I wonder, though, if people mean something different than learning how to be social beings when they say "socialization". I wonder if they really mean "how will you teach your kids to follow all of the societal norms and the beliefs that we hold as truths as Americans." School is a very good place to learn how to sit still and wait. It is a good place to learn how to follow directions and how to listen to adults/authority figures. It is a great place to learn about the "values" of America. I am not saying that any of this is bad, but I'm still not sure that it is necessary to go to school to learn these things, nor do I think that learning these things is essential for success.
As difficult as it is at times, I want my children to learn to question authority, respectfully. I want them to know about many different world views. I want them to learn in the way that is most appropriate and effective for them. I want them to be active members of the community who are able to make their own decisions and who define success their own way.
As for socialization, I believe that happens by being involved in the community. They are involved in sports and other activities. We attend playgroups for both homeschooled and non-homeschooled kids. I plan to beging getting them involved in volunteering this year. They eet new people everyday as we go about our daily lives. They have many opportunities to socialize with people of different ages and backgrounds.
2 comments:
Amy - these are all comments that I agree with - I'd like to add some of my own:
We homeschoolers can dictate when, with whom, and how frequently their students will interact with others, not only in their own age group (i.e., Boy/Girl Scouts, after-school team sports, YMCA, etc.), but with others outside of their age group. With appropriate supervision, entire curriculums can be built around interacting with others such as your neighborhood postman, your local grocery cashier, or for older kids, the employees during a local corporate office tour.
In addition, since core lessons don’t typically take 6 hours to teach (like public schools), the student has even MORE time to interact with community groups, non-profit organizations, or whatever worthy social interests the student wants to pursue.
This gives the student opportunities to really build some notable accomplishments that would be tougher to achieve in a public school environment (You can just imagine this exchange from a public school student talking on the phone with her favorite charity, “What? A once-in-a-life-time series of charity events that starts at 10AM and lasts for the next 4 days? Sorry, but I don’t get out of school until 2:30PM”. Bummer).
In fact, if the social environment is designed right, the parent can BETTER prepare their students for college in this respect because college is all about interacting well with people across ALL age groups (like the real world) instead of being forced to interact 99% of the time with people within 1-4 years of the student’s actual age for 12 years of the public school student’s academic career.
When I started writing this post, I did intend to talk about all of the ways we ensure that our children are "socialized", and it was prompted initially by our attendance at a meeting of a local homeschool group for a weekly park day. The post, however, evolved into something totally different as I wrote it... such is the nature of writing. I do agree with your points. Thank your for sharing!
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