Socialization

One of the chief complaints people have about homeschooling is that the kids won't be properly socialized. I will admit that when I started homeschooling I worried about this too. Curly Q. is such a social person that I was sure she would need lots of interaction. Bear doesn't seem to need other people as much and that made me worry too. In the past year and a half I have learned to believe what I kept telling myself.

First, different people need different amounts of socializing, and that is ok. Just because Bear prefers to play alone sometimes doesn't mean that she is destined to become a sociopath described by her neighbors as a quiet young woman who kept to herself. Curly Q. isn't destined to become a playboy bunny because she craves constant attention.

Second, when it comes to socializing quality trumps quantity any day. At school kids have plenty of opportunities to socialize, but most of the time they have no good role models to turn to for these interactions. There ends up being a blind leading the blind situation.

Last, a school social group is terribly artificial. First they stick everyone who's birthday is within a 12 month period together. Then in some case they further group the kids by ability. This might be a good idea for teaching and learning, but not for socializing.


We are becoming more active in our local homeschool group, and these points seem so obvious when spending time with them. The kids move from one conversation to another (with all ages of other kids and grownups) with total ease. Some of the kids spend lots of time socializing; some kids are more frugal with their words. None of them appear to be ill at ease although it is a very new group. There may come a time when we decide homeschooling isn't the best choice for us, but I am sure it won't because of socialization.