Unsocialized Homeschooler
I was talking to a friend at church.
She was saying how much stuff homeschool moms do, and how amazing it is.
She began to list all the stuff we do (she doesn't homeschool): We teach our kids, nurture them, do laundry, and cook, bake, clean, teach the gospel, do intricate dioramas, go on field trips, take them shopping, etc. etc. (She clearly hasn't spent a typical day with a homeschooling family....most days you'll find my kids outside playing in the mud, enacting some sort of medieval battle with umbrellas while I think about doing some laundry...)
That's not to say we don't have school.
We do (we have been on sabbatical during my first trimester after going four years straight with year-round school).
But that's not my point today.
After listing off all the glorious things that homeschoolers do, my friend concluded her raptures with this:
"...AND on top of all those things, you, the homeschool mom, make sure that your children get to all those socializing activities!"
My inner face made some sort of Billy Idol impression, like this:
I wanted to make some sort of noncommittal statement, but I let out a weak, "yeah..."
I don't know where people get all this "socialization" garbage when it comes to homeschoolers.
I wrote a blog about the myths of the unsocialized homeschoolers, and all I will reiterate is that there is no scientific grounding for the general assessment that homeschoolers are awkward weirdies who don't know how to handle social situations. I sometimes feel like calling people out on it when they say stuff like that, because I was homeschooled (and so was Jeremy), and yet we've somehow managed to function in society.
(Don't get me wrong. I am all for little people developing relationships and interacting with others. But I don't believe that my children will learn proper behavior by spending the majority of their time with other little people who have soft morals.)
I look at my own children and this is what I observe:
They are neither shy nor awkward when it comes to social situations. They are very friendly and accepting with children and adults alike. We went to Carls Jr. the other night while the house was being shown, and within 14 seconds, Eva announced she had made a friend, and was sad that her new buddy had to leave. After Friend 1 left, another little person walked into the child area, and my children were quick to include this new friend in their play.
Socially backward? I think not, unless their general acceptation of people is backward...
Loud, yes. They are very loud. But I think this comes from living in a crowd and needing to be heard.
Anyway, the night after I had that conversation with my friend, Jeremy hopped in the shower, and I followed him in a few minutes later. I had expressed my frustration to him about the whole conversation, and he said something I don't remember, because at the moment I stepped in the shower, he was trying to move around my pregnant belly, and he accidentally pushed me onto the cold shower wall, and I yelled out, "What are you doing, you unsocialized homeschooler??"
He apologized with a grin on his face, and then stepped out of the shower.
"Yeah, you get out of here, you unsocialized homeschooler!"
He flipped his towel over the shower curtain rod, and hit me in the face.
"You did that because you're an unsocialized homeschooler!"
He then turned off the bathroom light and closed the door, leaving me in the pitch black.
"UNSOCIALIZED HOMESCOOLER!" I bellowed.
Yeah. We're normal. Normal McNormaltons.
Unsocialized...bah...
She was saying how much stuff homeschool moms do, and how amazing it is.
She began to list all the stuff we do (she doesn't homeschool): We teach our kids, nurture them, do laundry, and cook, bake, clean, teach the gospel, do intricate dioramas, go on field trips, take them shopping, etc. etc. (She clearly hasn't spent a typical day with a homeschooling family....most days you'll find my kids outside playing in the mud, enacting some sort of medieval battle with umbrellas while I think about doing some laundry...)
That's not to say we don't have school.
We do (we have been on sabbatical during my first trimester after going four years straight with year-round school).
But that's not my point today.
After listing off all the glorious things that homeschoolers do, my friend concluded her raptures with this:
"...AND on top of all those things, you, the homeschool mom, make sure that your children get to all those socializing activities!"
My inner face made some sort of Billy Idol impression, like this:
I don't know where people get all this "socialization" garbage when it comes to homeschoolers.
I wrote a blog about the myths of the unsocialized homeschoolers, and all I will reiterate is that there is no scientific grounding for the general assessment that homeschoolers are awkward weirdies who don't know how to handle social situations. I sometimes feel like calling people out on it when they say stuff like that, because I was homeschooled (and so was Jeremy), and yet we've somehow managed to function in society.
(Don't get me wrong. I am all for little people developing relationships and interacting with others. But I don't believe that my children will learn proper behavior by spending the majority of their time with other little people who have soft morals.)
I look at my own children and this is what I observe:
They are neither shy nor awkward when it comes to social situations. They are very friendly and accepting with children and adults alike. We went to Carls Jr. the other night while the house was being shown, and within 14 seconds, Eva announced she had made a friend, and was sad that her new buddy had to leave. After Friend 1 left, another little person walked into the child area, and my children were quick to include this new friend in their play.
Socially backward? I think not, unless their general acceptation of people is backward...
Loud, yes. They are very loud. But I think this comes from living in a crowd and needing to be heard.
Anyway, the night after I had that conversation with my friend, Jeremy hopped in the shower, and I followed him in a few minutes later. I had expressed my frustration to him about the whole conversation, and he said something I don't remember, because at the moment I stepped in the shower, he was trying to move around my pregnant belly, and he accidentally pushed me onto the cold shower wall, and I yelled out, "What are you doing, you unsocialized homeschooler??"
He apologized with a grin on his face, and then stepped out of the shower.
"Yeah, you get out of here, you unsocialized homeschooler!"
He flipped his towel over the shower curtain rod, and hit me in the face.
"You did that because you're an unsocialized homeschooler!"
He then turned off the bathroom light and closed the door, leaving me in the pitch black.
"UNSOCIALIZED HOMESCOOLER!" I bellowed.
Yeah. We're normal. Normal McNormaltons.
Unsocialized...bah...
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