The Big Question: What about socialization?

This seems to be the biggie. If homeschoolers had a dime for every time we heard this question... we'd be livin with Richie Rich! (Showing my age now.) I am only going to try to shed a little light on this very deep subject.

I guess when people think about homeschooling and socialization, they automatically paint a picture in their heads of 2-4 kids sitting at desks, in a house, with their mother for the 180 day school year. Sounds pretty scary and un-social to me, too!

"Socialization is actually meant to prepare children for the real world, which means learning to interact and deal with people of all ages, races, and backgrounds," quote by: Diane Flynn Keith.

Homeschooling does exactly that. Homeschoolers automatically incorporate "life" into their homeschooling. The kids will intentionally be interacting with: their families (grandparents, cousins, etc.), people of all ages at their church (kids, teachers, pastors), grocery store workers, restaurant workers, people at the library, nursing homes, adults and children of all ages at homeschool groups, sports clubs, 4H clubs, brownies and scouts, dance, theater, etc. The list goes on and on. I'm sure I haven't even began to touch on all of the ways or places that homeschoolers socialize.

Homeschoolers are encouraged to talk and "socialize" with everyone around them in society. They live in and are taught in "the real world" as they go about learning, doing, and interacting in their daily lives.

Here are a few links to articles attempting to approach the subject of homeschooling and socialization. socialization socialize socialized
As you can see, it's not as scary as people make it out to be. Once you get to know and see the life of a homeschooler, you will see just how social they are.

The two on the right are my social misfits... I mean properly socialized homeschooled children. They are perfectly normal; there is not a thing wrong with them or that other kid!