Alexa and I were at Home Depot the other day and the cashier looked at her asked her if she was “playing hooky”. Alexa looked at her and said, “no, I’m home schooled and I have already finished my school work today.” The cashier went on the inquire about what we do in home school and how we approach socialization. The cashier mentioned she was a casualty of budget cuts in our local school system and lost her teaching job 2 years ago. It’s funny, socialization is the first concern people have with home school.
I have met many who home school their children in the last 15 years. Most of them utilize the help of home school co ops. This is a great tool for those who want to make sure their child’s education is well rounded. Generally a group of people get together a couple times a week to trade off teaching and to give their children an opportunity to learn from others and meet other children.
I will admit we have only been a part of a co op for a short time and it just did not work out for our family. We have used a totally different model to help our children with socialization. Our goal is not just to expose our children to other people but to teach them how to interact with others. We are fortunate to live in a community with lots of children around. Socialization has proven to be a simple task with our daughter. She is a natural born social butterfly. People flock to her and she loves being around others.
Our method has been easy with Alexa but has proven to be more difficult for our son. Elijah, as you may know by now was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome at age 3. Socialization does not come naturally for our son. We must constantly make an effort to draw him out. We have to be intentional about socialization with him. He is 12 now and it is a continuing project but so worth the effort.
We need to think about what is necessary to adult life. I like to take my kids with me when I am out running errands, not just because they meet new people, but they learn socialization skills this way, as well as life skills. They learn about interactions with others. We get to model for our children what a healthy social life looks like.
Whatever method you use for socializing your home schooled children make sure it works for each individual child. I know it’s a lot of work to do different things for your children, especially is you have more than 2, but it’s worth the effort. You will have well adjusted, happy children who can socialize with others.
I’m the grandmother of children who are home schooled. Thanks for the insight on socialization.