w“How do they get socialization if they're homeschooled?” “Aren't you worried about their socialization?” “I could never homeschool; my kids wouldn't get enough socialization.” My oldest is a homeschooled first grader and this is by far the most common concern I hear about homeschooling. In fact last year we took Izzy by train to Fun City for her birthday and while we waited at the train station there was a retired teacher that started talking to her. As soon as she said she was a teacher I sort of tensed up, concerned that she might not be thrilled when she found out that Izzy was homeschooled. It's certainly not that all public educators are against homeschooling, but public school teachers are the people I've most commonly heard voice concerns about homeschooling. Sure enough, she asked Izzy what grade she was in and where she went to school and when Izzy told her she was homeschooled the lady turned to me and exclaimed, “I sure hope you're making sure she's socialized!” I desperately wanted to go through our weekly schedule and explain, “Why yes. On Sundays we have church, on Mondays swim lessons, Tuesdays MOPS, Wednesday AWANA...” etc etc every single day of the week. However, I didn't, because she was a stranger at a train station and I really didn't see the point. Here's the thing: I'm sure that there is perhaps a small percentage of students who are homeschooled who don't get enough “socialization.” I also think there's a chance that homeschooling has changed over time and perhaps in past decades there weren't as many social options as there are now. That being said, in my experience I actually have to say “no” to most activities in order to actually have time to do school at home. There's homeschool dance, homeschool gymnastics, homeschool ice skating, homeschool martial arts, homeschool soccer, homeschool art classes, homeschool trampoline park times. I could literally have my children in social activities all day long every day. That's not including the fact that I can also put them in all of the evening and weekend activities that all of the public school kids are in, or I can dual enroll them in the public school so that they can do the activities and “get socialized” there. All of these little snarky thoughts have been running rampant through my brain this weekend as we had a birthday party for Izzy, who is turning 6, and Kylena, who is turning 3. They managed to invite 70 children to their birthday party. That included all of Izzy's friends from her homeschool assistance program, all of their neighborhood friends, and all of their church friends. It did not include any of their friends from dance or MOPS. So please, please, please don't ask me if my kids are socialized. I PROMISE that they have more friends with more diversity in age and walks of life than I ever did as a kid...and I wasn't homeschooled.
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Marla HoyMy family says and does silly things and I write it down. Archives
March 2020
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