[LadyShallott]

*FR Homeschool Haven Ping*

* If you would like to be added/dropped from this list please let me know. I'm sorry I didn't post last week, we were camping. :)

[ZGuy]

Here is the proper response to that: "Well, we understand that socialization is important, and we've decided to socialize them not to be rote followers but to be the leaders who will lead your children into the future."

JUST KIDDING!
(A true leader is a servant)

Actually, I do two things when this comes up :

I tell them that homeschooled kids have plenty of social interaction through playgroups, church, Awana, sports (t-ball, soccer. etc) as well as a homeschool band that is in our area. But more importantly, I use this as an opportunity to be an "evangelist" for homeschooling -- informing them of just why we aren't sending our kids to public schools. By the time I'm done, they usually want to get their kids out of the government schools too.

[T. P. Pole]

Q-"How do you handle socialization?"

A-"But we don't want our kids to be socialists."

[Max Combined]

Ask them to compare the average home school student with the typical public high school student. By their fruits you shall know them.

[T. P. Pole]

Actually, we have had this conversation with many of our teacher friends. I remember one case where I had dropped my son off at cub scouts and was chatting with a teacher who was also waiting for her kids. Just didn't quite understand how stupid the "how about socialization" sounded while our kids were playing together down the hall.

After a length chat, it seems that her concern was that my kids would not be exposed to the bullies and such, and therefore would not know how to handle them. I considered promising that I would beat up my kid in the bathroom at home, or that I would be sure to let him play at her house, on order for him to get his fill of bad behavior.

But I just grinned.