Socialization

Socialization. The "S" word. Whenever people find out that I
home school, their first question(s)/concern(s) were always:
"What about socialization?"
"Aren't you worried that they won't have friends?"
" How will they learn to interact with people?"
The socialization question never intimidated me. I knew that my family wasn't going to be deprived of interacting with others. Instead, when I took my 2 oldest children out of public school, I knew that a whole new world of possibilities and experiences awaited them. I knew that we were not alone and that soon, we would be interacting with people just like us.

At first, I was so excited that we were home schooling, that it was a pleasure to educated those unfamiliar with the lifestyle. Then, it started to feel like a passive aggressive attack. People, including some family members, were implying that my children were going to be socially challenged and not ready for the "real world" because they weren't contained in a classroom for 7 hours a day, 180 days a year with peers their own age.

Valuable social skills are not learned in a public school setting.
They are learned at home. They are learned while volunteering in the community. They are learned by being involved with field trips and home school support groups. Involvement through other areas of interest is another way to prevent isolation and promote socialization.

Regular interaction with varying types of people of varying ages and varying life experiences, along with adults who portray a positive example, is how we learn to act appropriately and responsibly in the "real world".