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Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Homeschooling - What about socialization?

Funny thing about when we decided to homeschool...we thought people would be concerned about our children's education.  Nope.  The main reaction we got was, "What about socialization?!"  At first I was perplexed.  Socialization?  What did that have to do with education?  Of course my kids knew how to get along with other people and knew basic social skills.  But that's not what people meant.  What they were really concerned about was the fact that my kids weren't getting educated in a classroom with 20-30 other children their age.  To them, that was the experience they felt that all children needed.

To me socialization is part of living.  It's either positive or negative, not absent or present.  Babies "socialize" as they learn how to interact with the people around them.  Children learn that hitting and biting are unacceptable and being mean to other children almost guarantees that they won't have friends.  That's socialization!  These skills and others are learned by interacting with other people, regardless of age.

There are some children (and adults) who have poor social skills who were educated in a traditional school setting.  There are also homeschooled children who are comfortable and confident in any social setting.  It has more to do with the personality of the child himself and his upbringing at home than the type of school he attends.

As long as the homeschool parent includes lots of interaction with people of all ages, exposes the kids to many and varied experiences, and teaches appropriate behavior by both example and training, the kids are going to be able to function well in any situation. 


2 comments:

  1. I couldn't have said it better myself! =)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Sarah. Wish I'd known how to respond earlier :)

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