So I want to thank all of you for all of your responses a few weeks ago about my oldest hating being hs'ed. WE are adjusting, have had a few distractions-family visits, sickness, ect. Wanted to know what a typical week looks like for you for playtime with friends. My oldest is now admitting there are definate "perks" to being hs'ed, but still complains about missing her friends. She went to a private Christian school before, which is abotu 10 miles away. She RARELY had any playdates with her friends since they are all scattered about, and there are mostly boys on our street. What do you do about friend time-does that just fit in on the weekend...or is my kid only gonna be happy at school??
In our family the boys have their church friends that they see at church, and they have their homeschool friends that they see at our park days, and field trips. We don't really plan in any other friend time, but they are little and so it's not a big deal for them.
Well my oldest, when she was homeschooled (she now is a freshman at a public high school) was also in dance (she also dances for her school) and ALL of her friends were dancers too. She danced 4 - 5 days a week and they'd do sleepovers on weekends a lot. She still mostly is friends with dancers. They have a common interest which make close friendships a lot easier. My youngest who is 7 has never been in ps. We just moved to a new town and we live out in the country. There is NOBODY at all for her to play with out here but she has her sister and her puppies. Where we lived before she only had one friend who lived next door. She really doesn't seem to mind. We go to football games on friday nights and she usually meets a kid or two there to run around with. Tomorrow she is doing a cheer camp sponsored by the high school cheerleaders so she'll get to hang out with other kids. She is just used to being around mostly adults and her sisters friends though.
My kids are pretty social in nature. We have church on Sunday mornings and evenings where they see their friends. Then, they have karate on Mondays, Tuesdays, and often Thursdays; now that they're upper belts, they have classes where it's basically the same group of kids. Wednesday evenings, they have church. Fridays, we have homeschool fellowship activities with our group. Then, on Saturdays, we either have plans for the family or they have Lego robotics or they go to a friend's house/invite a friend over.
My 17 year old has a best friend at the local high school who includes my daughter in the group activities she has with friends from school. My 12 year old is the one I worry about as far as friends. She has none on our street and even though she sees the kids at church on Sundays and Wednesdays she would love to have a friend in our neighborhood. She isn't interested in any sports or groups outside of our church. Our 11 year old grandson is here every weekday since he homeschools with us, but she wants a girlfriend to hang out with.
Last week when we were making the decision to bring my 9yo son home for hs I asked him what he would miss about school. I thought for sure he would say his friends, it was nowhere on the list! So far this week he has seen his friends twice after they got out of ps, plus Sunday he has friends at church. We go to church 120 miles away so he doesn't see them during the week so that time is important to him.
Sorry I can't remember how old your dd is. My kids are 11 and 14. We have almost always lived in the country, so neighborhood friends are rare (although some boys about my kids' ages just moved in down the road and my dd11 still goes over occassionally to see them all). Anyway, my kids have friends from church, youth group, children of some of my local friends and other area homeschoolers. My ds14's best friend, a 16yo hs'ed boy, is teaching a PE class for his brothers and my kids three days a week. Maybe you could get some sort of a class going or a co-op...or even just a casual park day? It took a little longer to develop close friendships because they are not with the same kids all day long every single day like at public school, but the friendships they have a wonderful, meaningful and without all the ps drama.
We've homeschooled for over 10 years and we have found that there are "lean" times and "bountiful" times, friend-wise. Last year we moved to a new city so its been a little hard finding friends for the kids. Before that, they had many friends through our place of worship. It was sleep-overs and fun every weekend for years. Now that we are in a new town, I'm not going to lie to you and say that it hasn't been hard. It has. My kids have been lonely-it's the lean time. What I try to do is compensate by taking them out one-on-one with me (or my husband does). Another thing we do is allow the kids to play online games with their old friends. They will call their friends and they'll all get on Blockland or Club Penguin and play together. They really get a kick out of that. My dd14 has instant messaging and web cam with her friend in Oklahoma so they'll have that going at the same time as play. Her friend there is homeschooled, too, so they try to get their school done so they can play. They will share You Tube vids with each other, watching them at the same time. So its like they're with each other. Obviously, it would be better to have a friend RIGHT THERE with you, but it's ok for the time being. Also another idea is to see if there is a Meet Up group of homeschoolers in your area. Sometimes there are Field Trip groups, too. Take the opportunity to visit museums, library activities, any activites through Church, and, if your daughter is old enough, volunteering. The library takes kids as young as 14. Check to see if there is a Ronald McDonald house nearby. There are opportunities with them, too. Friends will come but in the meantime, just try to expose your child to some other things to do. The more you're out (classes, library, etc) the more opportunities there will be to make new friends.
My middle child has very few friends, but that would be true if she went to a "real" school. My oldest has plenty. They are people she's met through 4-H, soccer, AWANA, co-op, or church. Many of them are also homeschooled. She's constantly chatting on Facebook. My youngest plays with kids in the neighborhood. He also has a Best Friend; he's hs'ed, and his parents and I have been friends from before I was married. He also makes friends easily at AWANA or soccer, though he only sees these kids in those settings.
My son goes to a park meet up with a local hs group on wednesday afternoons and then has religious ed. in the evening where he has a couple more friends. He also made a friend at a gymnastics class he has on fridays. He has a girl best friend next door, and I'm trying to get him together with one of his other friends once a week. He was really worried about not having friends when we decided to hs this year, but he's just fine.
My boys are 3 and 6. Or regular/scheduled/dependable stuff is... Mondays we do co-op, so they see friends there Tuesdays the oldest has cub scouts, so he sees a couple of old PS friends there and has made some new friends too. The youngest attends with him about once a month. Every other Friday is playgroup but we have been so busy, we haven't been attending in months, but as we are dropping co-op classes come January, I hope to pick the habit of playgroup back up. The 8 year old girl next door comes over often, sometimes daily, sometimes not for a week, it's all random, but it is 'regular' in it's own way... They see cousins randomly as well. (also all girls! LOL)
We belong to several homeschool groups we found on Meetup.com. We tend to have one parkday each week, two-four field trips each month, and have started to invite some of the other families over a couple of times a month on our own. We also attend book clubs at the library and Barnes & Noble and have activities at church. I guess 2-3 days a week we have events with other kids. When things slow down my girls will start to complain about missing other kids. I have found that having a slumber party or other event at our place for their friends solves the problem for a while.
Even though we moved to the country more than 3 years ago my DS still thinks of his old neighborhood friends as his "friends" while the boy the same age next door is just temporary. :lol: He plays online games with them all the time and as far as I can tell (from his laughing and screaming!) is having a blast. I think the idea of social interaction is changing right before our very eyes with Facebook (although my DS does not have one or ask for one), cell phones, texting, gaming, etc. And he started with Club Penguin too, but now he's too old for that I guess...it's all about Halo now. My DD is now living away from home (she's 20) and never had a friend problem - either in homeschool, public school, or normal life.
