Dan and I decided long ago our girls would be homeschooled. I'm active on a few parenting boards where a number of other moms homeschool, and I get loads of great ideas and tips from them. Once in a while someone will post a vent about the issue of socialization. We homeschooling moms and dads don't have any concerns about socialization, but it often seems that everyone else in the world gets concerned about it when you tell them you're homeschooling. "But how will your children be socialized if they're not in school?" they ask. Well, someone posted this today and honestly, I wish I could print it on little business cards and hand it out to people who question our children's socialization when we mention homeschooling.
Public School Socialization
"When my wife and I mention we are strongly considering home
schooling our children, we are without fail asked, 'But what about
socialization? ' Fortunately, we found a way our kids can receive
the same socialization that government schools provide.
"On Mondays and Wednesdays, I will personally corner my son in the
bathroom, give him a wedgie and take his lunch money. On Tuesdays
and Thursdays, my wife will make sure to tease our children for not
being in the 'in' crowd, taking special care to poke fun at any
physical abnormalities. Fridays will be 'Fad and Peer Pressure
Day.' We will all compete to see who has the coolest toys, the most
expensive clothes, and the loudest, fastest, and most dangerous car.
"Every day, my wife and I will adhere to a routine of cursing and
swearing in the hall and mentioning our weekend exploits with
alcohol and immorality. And we have asked (our kids) to report us
to the authorities in the event we mention faith, religion, or try
to bring up morals and values."
From the Kolbe Little Home Journal, Fall 2005
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4 comments:
This is great! BTW, you have a typo "We hoeschooling moms"
:)
Oops! I stopped looking at the underlined words because it thinks "homeschooling" is misspelled, so I didn't check all of them to make sure they really were okay. Thanks!
That is perfect. I can't believe how often that question comes up, like I tie my son up and stick him in the closet for 23 hours a day.
Homeschooling Jacob is my favorite part of my day - I have such a neat kid, and I love seeing who he's becoming, and how he's making all his own connections with what we're learning and what we're living. I cannot imagine missing that!
What also gets me is the fact that, when I think back, there were plenty of awkward, sheltered, shy, and unsociable kids in class I ever had.
In the end, people see what they want to see, perceive what they want to perceive. It's sad really.
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