Socialisation

When people are considering home ed. or meet those home educating their most frequently voiced concern is wether home ed. kids develop social skills. It was our biggest concern when starting out, too. In particular, I worried that we would be too insular as a family, that the boys would not be used to mixing with others. This isn't a concern for us any more! We are out socialising most days and normally every day. Of course, you don't have to do as much as we do but both boys love being out and about with pals and meeting new faces. If you live near a reasonably big population centre these days you are pretty guaranteed to have a large and active home ed. community around. 

The other social concern people raise is whether home ed. kids learn to operate as part of a group, to give-and-take, co-operate. This struck me again today as I watched a group of home ed. kids aged between 4 and 12 play together at a skate park. We were there for almost 4 hours. There were no arguments. Not one. The big kids were teaching, guiding and helping the littlies. They really took care of them and did so joyfully without being asked or prompted. I have started to notice that ds6 has now started to adopt this role when with younger kids too. He has learnt these skills from being given ample opportunity to mix with kids both older and younger than himself. It all happens so naturally, too. It is delightful to watch.