How Do I Feel About Socialization? {homeschool blog hop}

If you decide to homeschool your children, one of the first things you will hear from people is, "[Gasp!] How will you socialize them?"

Have you ever looked up the definition of socialize?

A Google search of "define socialize" returns this:

so·cial·ize  

/ˈsōSHəˌlīz/

Verb

1. Mix socially with others.
2. Make (someone) behave in a way that is acceptable to their society: "newcomers are socialized into our ways".

And dictionary.com defines socialization as:

"a continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position."

An even scarier definition lurks at thefreedictionary.com:

1. To place under government or group ownership or control.

2. To make fit for companionship with others; make sociable.

3. To convert or adapt to the needs of society.

I'm not trying to stir up trouble, but I really hate the old, old argument that homeschooled kids struggle with social skills or socializing with others. As the definitions above show, the mainstream line of thought is that kids need to "fit in" and be like other kids. When they don't do that, they make people uncomfortable, and thus often they are deemed as weird. Or prodigies. Or unsocialized.

Nonsense.

Here is a quote by, surprisingly, a feminist author. I think she succinctly sums up the beauty of homeschooling in that being in a family environment for learning, we are in no better place in which to experience social activity at its finest.

"The family endures because it offers the truth of mortality and immortality within the same group. The family endures because, better than the commune, kibbutz, or classroom, it seems to individualize and socialize its children, to make us feel at the same time unique and yet joined to all humanity, accepted as is and yet challenged to grow, loved unconditionally and yet propelled by greater expectations. Only in the family can so many extremes be reconciled and synthesized. Only in the family do we have a lifetime in which to do it."

                                          ~Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Be sure to check out what these moms have to say about this topic:



Lorrie @ Life and Lessons Learned,
Selena (that's me) at Campbell Clan,
 Kathleen @ Positive Adoption,
 Audrey @ Everything Beautiful,
Charli @ WV Urban Hippies,
Tracey @ Building My House, and
Maria @ The Joyfully Frugal Home
 Jessica @ Redeeming the Home (not pictured)

(All of these moms (except me, of course) are in my blog list at the right.)

And stay tuned! Our last homeschool post for this month will on Thursday, on whatever topic each blogger chooses to write about.

Should be interesting!