Homeschool mom for the past ten plus years here and I'm going to let you know the number one comment I get on my posts is comment “what about the socialization part?”
Am I right?
💡💡comment below. If you’re a home School parent, you've gotten this comment!
I am letting you know, the dissertation for my Masters in Education was actually about the history of the educational system in America.
And it wasn't until like the last hundred or so years that people have thought about age segregation in a classroom setting.
For thousands of years. People have been growing up in family groups, communal groups, Community groups, 1 room Schoolhouses- learning the trade, learning the family business.
It was only really recently, According to the timeline of the history of America, that people put all the third graders and one class all the fourth graders in one class.
And that is something that people comment over and over again: “I wish I could homeschool, but I'm scared of my kids not getting socialized.” It’s a misnomer that homeschooling means that your kids are going to be isolated- shut away from the world.
that is not true.
You can be involved in so many extracurricular, activities, games, sports, , travel leagues , dance teams , gymnastics and science clubs. And homeschooling actually gives you more ability to hang out and have more of a flexible schedule to travel and see the world.
You can have more experiences than in a classroom setting.
Personally for me- from my own philosophy.
I believe that kids learn best in a controlled environment.
So having a bunch of peers with them in an uncontrolled environment is actually a recipe for disaster and bullying, misdirection and a lot of distraction.
In an unstructured environment- lot of things that could go awry.
Where if you're in a controlled environment and you're working on social skills, you can take more time to explain things and for kids to understand at their pace.
For example, (story time!) , we're at the pool and my kids spilled chips, all over the entire pool floor. Like a whole bag of chips was gone. My a ten-year-old starts getting really upset. My twelve-year-old starts snatching the bag from him.
This is the perfect coaching moment for me to act as the educator: “let's chat., What could have happened Better?”
“What could have happened differently?” “And then when we leave, we make sure you clean up the area.”
“Let’s do a coaching moment.”
“Let's hold the door for others on our way out.”
“Let's say, ‘excuse me.’”
So I'm constantly coaching throughout the day.
I know all the pitfalls in the classroom because I was a public school teacher.
I know that in Public School environment, It's really hard to do all the one-on-one coaching needed for true social skills.
You have so many classroom rotations. You have 150 kids in your classroom if you're a middle school, high school teacher.
If you're an elementary school teacher, you're just dealing with so many emotional regulation things that not every kid can have that one-on-one coaching situation.
And so personally for me, “socialization” is very low on the totem pole as opposed to teaching and coaching life skills one-on-one.
As educators- we need to play to their strengths play to the things that they love to do. We need to custom-make curriculum based on what they love- what their interests are.
That’s a bigger piece of the pie for me-then are they getting “socialized?”
And so again, if you’re a home School parent, you know what I'm talking about!
I would love to see what you guys are doing for “socialization” and social skill coaching with your kids.
How do feel about the view of “socialization?”
Is that even a thing that you guys hear?
I hear it all the time and I would love for you guys to comment below on your experiences!
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👏Hello! I’m Christal Marshall homeschool Mama of three!
📕we have been doing homeschooling for ten plus years and I left being a public school teacher with a M.Ed. to do so!
❤️Now our family is full time self-employed artists and creators!
💡We would love for you to hop on website www.thefunschoolers.com for more info and free resources!
Or follow us in IG! www.instagram.com/thefunschoolers
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