Socialization is one of the most common fears for any family contemplating homeschooling their child. Homeschooling can seem like isolating your child, but it really doesn’t have to end up like that.
Children can still develop their socialization skills in many other ways if they don’t go to public or private schools. Kids tend to learn their best socialization skills from activities they do with their own families, not from following the in-crowd at school. There are plenty of clubs, sports teams, and other extracurricular activities that homeschooled children can participate in to expand their social circles. In addition, many homeschooling families find that they spend more time together and form closer bonds than families where the children attend traditional schools.
A good place to start when it comes to socializing your homeschooled kids is to plan a lot of activities that the whole family can do together. Field trips to local parks or sightseeing areas can allow them to interact with other children for short periods of time while you monitor their activities.
They can also develop their peer-to-peer social skills by mingling with other kids that live in your neighborhood. They can develop friendships with other kids even if they’re homeschooled and their peers are not.
Socialization doesn’t just occur within the walls of a traditional school. Allow your child to join local groups for kids their age, like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. They learn new things and do activities together as a group, developing lifelong friendships.
Churches often have youth groups that children can join. Or, your child could participate in little league baseball, take swimming lessons, or participate in some sort of homeschool sports team.
Teach your children to answer questions about homeschooling with a smile. Other kids can be curious and want to ask a lot of questions, and this can help break the ice for both of them. This will allow a healthy friendship to develop.
You need to focus on enhancing your children’s socialization skills, but never force them to find friends. The only way this can successfully happen is if it happens naturally. The more forced it is, the more likely your child won’t be able to make close bonds with his or her peers.
To help develop your child’s socialization skills, just make sure they have opportunities to interact with peers their age from time to time. Even being around grown-ups can help foster a positive attitude and social skills.
