"We Are Not Here to Socialize!"

I am sorry everyone, but I am going to have to gripe.  I hate bitchy blog posts, but I just can't contain myself anymore.  I am so sick of ignorant people who, when they find out that we are homeschooling, ask:

"How are you going to socialize them?"
"What about socialization?"
"Do they have any friends?"

My children love and respect all people, and go out of their way to greet people, talk with them, and make new friends.  And on a daily basis, we are met with the products of public school socialization.  People who refuse to even acknowledge that my children exist, children who refuse to play with my children because they don't know them already, people who completely ignore a greeting.

We were at the park yesterday, and a lovely group of children arrived.  My four year old son ran over to them, introduced himself, and started talking.  The children weren't mean, they just weren't used to socialization (I later found out they went to public school, go figure)  They stared at him, not sure what to think, and not responding to any of his queries.  He continued to speak to them, and when they figured out he was not a threat, they smiled and listened, but did not respond.  eventually, after about an hour of playing together at the same park, they began to speak with us, but only to answer questions with brief responses.

We are not always so fortunate to come across children who behave this way.  Many of them are downright nasty, and before even exchanging a names, they make it clear that they will not play with someone who is not a part of their existing group.

Socialization for homeschooled and unschooled children is not a problem.  My kids love to socialize with people of all ages, races, economic statuses, and sizes.  Socialization is a problem for the public school child, who spends the majority of their day surrounded by people of the same age, from the same town, and is regularly told by the teacher, "We are not here to socialize."

End of Rant.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Burning Money

One of the privileges of writing a blog that no one reads, is that you don't have to worry about content, post frequency, readability, originality, or...anything for that matter.  And I think that is really important.  I don't want my posts to be created by thinking about what others want to read.  I want to write from the heart, and write what makes me happy.  I think this should apply to the rest of my life as well.  I say what I feel, I don't say what I think others want to hear.   I use the methods I believe will work, not the ones that everyone else thinks I should use.  Do I do this?  No.  Because I'm a chickenshit.  I care too deeply about how I am perceived by others.  But I am working to change that.

Part of this process is learning who I really am.  Breaking through the facade of who I want others to think  I am, and finding my soul.  In an effort to discover my true self, I have been contemplating various questions.  I asked myself, "If you had all the money in the world, what would you do with it?"  My answer:  Burn it.  All the money, of every denomination, in one place.  Let's burn it.  Never thought I would answer in that way.  Learned something about myself.  One of many steps toward the new/old me.

"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts."   ~Albert Einstein

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