the "socialization" question

I think the biggest concern for most people who are unfamiliar with homeschooling is that homeschooled children are missing out on "proper" childhood socialization.

I guess it depends on what you consider proper, for some it is spending 5 days a week with 20 - 30 children of the same age and usually the same socio-economic background for 12 years. In fact that has been the "norm" for a long time.

Let me say this is a pro-homeschooling blog. I do not homeshool because I have to, but because I believe in the philosophy behind homeschooling and I believe it is preferrable to traditional schooling in many ways. (But I like to keep an open mind, many of Z's friends are doing quite well in more traditional schools and maybe someday we will find a school situation for Z that is better than homeschooling.)

I know finding friends can be hard for gifted kids whether in a traditional school or homeschool. When your 4 1/2 year old is reading Harry Potter, and has memorized most of the lyrics to the musical Les Miserable, well, it can be hard to find peers.

But so far we have been lucky with Z. Not only does she have lots of socializing oppotunities but she has many friends - some her own age that are also gifted as well as older kids who share some of her interests. We even know some other PG (profoundly gifted) kids her age, which I think is possible because of we live in a major urban area.

I am very happy with the variety of friends Z has. Both boys and girls, some rich and some not, some Jewish, but other's Christian, Hindi, Pagan, and atheist. Some come from single family homes, some have two moms or two dads, some have blended families, some are only children like Z and other's have large families (by today's standards), about half are homeschooled and the rest in private or public school. Her "close friends" span the ages of four to eight years old and there are about 15 of them.

In our area there are now three homeschooling groups, two meet on Wednesday at different parks and one every Thursday. Z has made good friends at each of these parks but also plays with kids much older (like the pre-teens in her Shakespeare class) and younger (like the younger siblings of her friends). I think one of the benfits of homeschooling is that the child can socialize with children of all different ages and abilities.

We also belong to a local group for gifted young children and we meet with them about once a week for educational field trips or just to play at the park.

There are also many homeschooling classes like Shakespeare, science, ice-skating, art, Spanish, sign-language, girl scouts, history club, chess, etc. Z is only doing Shakespeare for now.

Z can learn with other children her age in a variety of weekly classes like ballet or tennis or, like she is doing now, gymnastics. In the fall she takes a musical theatre class with some older kids, most of whom go to "regular school."

Z also gets to learn from a variety of teachers, not just me. She has a few young actors who teach Shakespeare, a Japanese housewife who tutors her in Japanese, a Russian piano teacher, and a Russian gymnastics instructor.

Z also has some older friends - like the lady who sits out by the tennis courts and reads, she recently gave Z an 8 x 10 picture she took in Austria of a toy shop. For over a year now Z and I have had coffee with every other week with an old employee of mine and a former customer, both of whom are grandparents.

A typical week for us includes 3 classes, two large play group gatherings, and one or two one-on-one playdates. Rather than being deficent, homeschooling affords almost overwhelming opportunities to socialize, and I mean real socialization, with people of a variety of ages and backgrounds.

I think the socialization aspects of homeschoolings is one of it's main benefits.