play.

So—even when you are getting information from other homeschoolers—it's wise to confirm with authoritative sources like homeschool organizations and advocates.

Look for authoritative sources of information

Think carefully about whom you ask for information about homeschooling and about school. And if someone asks you, consider whether you really know the answer for their situation, or whether you should refer them to someone more knowledgeable.

Bottom line? We’re all crowdsourcing, but we need to remember: some crowds know more about some things than they know about others.