Learning to interact {Homeschooling}

You can't really talk about homeschooling without the question of socialization coming up.  People are concerned that homeschooled children will not learn how to interact socially.  This is a misconception.

If you are concerned about this, I would ask you to consider a child from birth to the age of four.  Has the child interacted socially during that time?  Are they learning to greet people and talk with them?  For most, the answer is yes.  Although I understand that there are unique exceptions to the rule.  But the point still stands, putting children in a classroom is not the magic pill that will teach them how to interact with people.  It might help, but is it the only thing that will help?

In fact, if socialization is what we are really after, there are other ways to achieve it.  Like spending quality time with the people you love and the people you are reaching out to in love.  Having conversations with people at home, people at church, people in your neighborhood and people in your community.  All of this can be achieved outside of a classroom.  And a schoolyard is certainly not the only place that children can run around and play together.

If you are thinking about homeschooling, you will have to think a little outside the box.  This concern that people have about socialization is just one example of how we are so accustomed to the way things have been done in our culture for many years.  It can be difficult to imagine how we could do it any differently.

The fact is, no situation is perfect.  My children are learning to interact with people, to love them, and to compassionately seek to meet needs.  But all of that will take time.  I'm sure it will be a lifelong lesson.  Not all of my children are extroverted, social butterflies.  But not all children enrolled in a public or Christian school are either.  We are dealing with human beings here.  Each one has a unique personality with their own set of strengths and weaknesses.  Each one is endowed with unique gifts from our Creator and life is full of opportunities to grow and learn how to use them for his glory.  That can happen in a classroom in a school building, but it can also happen as one learns, grows and experiences life at home.

Anyway, I guess that's my two cents on the matter. :)  What do you think?