Socialization is the first argument you always hear against homeschooling when you talk to people about it. They often imagine that homeschooling involves children spending all their school time at home with books or computers and one of the parents. They have no idea that homeschoolers in most places regularly get together to organize activities and playtime. The idea that school helps children socialize is a myth that we’ve all been programmed to believe. School offers kids the opportunity to interact and play only with their age group. It also encourages unhealthy comparison and competition among kids.
When we started homeschooling, my boys were initially reluctant about the idea because they were afraid of having no friends. But when I ask them now, after four years of homeschooling, if they want to go back to school, they automatically say no. They have now multiple groups of friends of different ages that they meet and organize activities with regularly. We are part of a homeschooling group that we meet every week and organize international trips together; we just came back two months ago from a skiing trip. My boys are part of a football club; they train with their teams three times a week for 2 hours per day and play matches on the weekends. They also have a group of friends from our neighborhood whom they meet almost every day to play football.
You can see that homeschooled kids can have many opportunities to socialize, not only with their age groups but with kids of all ages. They can also easily socialize with adults in a different way than school kids, because in school, kids always see adults as authority figures. However, parents must make an effort to constantly look for and offer their kids different opportunities to meet other people, go out of their homes, and step out of their comfort zones.
