My unsocialized homeschoolers…

One of the biggest misconceptions about homeschooling is that the children are unsocialized. Perhaps this was true in days long past when homeschooling was rare or families were geographically isolated. This is no longer the case. There are plenty of opportunities for homeschooled children to meet and learn alongside other homeschoolers. There are so many opportunities, in fact, that it can be overwhelming as a homeschooling mom to try to figure out which options work best for your family. There are play groups, open gym times, religious meet-ups, co-ops and hiking groups, to name a few. There are also all of the other traditional extracurricular activities open to both homeschooled and institutionally schooled children, such as little league, music lessons, swim lessons, Scouting, karate, church groups and 4H club. Any type of activity you’d like can usually be found if you look. If it doesn’t exist, homeschoolers are a very ingenuitive lot. If it doesn’t exist and the need is there, they’ll create it.

The difference between homeschooled and institutionally schooled socialization opportunities is this- Homeschooled socialization activities are family centered. What do I mean? Well, we believe that the family is the cornerstone of society. The family is very important. The cultivation and enrichment of the family is one of the most vital endeavors we take as humans. Therefore, socialization should begin at home. It begins in the family. Children socialize with their parents, their siblings, their cousins. One of the problems with institutionalized schooling is that it takes children away from their family for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 9 months out of the year. Institutionalized schooling monopolizes this time that children are meant to spend building their familial relationships. When you add in the number of children that also spend time in before school and after school programs, the situation becomes even worse. They then have even less time with their families. They create alternative families, school families, friend families, some favorable, some not so favorable. Regardless, these aren’t real families. How many of us can say that we are still regularly in touch with the people we graduated high school or college with? Aside from a friend or two and perhaps your spouse, my bet is few. Homeschooling places the family back at the center of the child’s life. Additional socialization activities, of which there are many, are then outcroppings of that foundation.