I have a friend in my church sunday school class that is a guidance counselor for one of the local middle schools (grades 5-8). She said that last week she had all kinds of little girls in her office crying about this boy or that boy not inviting them to the Valentine's day dance (which is in the middle of the school day, who thought that was a good idea?) And she said she was dreading Monday (today) because of all the drama that will be in her lap. I said..." Ahhh....so that is the socialization my kids are missing out on?" She patted my arm and said, "Your kids are JUST FINE right where they are." Not that I was terribly concerned but it is always nice to have a bit of confirmation.
I bit my tongue and fell out my chair laughing (I was sitting on the arm of my spinny chair, trying to get a few bites to eat) when I read this. Honestly, people are so silly and dramatic and apparently its trickling down the ranks of our society and affecting children. Do you HONESTLY think, I'm going to put up with such weak character in my children? lol....Good job homeschoolers, good jobs.
HAhahaha Yeah-so glad my kids are missing all that! I'll take my "unsocialized" kids any day, thanks!
Isn't it crazy that such young little ones are already so caught up in that nonsense?? My 10 year old got so tired of other kids asking why she wasn't dating before we pulled her out of school at Christmas. It makes me so sad to think what this will lead to in the near future
Fortress Mom. I totally agree. We had the neighbor boy over the other week he was in the same PS class as our son. He claims he currently has two girlfriends????? They are only 7? So glad my son is content to play Lego and poke in the muck. We can save the drama for later...much later.
My oldest is only 8, and he is concerned about how he will meet girlfriends. Luckily he has no option of dating until he is much older! LOL But, yeah, kids are growing up WAY too fast now.
Wow! I am constantly floored by what people are considering 'good' socializing these days. Yesterday someone tried to convince me that Daycare (not pre-school mind you.. just run-of-the-mill daycare) was GOOD for teaching kids social skills. Apparently, we should ALL want our kids to learn how to bite and hit :roll: (what made it even worse is that I was advocating for kids to spend less time in daycare, and MORE time with their own families through an economic change in our society)
That's such a predominant mindset in our city that voters are rallying for public school pre-k for kids as young as 2! They'd rather take limited funds that are already less than enough for the district and stretch them even thinner than to take care of their own children because little Johnny needs to be around other kids for 8 hours a day.
Honestly this makes me sad for our children. My sons are 6 and 7 and while they have friends that happen to be girls, they have no idea about dating, no desire to date, and they are very well socialized. No they don't see other children every single day, but they are able to play well with children from very young babies all the way up to teenagers and do it well. They can entertain themselves if need be, they can play with their baby brother in a gentle way to not hurt him. They love to dig in the dirt looking for worms, play ball with their friends, and build legos. They are children, just as they should be. When we go to cubscouts and meet with the other boys who are in public schools I and many other mothers can tell the difference, my boys respect their elders, address adults with Mr, Mrs, ma'am, and sir. They say please and thank you, say excuse me when they need something, and they listen to what they are told to do. None of that is exclusive to homeschoolers, but my point is that my children stand out in a crowd, but not in a negative way.
I've said before how Ben stands out in his own family -- at 12, he was the only one who was worried about "why don't the girls like me?" Older sister, 17 and about to graduate this spring, is so not worried about dating and finding a husband and settling down. Older-than-that brother is 20, isn't looking to settle down yet either, and is put off when girls call him, even just as friends. The oldest ones weren't terribly interested in dating, either, until "the one" actually did come along. But Ben has been the only one interested in girls and having a girlfriend at age 12 -- he's 13 1/2 now, and seems to have gotten over it for the time being (or he's just learned not to talk about it to his parents who keep telling him that there's plenty of time to think about that after he's finished his education and established in a job).
Whenever I get worried about "socialization," I go read some little house books with the kids. Those families weren't just out of school; they were completely isolate for months at a time. I think Laura Ingalls Wilder did pretty well for herself, to be sure.
This is just one of many good reasons to homeschool. I was shocked when we moved to NJ. My DD was 10, and very much into reading, and playing with dolls. All of the girls at our new church (mostly public schooled) were "so over that". They had boyfriends already. DD is 16, and still isn't chasing boys. Praise God!
It is such a predominant mindset that is hard for some people to teach themselves to think for yourself. Not everything that we did as children was the correct way.
My dd14 is in public high school and I am very disturbed at some of the kids behavior. It seems like every week or month people are changing boyfriends or girlfriends and it is all over their facebook status about how "in love" they are. Really? Is that neccessary? Thank God Samantha has never had a boyfriend. There is a boy she likes that is a bit older than her. He likes her too and they have known each other since birth. Her grandma babysat him for years. Anyway I am so proud of how they are dealing with their "feelings" for each other. They meet in the hallway, he walks her to a few classes and to lunch, he tells her she looks pretty, she blushes and they text each other. That is how it has been all year. I find it sweet and old fashioned compared to what these others kids are up to.
When people hear we homeschool the first thing many people say is "what about socialization?" I used to go into a long speech about how I make sure my kids are around other people and not stuck in the closet. Now I just say..(in an exasperated voice) "Oh I know, who wants their kids dressing like little ho's, wearing make up and cursing like a sailor? The socialization in public school is one of the many reasons we homeschool".
You, are my homeschool hero . I think I'll start off my homeschooling career using a similar line, only the list will include the social problems common to my kids age range. (Oh, I know who wants their kid learning to eat boogers and paste and learning to confirm to a sick society for the PreK-1 stage)
