Socializing our homeschoolers
The questions have definitely poured in as we continue on our #HomeSchoolChronicles:
Why are you homeschooling? What's wrong with "regular" school? Aren't you afraid the kids won't make friends? What will happen to their social skills? Are you sure they will not be socially stunted? What about testing...how do you know they're making progress?
There are so many more questions, but these seem to be the most popular ones. When we get the questions, one thing I try not to do is get into my defensive mother-knows-best mode. I know the questions come from a place of genuine concern for the most part, but they can be quite annoying at times. Today, I will address just one of them in this blog: the socializing concern.
My older boys, Umar and Hanif, started with "traditional" schooling, albeit private and Muslim-based. They have quite a number of established friendships, and close ones at that, so socializing them was never really a concern of ours until it was brought to our attention through folks' questions and concerns. This prompting got me to start paying attention to how they were reconnecting with old friends and how they would make new ones. Being the social butterfly that I am, there's never a shortage of community activities or playdates that I'm shuttling the boys back and forth to on a weekly basis. I am one to send out requests to fellow mommies, requesting playdates or meet-ups. These are typically in form of a meet-up in the community (e.g., Fall Festival, library activities, roller skating) or hanging-out at our home. These meet-ups warm my heart! The kids are always delighted to see their friends and get reacquainted. They pick up right where they left off and you'd never know they haven't seen each other in weeks and sometimes even months.
So, how about making new friends? Well, we've done a number of things, both deliberately and indeliberately, but resulting in socialization. Two activities that have made a difference for our 10-year old is his STEM class outside of the home and his personal library time. Umar gets to attend weekly PE and Lego Engineering classes at Cheverly STEM Education Center where he's made several new friends over the course of 12 weeks. He also gets dropped off at the local library to get some much needed "me time," which he spends checking out books and attending Chess tutoring where he, once again, gets to socialize. Six-year old, Hanif, and 3-year old Abdullah get to make new friends at their tennis and swimming classes, so they get their socialization fix with both "schooled" and homeschooled kids.
Another avenue for socialization we provide for the boys is Boy Scouts of America where Hanif is a Tiger and Umar is a Webelos. The two of them love being Boy Scouts! They were ecstatic at the news that we've decided to give Boy Scouts a go this year. They always look forward to their bi-weekly meetings. Their respective "dens" include many of their old friends and many more new peers that they are yet to meet. I think they probably look forward to the opportunity to socialize with friends way more than they look forward to engaging in activities that will help them earn their various scouts badges.
So, NO, we are definitely not concerned that our boys will be socially stunted. If anything, this homeschool experience has helped them better appreciate their established friendships and made them savvy friend-makers when meeting new faces. Another huge perk of homeschooling is that our two older ones, although 4 years apart, have gotten really close. They have learned to enjoy each other's company and cooperate on tasks and chores. For us, this is the ultimate socialization success.
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