Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The Subject of Socialization

In all my years of homeschooling, the most often asked question had to be about the girls' socialization.
I never really understood this as unless you kept your kid under a rock, how could they not be getting socialized. But I of course always took care in answering the question.
My girls were always busy. We had a support group, classes, Sunday school, groups we belonged to, sports, clubs. You get the idea.


I felt homeschooling offered a very balanced approach to socialization as they were often with kids and people of all ages, economic status, from other areas and not always the same kids every day. We worked with older folks doing volunteer work and also just felt comfortable spending good old days at home together. They never seemed to develop a restlessness to be on the go which is a good thing.


There are many different ways to keep kids busy and developing social skills. No one way is necessarily better than another. My kids all seemed very independent and not clingy. This is just my experience. Whether this had anything to do with the way we did things, I am not sure, but the results were good. Good old play and wearing a kid out so they don't even want to finish their donut is always a good thing.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poor baby too tired to eat her donut! I've often gotten the "socialization" question too ... I have the two most outgoing kids on earth and I want to laugh when asked it. Of course that's just my kids personalities, but it takes care of socialization. Question off-topic: How did you make that blog header - it's awesome! Mary

Anonymous said...

Also not sure you're aware but your comment authorization thingie is on where we have to type letters and numbers, not sure what you call it but thought you'd want to know. Mary

Tammy ~ Country Girl at Home ~ said...

My answer to the problem of socialization....I say yes...we get too much of it...have to say no to so many activities. And that's the truth! Besides true socialization isn't sitting in a room full of people your own age. :)

Tammy

Unknown said...

Hey there,

I talked about this very same subject. it seems everyone gets that question.

I typically throw it back in their face. I say - well, how does your child get socialized - because that's the same way my child gets socialized.

Duh

Hello? It's like public school socializes kids. We seen it's done just the opposite. Am I right?

From what I have seen homeschool kids are able to play with a wide variety of people. I see older kids playing with younger kids, black kids playing with white and Asian and Hispanic kids. Thin kid playing with fat kids. Boys playing with girls. It's a wonderful thing. This is something that you don't see with public schooled children.

It should be celebrated!

Thanks so much for linking up with The Squishable Baby. I will add you to my network and pin your post to my homeschool board.