How homeschooling will help your child to experience more real-life, practical social experiences

When I first decided to homeschool my two children, the question that I got asked the most was “How will you socialize them?” My response was always “They are children–not animals. We socialize animals. We create social experiences for children.” And the person who asked the question always stared at me with a blank look.

Homeschooling is quite possibly one of the best ways for children to experience real-life, practical social experiences, and yet, for some reason, homeschooling tends to grow the most criticism in that very regard.

Homeschooling offers children the opportunity to experience daily life alongside their parent or guardian. Whether they find themselves interacting at the grocery store, visiting the bank, handling the car at an auto shop for some regular maintenance, or interacting and sharing space appropriately while at the local gym, children will find themselves immersed in the community and involved in many different types of interactions each day.

Because children find themselves listening and engaging in conversations with other adults or children of all ages every day, they tend to have a better grasp on interactions with people of various backgrounds, faiths, socio economic status’, and ages. Compare this to their public school counterparts who spend much of their day with others who are approximately their same age and from their same neighborhoods, the opportunities for real-life socialization become evident for homeschoolers.

If you are hoping to give your child the best leg-up in life in terms of social interactions and the ability to socialize with all sorts of people, the homeschooling experience is an obvious choice. Not only will your child be able to experience a variety of social opportunities alongside you, but they can also still join local co-operative classes, homeschool activities, and other events with homeschoolers at or about their same age, too. It’s the best of both worlds, and gives your child the broadest experience when it comes to practical social experiences.