Our HSing group had their annual field day yesterday. It was such a beautiful day! We had about 50 kids registered to participate, ranging in ages from preschool through high school. I kept watching and thinking what was wrong with this whole picture. Remember, this is my first year HSing So I sat and wondered, what I am looking at and really seeing. What I saw was all the kids working together. The highschoolers got a big kick out of helping the little ones and the little ones bloomed in the attention. The middle age kids watched the older kids and tried to be like them. Everyone helped the adults and communicated with respect and kindness. It truely was amazing. I do not think I have ever seen that in any school activity whether public or private school. What an amazing gift to give our kids to be so unsocialized in their homeschooling environments I know I am preaching to the choir, but I think we all need a little validation for what we are doing from time to time. I just had a wonderful day yesterday and so did my kids. They woke up talking about it this morning!
Aurie: That sounds great! I've noticed the same cooperation when our group meets every 2 weeks for a gym day at a local church. Our hs group is organizing our first field day this year for later in June. Could you list some activities you had for the kids? Thanks. Carol
We have a few VERY athletic families in our group. There is one family that trains together for 5&10k races. Soo.... We had: 1) 1 mile run/walk (the fastest time was 5 mins 9 secs ) 2) 100 yard dash 3) Chin up hang 4) Soccer ball kick 5) Soft ball throw 6) 3 legged race 7) Jump Rope 6) Hula Hoop 7) Egg Toss 8) Balloon between Knees relay 9) Water sponge relay I think I covered everything.
These are exactly the kinds of things that just encourage me to keep going. We have had two out of town guests this week / weekend....the first one has 4 kids that are homeschooled...so he's not surprised...but our 2nd guest just thinks that our kids are so articulate b/c they can carry on a conversation with adults! LOL A real conversation...not just gibberish about Pokemon or something! LOL!!! Thanks....we're having a field day in June...can't wait to see it myself too!
That's great. We had our first field day a few weeks ago and it was sooo much fun. My boys are really slow to warm up to new things, so I was really proud of my oldest for jumping in and participating in all the activities. My middle son needed a little more encouragment but he did it. They are both very proud of the ribbons they won. Lisa
Aurie: Thanks for the list. We hadn't thought of some of those. We also are having a sack race (old pillow cases) for the smaller ones. We have a LOT of preschoolers in our group. Every child will also get a "prize"...all those happy meal and cereal box toys we all have too much of!! Carol
I've said before that I believe hs kids have a sweeter attitude that ps kids in most situations like that. Whenever there's an exception it's usually a boy being a boy. At art one week the boys wanted to play Attack. This meant shoving the girls to the ground or pushing them. This one boy slammed Jeannie to the ground and pounced on her back! I immediately yelled at him to get off her, because the other moms just stood there. Nobody wants to tick anyone else off, I guess, but my daughter couldn't breathe with this kid laying on her. They don't play attack anymore....
I grew up in a SMALL town in Missouri--less than 400 people--the school had les than 250 K-12--lol. We had a lot of helping. The older student were assigned younger students on the bus to make sure they got to the classroom & settled( boots/coats etc off & stored) & went early to help dress them & get them on the buss in the afternoon. Different people had different helper duties--helping a 2nd grader read---tutoring a younger child in math etc. We now belong to a support group that has park day every 2 weeks--it is interesting to see the interaction between the children--we have had to become more proactive about watching the playground--no stick fights--etc. & have now problem reminding another persons child that we don't hit. Dianna
Dianna, I think what you experienced came from being in a small community AND the small school. Everyone knows everbody else, and there's a real sense of responsibility. You watch out for each other. Well, Aurie, what's WRONG with these teens helping the younger ones? Don't they know that they're SUPPOSE to have an ATTITUDE? They should have been complaining about HAVING to BE HERE, instead of with my friends at the mall!!! GEESH :roll: :roll: !!! WHATEVER!!! Sounds as if these teens are REALLY socially retarded. They'd NEVER make it with a group of REAL teens, lol!
My family thinks it is weird that my kids play with kids of different ages. There must be something WRONG with the older kids to WANT to play with little kids! Are they learning disabled? DO they have nafarious reasons for playing with them? Don't leave them unsupervised! (AS if we would anyway, but geeesh!) My relative asked: "It's just sad that they have to only play with homeschoolers." To which I replied, after correcting her that this was not true.... "It's just sad that your kids have to play only with public schoolers, unlike our children, who socialize with home, public and private schoolers . . . ."
Jackie, You are right, but I know live in Houston TX & belong to a Homeschool Group that feels like a small town---we watch out for each other. Dianna
WTG Jen, My son has non-homeschool friends that he plays/hangs out with regularly--at OUR house--lol. He does have some that I allow him to go to if I know the parents are there. I don't let him run the streets or hang out in a house unsupervised with other teens even though he is 17. Dianna
Well with mine being 6 and 4, the family thinks that any older kids wanting to play with them must either be learning disabled or up to no good, so to speak. It is messed up and it is why I no longer hang with many of them.
My son when he was young wanted to play with the older kids or the adults--now he likes "the little dudes" lol Dianna
Preach away!!!!!!!!:lol: I enjoy it! You are correct in saying we need validation from time to time. I think it can be easy to get caught up in the negetives that homeschoolers are sometimes dealt. Stories like these are uplifting!!! Thanks for sharing. Patty
You gave me a bit more motivation ! I have two silver and a Gold Canadian fitness awards in my memory box, I am going to use them to award my children for Agape Academy Fitness test! I told them I want 60 sit ups in 60 mins, I want to do relays, pull ups, standing long jump... what else can I put in my fitness test? Then they can work on it for the rest of this month, and I will test them last week of school. I actualy won an award of excellence in 8th grade, but the teacher forgot to send in the forms so she found an old gold one and gave that to me as if that was just as good! At least I know I made it! It was very important to me, quite a challenge! I want to instill that in my kids to strive to be the fittest they can be!
I get to witness something similar every week at our homeschool park day. It's trully amazing. What's even more amazing is when the younger ones are out of line, the older ones will tell them so in a very respectful and "teaching" way.
Yes and no. Rachael will tell the younger ones in a respectful, "teaching" way, as you say, as long as the young ones aren't HER siblings! At the dance recital's dress rehearsal, they had a pre-teen taking a preschooler by the hand and helping him get into the proper place. Well, those two "just happened" to be brother and sister, both homeschooled, and that preschooler wasn't about to do what his sister says. I hadn't seen the little guy in a long time, and didn't realize who it was until I heard the sister say in a not-so-quiet voice, "JOEL!!! Stop that NOW!!!" LOL!
I love this thread. Of course I "know" in my heart of hearts that the annoying "socialization" questions are a knee-jerk reaction from uninformed people. But sometimes (like today) at a birthday party for a friend's daughter - I find myself having to explain about our choice to homeschool to a total stranger, and I feel vulnerable. My dd is only in Kindergarten, so clearly I will get better at handling this as time goes on! It's just really nice to read your description of these sweet cooperative kids. It just reminds me of the important things. Thanks for sharing!
