Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Yup, my kid is weird.

I ran into a mom I know from church who told me she's also interested in homeschooling her two little girls.  I love getting the opportunity to gush about the amazing benefits of homeschooling, especially to someone open to the idea.  As I began to tell her a little about what my son and I do, she stopped me and asked the inevitable question :

"What about socialization?"

(whack my hand against my forehead)

Ok, I've talked about this before in previous blog posts and in the FAQs, but I'm going to talk about it again.  I know it's a bit concern for a lot of parents interested in homeschooling and I know it's a key point used by those who oppose homeschooling.  So let's get down to it.

What everyone really wants to know is.....if I homeschool, will my kid be weird?

Yup.  You're kid will be weird.  Now let me define "weird" according to what I've seen by my own kid, his friends (what??  he has friends as a homeschooler??...I'll wait while you pull yourself together after this startling realization :)  )  and those he goes to his co-op thingy with.

Your child won't know who Miley Cryus, Justin Bieber, One Direction or Selena Gomez is.  Frankly, I don't think they'd care to know even if given the chance.

Your child probable won't use the term "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" until an appropriate age.  Weird, right?  I mean, can you imagine your second grader NOT talking about having a boyfriend or girlfriend?

Your child will be able to talk to adults.  In fact, he or she will be rather comfortable talking to adults.  My kid orders for himself at restaurants.  I wasn't doing that as a kindergartener because I was too shy. 

Your kid will like school.  Why?  Because chances are, the parent teaching is working at the kid's pace, taking time to go over difficult subjects, and doing enhancement activities that public schools simply don't have the time and resources to do.  (This isn't a diss on public schools.  I think teachers are way under valued and under paid for their hard work.)

Oh, and here is the weirdest thing of all that I've seen from homeschoolers.  THEY ACT THEIR AGE!  Really take a second and think about this one, because frankly I think it's what people find the weirdest.  Five year olds are suppose to act like kids, not mini tweens.  I personally think our kids grow up way too fast these days so when someone sees a child acting their age, they think they're "weird."  No, they're just being a kid.

Ok, so I know that my list may upset some people.  I'm not saying that ALL homeschoolers follow these trends or that ALL public school kids don't.  Every kid is different and they're all parented differently, so I know that this doesn't apply to everyone.  I'm just saying somethings I've seen.

Oh, and one more thing.  Does anyone else notice that the first thing homeschool parents are asked is "What about socialization?"  It's NEVER "what type of curriculum do you use?".  It's never about education, also about socialization.  Weird, right?

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