I remember a few years ago one day after mass a lady that I know approached me and began to tell me about a new group they were trying to start at the parish. The group was going to be aimed at moms with small children and they would get together a few times a month. "You know," she said, "its for moms who might feel isolated. We just wanted you to know about it." (At the time I had a few small children and some that were older.) "Isolated?", I responded, "Oh I would LOVE to be isolated right about now!" I don't think that was the response she expected. She smiled politely and walked away. Sometimes, in the midst of all of the craziness of life, isolation sure does sound good!!
This thought then led me to think about why people wonder if homeschoolers socialize. For instance, today I left my house with my seven children at 7:15 a.m. We drove a few miles and picked up three girls from our friend's house. We drove a while more and picked up another girl. We drove a while more, dropped five girls off to spend some time before girls club with four other girls and picked up two new girls. We drove some more and dropped six girls off at their girls' club so that they could spend the morning with 21 other girls (in case you were keeping track, that left me with my two boys). So in the span of just under two hours, we "socialized" with five other families. Not bad for a few hours (and about 50 miles) work! Yes, we might have to try harder, but I really don't see that socialization is a problem for most homeschooling families. In fact, for this family, sometimes our big problem is too much socialization!
God Bless!
That is probably one of the most popular questions I'm asked as a homeschooler. I remember having to go to the library to write a report, and there was a girl from the local high school doing hers. She said something along the lines of me looking unfamiliar, and I mentioned that I homeschooled. So her first question was: Do you have any friends? How do you socialize? :) I love my answer: "I tend to socialize with so called other people who don't have social lives." It's so true. People overlook that fact that homeschoolers hang together in the support groups and like. I cannot find one homeschool family that has been 'isolated' from any sort of socialization.
ReplyDeleteHomeschoolers actually have a better socialization level than most public school kids, because they interact with different age groups. Adults, children, and some other teens. A wide variety of personalities often enough help us in gaining in insight of the people we will find in the world.
Ha! The second highest question I'm asked is a homeschooler is: "Do you do school in your pajamas?" Lol Where on earth do they come up with those questions? :P