Good News for Home-Schooling: Single-Sex Classrooms May Increase Girls' Learning

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

Home-schooling parents of home-schooled daughters take note:

I'm not a huge fan of home-schooling as I believe the socialization kids receive at school is critical to success later on in the real world. And yes, I know that home-schoolers are heartily exposed to other kids in the classes many attend outside of the home, in sports activities and/or at camp (my sister home-schools her daughter). But I still believe I could not have functioned as well as I do in the real world if I spent the majority of my time in the cloister of my parents'/siblings' company. Computers, too, are an isolating influence more often than not. Social networking notwithstanding, of course.

Nonetheless, there's an interesting development in home-schooling I'd like to share herewith. Four private girls' schools have convened to offer home-school classes tailored to the way girls learn, according to the Washington Post:

Backers of girls' schools say there are benefits to having no boys in the classroom: Girls prosper when teaching methods are designed just for them, they can pursue interests free from gender stereotyping and their hands shoot up more often when boys aren't around.

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