Saturday, July 20, 2013

Socializing our Homeschooling Family

"You're going to Homeschool?!" 

What about 

That is normally one of the first questions out of the mouths of family, friends, and strangers.


To me it is actually a little silly.  I feel people are no longer in touch with the education system and are basing this worry off their own personal experiences which are far from what school is today.  I remember having actual "down time" and playing games in class like "Heads up 7 up" or having "free time" on the day's agenda.  We would talk at lunch time with our neighbors.  I remember playing for half an hour on the playground and talking with my friends throughout the day, whenever the teacher wasn't giving instruction.

That no longer exists!

My children barely socialize at school and when they do it is forced or completely inappropriate.  They get to school early and are forced to sit criss-cross applesauce and NOT TALK!  They are not allowed to talk in class or play games with their class because the teacher is giving instruction more often and/or there is no time in the day for the teacher to have the freedom to do such things.  They cannot talk to each other while walking to the next location be it the library, lunch room, or specials.  Speaking of the lunch room I went to have breakfast and lunch with my kids on several occasions and all you hear in the lunch room is the aides telling kids to "Hurry up and eat your food."  "Be quiet!  You should be eating not talking."  Not one kid spoke with their neighbor.  By the way if the kid gets their food quickly they may have all of 10 minutes to eat.  Talk about a stomach ache!  Either they didn't finish and are still hungry or they ate too quickly and now their belly hurts.


They can talk during their 10-15 minute recess, although this is where much of the bullying goes on, but that is for another post.  Finally they get to come home and while sitting in the car rider line they are told they are too loud or not to talk again.  In addition to this, my daughter came home with many inappropriate stories about things her peers had seen in rated R movies.  She can describe the Texas Chainsaw Massacre to you in detail even though she would never be allowed to watch that movie under this roof.  She has stories about eyeballs falling out and going down the drain.  Once two classmates of hers went into the bathroom together (where was the teacher?) and played Bloody Mary.  My point is that when they are being socialized it is not necessarily the socialization you would hope for your child.  I don't even let my kids watch the news and there is a reason for that.  I don't need these unsupervised kids introducing them to such things when I am trying to guard their hearts.



I guess my point is that schools are not really the place for socialization now-a-days.  If you ask my kids about friends they are going to bring up the kids in scouts or sports or clubs they are part of.  To me that is true socialization and socialization does not have to be forced or occur with only their peers.  It is good for them to learn how to communicate with people who are older and younger as well.  After all, one day they will be out there in the world working alongside other individuals of varying ages.  Traditional school does not prepare them for those situations.


Back to the original question: 

What about 

Well my kids have been being socialized since birth.  
We are part of a wonderful group called:
It is a Christian group for mothers and their children ages birth to 5 years old.  We learn about topics interesting to us with wonderful speakers, discussion time, and we always have a creative activity to go along with it.  While Mommy is having her time the kids are all learning, playing, and doing crafts as well.  They have had the same group of friends for years.  Now that I have 2 older children who have "aged out" they will be helping with the littler ones.  I am on the leadership team so we are there weekly for a few hours and they love it!

Our oldest is part of Girl Scouts and is a Brownie this year!  
We are very involved in cookie sales and service work, as well as camping and crafts.  

She also took part in a Dance Group where the dancers for a high school bring in younger girls and teach them a routine and then the girls get to take part in a half time show during football season.  She loves that!


We will also be taking part in Sunday school at church and also another church program called: 
which is basically scouts at church where you learn verses to earn badges and do lots of fun activities to go along with it.  They will be taking part in AWANAS while Mommy is part of a Bible Study.  Win.  Win.

Our daughter will be taking an Art class this year once a week that we are very excited about.  
She has a passion for Art and wants to one day sell her artwork in a gallery or at art shows.  Her uncle and grandfather (my husband's brother and father) received full rides to art school if they wanted it.  His whole family is very artistic and she seems to have inherited that, which is very exciting for me.  I can't draw anything to save my life!  She will be working on canvas and with oils and charcoal and mediums I know nothing about with 9 other students grades 2-5.  She will be the youngest and she will be able to socialize with other students who have this same passion with her.  So exciting!

Our oldest son will be in AWANAS, helping with MOPS, Sunday school at church, and we are trying to get him into:
 and maybe a sport, although he has not yet decided on anything he wants to do yet.  He also has 2 days at Speech a week where he has 45 minute private lessons, so our plate is getting a little full.

Our youngest 2 sons will be in Cubbies (AWANAS), MOPPETS, and Sunday school at church.

In addition to these things we have signed up for 2 local homeschool groups.  They have monthly Art field trips and other various field trips and events.  They have a science fair every year, book clubs, yearbooks, spelling bees, ice cream socials, dances.  One has a group setting up a Field Trippers group for grades K-4 which we are getting in on too.

How can anyone ask us about socialization?!

The way I see it, that is the least of our worries.  Maybe we should be worrying about the students in traditional public schools.  We had girls drop out of our troop this past year because they could not do Girl Scouts and get their homework done and their FCAT (standardized test in Florida) HOMEWORK PACKET.  Something had to give and it was the positive self-confidence building group where they socialized in a safe and appropriate setting.  That is really sad.  Then again testing is all schools care about in Florida anyways.  Sigh.



Again we are so excited about this upcoming year!  
We are already a part of so many fun things and we can get involved in even more now.



No comments:

Post a Comment