It seems that everyone is always so concerned that homeschooled kids won't get "socialized" just because they're not a school for 8 hours a day. Today's Heart of the Matter Meme is "How We Socialize" so I'll be sharing the things that we do that make me unconcerned about the "socialization" issue.
1. Family - Socialization is really children learning what they need in order to function adequately in society. The family is the key to this. As parents, Mr. Math Teacher and I socialize our children by teaching them everything from not talking with food in their mouths to treating each other with respect.
2. Neighbors - We live right on Main Street in our little town so we have neighbors close by. The kids play with the kids right next door. We've become a rather popular house for the neighborhood kids because of our trampoline. When school is out, my kids don't hurt for playmates.
3. Friends from church - We are quite active in our church and have our closest friendships with other church participants. Not only do we go to the Sunday morning services, but we also are part of a small group on Saturday nights. Wild Man likes to go to church early on Sundays with Mr. Math Teacher so he can help out with the kids' church service. Ga'Hoole Girl goes to Junior High group on Thursday night, but also babysits for Women's Bible Study on Thursday mornings. Right now, Mr. Math Teacher and the kids are on a church overnight trip to a camp a couple of hours north of us.
4. Dance class, homeschool group, piano lessons, etc. - The kids are involved in several structured activities throughout the week. During the summer, they take swimming lessons and Wild Man plays baseball.
I have gotten to the point that I just don't stress about making sure my kids get to "socialize". We live our lives in community with our town and church, so my kids have plenty of time to visit with others.
1 comment:
Oh yah - neighbors. How could I forget about them. They're over here almost every day.
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