The writer of Proverbs warns us against being in the company of fools, and there are times when peer-dominated situations are just that. The children who accomplish certain skills or get the best grades are not praised-to protect themselves from being envied, they quickly learn to keep their successes quiet. This can produce a kind of herd mentality. Peer dependency can lead to an adoption of peers' values as a reference point instead of the child's family and Church values. One Christian woman said that for years following her public school education she struggled with foul language because she had been inundated with it in school.
Sin is inevitable and the home is no exception.
But in the home, the parents can deal with both the sins of commission and those of godliness omitted. Within the larger context of our local home education support group or our local parish, we can have socialization opportunities for home educators. We who home educate must guard our children's hearts from becoming puffed up with pride and self-righteousness that they are not like the children in typical classrooms who follow poor leaders just to be accepted. If we end up creating independent mavericks who are not capable of being thoughtful followers, then we have missocialized them. We can model correct attitudes by demonstrating to the children that we do not home educate because we are sufficient for their education, but because we believe God will enable us to be faithful with their education.