Socialization of Homeschoolers in the Upper Grades

I have been observing as my homeschooled kids enter and exit the middle school years, that the socialization that public school advocates say our kids so sorely need actually cannot be avoided. Outside of keeping our kids under a rock, if they spend any time at all in the real world, they will butt heads with the clicks, the bullies, and the manipulators. This phenomenon is intensified when parents pull their kids out of public school to homeschool in the upper grades. When you take a kid that has already been socialized, and often in a negative way, and throw … Continue reading

Teaching Socialization in a Structured Environment

Some of you may know that I have jury duty this week. You always meet interesting people on jury duty. Yesterday I met a women who warned me of the serious psychological damage I’m doing by not allowing my children to socialize in a structured environment. Generally when people ask the socialization question I prattle off a list of the kids’ activities. The socialization thing is ignorant people’s way of asking if the kids stay home all day. Do they have any friends? It’s a sign that they’re longing to get a glimpse into the homeschooler’s life. Most people thus … Continue reading

Homeschool Glossary (words homeschoolers should know) – S

School at Home – School at home is a form of homeschooling where the parents and children duplicate the methods and atmosphere of the classroom. This is usually unintentional. Many new homeschooling families begin homeschooling with the school-at-home method. Scope & Sequence – Scope & sequence information is usually provided by the publisher to inform the parent what is taught in the text or program. It is usually in outline form and includes grade level or course outline. This information can be used in the student’s portfolio to detail what was learned. Sight-reading – Unlike the phonics method of decoding … Continue reading

Homeschooled Kids Will Still be Kids

My 10 year old daughter sang White and Nerdy to me today. I thought it was funny until I read the lyrics and got down to the second to last paragraph. It talks about getting personal with bubble wrap. (White and nerdy is a parody of the popular rap song “Ridin’ Dirty”. The parody is written and sang by Weird Al Yankovic,who by the way,hasn’t aged a day in 20 years, though his lyrics have kept up with the times.) My 12-year-old son explained a bit of IM shorthand to me today. Apparently, POS is an impolite term meaning, “piece … Continue reading

My Unsocialized Daughter

Socialization, as defined by the dictionary, is the process by which one learns the behaviors necessary to survive in one’s culture. One who is socialized then, is one who uses and applies cultural knowledge and understanding to various situations. According to the definition of socialization, we can say that socialized people learn to recognize the ‘norm’. I know some people would buck the abstract concept of ‘the norm’. But in reality there are things that we can agree upon that are considered socially unacceptable. Running and yelling through a library, dancing on top of a table at dinner. . .you … Continue reading

2006 in Review: Homeschooling Blog at a Glance

As a new homeschooling blogger at Families.com, I wanted to know everything that has been discussed to date. In response to my own curiosity, and in an effort to make perusing our articles easier for you, our readers, I have compiled all of the blogs for the year 2006. Deciding to Homeschool Why homeschool Am I qualified for this? Reasons that Homeschooling Works! My Most Important Advice for Homeschoolers. The Cost of Homeschooling Instead of standing up for their own kids, why not stand up for all kids? Disclaimer: I am hardly an expert in education. Did You Know? ‘Empirical … Continue reading

The Sunday Evening Review: Dec. 8th and Some More

Wow–add another blogger to the home schooling section of Families.com and what do you get? A whole bunch of great blogs to read!! While our newest blogger, Andrea Hermitt officially started last week, a few of her blogs were post dated and not covered in last week’s Sunday Evening Review. I didn’t want you to miss anything, so here are the post dated blogs as well as blogs for this past week! First of all, if you haven’t read Andrea’s Introduction, make a point to check it out! As any of us who home school know, frequently the first question … Continue reading