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.
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