|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| Homeschooling Parents |
| Public online group |
|
|
| |
|
|
How do you find playdates for your kids? How do your kids get social interaction?
|
| Posted by Kelly on 03/11/2007 12:10 PM
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
My son is an only child being reared by a single parent.
Currently, he is enrolled in a "Bitty Basketball" class through the local park district. I have made a contact for a playdate via his basketball class.
For the spring, he will be enrolled in a couple of park district classes, along with other classes. I am forming a Christian homeschool support group in my city via meetup.com; I believe this will be a very good source of social interaction for him, along with church, community activities, percussion ensemble class, etc.
|
| posted by on 03/11/2007 01:37 PM
|
|
|
|
|
For my boys, we belong to a local homeschool group we meet with. My oldest son is involved in chruch activities & groups. We are still looking at other options for the younger two boys.
~Cassandra |
| posted by Cassandra on 03/11/2007 02:47 PM
|
|
|
|
|
We a very much homebodies, but we've done all the following at different times:
Girl Scounts
sports
Boy Scouts
Police Explorers
church activities
sleepovers
community events such as July 5th Independence
Celebration (yes, July Fifth), Pioneer Day and stuff
time with cousins and other family
birthday parties
swimming pool
summer library program
On an ongoing basis, we have a family nearby that my children see daily.
While I do want my kids to have some social interaction with people their age, I do not feel it's essential for them to have that contact daily, or even with a very great variety of their own age group. They learn socialization better from older role models, and have time with peers and younger children for companionship and fun.
My kids have much less "social" contact than a lot of other kids, but are well-adjusted, get along with others (now, they didn't in p.s.), and are confortable around all age groups: infants to elderly. I don't worry much about creating socialization times for them because every time they interact with another human being they are socializing. |
| posted by Kelly on 03/11/2007 04:17 PM
|
|
|
|
|
Just like Kelly Lee, my family are homebodies. We get out and go to the park, when they is not 2 feet of snow on the ground and we attend church and eat out with friends and their children.
My kids are still young 4 and 2 and I have just started preschool with my son. I use to believe that making sure your child was around a lot of kids his age was important to his or her development. I use to be a daycare teacher and I didn't really see anything wrong with the kids at daycare. They were 'age appropriate'. But then I had my son and I decided to stay home with him for the first couple of years.
Ok this is my point. We I took my son around other children his age I was alway trying to fix the bad habits he learned from them. He is a follower by nature. I started watching more closely to how he was playing with these kids and he didn't seem as if he was having very much fun. None of the kids did. They were always fighting over one toy or the other. After a few months of these play dates I felt hopeless. I was alway playing fix it on one bad behaviors and my sweet happy little boy was no longer happy.
It has been about 6 months since I stopped taking him to these play dates and I have my beautiful little man back. Not only is he respectful and well behaved but happy and he has lost all of his shyness. There isn't a person he doesn't want to talk to. I still get a lot of pressure from my mother-in-law and sometimes even my husband to 'socialize' them more. I just smile and know that my kids are getting socialized the right way for them. |
| posted by Jessica on 03/12/2007 12:57 PM
|
|
|
|
|
| We don't get out and socialize very much. My kids are very close together and have a great time with each other most of the time, but lately my 5 year old boy is wanting to branch out a bit more. We talk to the other parents and kids at his martial arts school and go to the playground and zoo quite a bit. Even in those short periods of time it seems like our kids see a lot and hear a lot that they don't at home. We try to shelter them from things that are not age appropriate and we prefer that they do art and more hands on activities than television and video games. My hope for our kids is that they value themselves inwardly and not place a high value on stuff. That is one of the main reasons we plan to home school beginning this year. |
| posted by Shannon on 03/12/2007 04:32 PM
|
|
|
|
|
I wrote out and copied some things on socialization for my website - www.KellyLee.info. I'd be thrilled if you would give me permission to post your comments about socialization on there.
It's just a personal website, mainly for my reference - but it is open to any and all who might learn from it or just want to cruise around in it.
Personally, I think "socialization" is highly overrated. |
| posted by Kelly on 03/12/2007 05:29 PM
|
|
|
|
|
You are always welcome to add anything from me, Kelly. I enjoy helping others with homeschooling, and learning about homeschooling.
~Cassandra |
| posted by Cassandra on 03/12/2007 11:35 PM
|
|
|
|
|
| Kelly Lee I don't mine you using anything I put on here. If it might help someone else I am all for it. Hopely I'll put something useful. |
| posted by Jessica on 03/18/2007 12:19 AM
|
|
|
|
|
| Thank you ladies, for your permissions. It is a non-commercial, non-profit website that is for my personal use and the use of my friends (including you all!) |
| posted by Kelly on 03/18/2007 07:33 AM
|
|
|
|
|
| Hello everyone. I joined this website in order to make some new freinds in my area. We moved here in july. we know two homeschooling families locally that are a real resource to me but most of their kids are older and they are quite busy so we don't get together too often. I am really excited about homeschooling my kids (Reid is 3 and Lillian is 16mo.). I know that they'll receive such a unique education and I'm sure that it will be a learning experience for me too. my son is so eager to learn to read and i want him to stay excited about learning for the rest of his life. The biggest difference that I've seen with homeschooled kids is that they learn how to learn and explore stuff for themselves-what a gift to give a child. As far as social interaction goes--we are new here so we've been trying to hook up with a playgroup - have not found the right one yet. We go to the library for story time and my kids enjoy that. I am also trying to hook up with LEAH (loving education at home) But I'm having a hard time getting in touch with my local chapter.. Other than that it's the park and whatever time we get together with our friends. i am looking forward to havng more of a network here in my new hometown. |
| posted by on 03/19/2007 07:43 AM
|
|
|
|
|
I'm glad that you are able to make these choices so young in your children's lives; with your attitude I think you are going to be very successful and have a great time with it.
When my kids were young they went to daycare, so I never looked for other social outlets. I did stay home briefly with my middle son when he was three years old, but didn't look for any playmates because he and I had a great time by ourselves!
I'm sure you'll find the right social arena for you your children as they grow.
Thanks for chiming in! |
| posted by Kelly on 03/19/2007 09:16 AM
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
| |  |
| |
|
|
|
