"What About Socialization?"

Homeschooling? I guess the general public has gotten past the question, “Is it legal?” Now they most commonly reside on the declaration that Homeschooling cripples children socially. To keep this short, let me just say, I disagree. In fact, one of my biggest reasons for deciding to homeschool is for socialization reasons.

The norm for raising children has recently become: (I’m stepping back and taking a long historical perspective here,) gather 30 or more children of one age and put them in a room together for 8 hours a day and they will come out just fine. No matter what the curriculum, no matter what their learning style, no matter what their behavioral habits, they will learn well and prosper. I’m sorry, that just doesn’t make sense to me.

So, we homeschool. We know who their friends are, we know their learning styles, we know their interests and we know their strengths and weaknesses. We also bend over backward, drive a lot of miles, and spend quite a bit of hard earned cash to make their education as profitable and well rounded as we can.

We have graduated one out of four so far, and, gasp, he isn’t “going to college.” Instead, he interned so long during High School with a company in his field of interest, that he walked right into a job after setting his cap and gown aside, (yes, we even threw a cap and gown ceremony for he and 3 friends!) Then, within a few months he was offered a better job with another company, so he made that move. He will take college classes on line and slowly make his way toward a degree. Why not do it all up front and at once? Well, in the technology field, you don’t just take a 4 year break and come back and expect to be up to speed in the latest developments. The best way to have your cake and eat it too in this line of work is to do them simultaneously. Personally, I’m proud of his accomplishments. He is a web designer and helped me with this site!

At any rate, I didn’t wake up this morning to rant in Homeschooling's defense. On the contrary, my three "school age" children and I plan to hit the road today to work the Maine homeschool convention in Bethel. For the last two years this has been a whole family event, but things have changed since then. Even though Fran is deployed, and Erik is working full time, the rest of us can “carry the flag,” (i.e. haul the 5 large plastic totes and 5 taping machines to the hotel, and set them up in front of the fireplace in the lobby of the Grand Summit, and tape the workshops, and convert them to digital) and go and do our best to complete the mission. www.homeschoolersofmaine.org

Homeschooling has given us some great opportunities. I am so thankful that we chose this option so many years ago. In this time of Fran’s absence, we can pull together, keep each other company, and pass the coming months together in worthwhile pursuits. What a blessing!!