Homeschooling - It's an Adventure!

There are many support groups out there for homeschooling families to join to help with understanding how this thing works. Some are available through Yahoo Groups, through MySpace, and through other Web sites. Others are available through more traditional means. You can search for some on the Web, others you may find through your church or other organizations. Some folks do their homeschooling through their public school "independent study" programs (which is still basically *public school* control), others prefer no intervention or interference for the education and training of their children, and thus they do the whole training on their own. Then, there are many different ways in between.

My wife and I homeschooled our two for 14+ years. When we switched my son from 1st grade to homeschool, his sister (who was 3 years younger) joined in the lessons, and thus got the extra years of homeschooling.

Socialization? Schmocialization... This idiotic question always comes up--from the unknowing and uncaring folks. Our house was seemingly the most popular place in the neighborhood--all the neighbor kids were always over to play or join in our kids' activities. That seems like "socialization" to me, eh? And... our kids participated in the local soccer teams for many years and were both in Shaolin Kempo for two years and Tae Kwon Do for about 5 years. They became close friends with their soccer team and martial arts buddies. Of course, they also had a lot of friends from our church and from the other families in our homeschooling group (we formed a charter school with our fellow homeschoolers to help us in a sort of "co-op" way with the lessons, field trips, and "administration" duties).

Think about it. When we finally get out of school and out in the "real world", we must work with folks of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds. In "traditional schools", kids are stuffed into classrooms where everyone of their "peers" are the same age. Very artificial and unlike the real world. Our kids have gone on to jobs working with a state program to help educationally disadvantaged children (my son) and becoming a flight-training school operations manager and training to be a pilot/certified flight instructor (my daughter). Both kids are black belts in Tae Kwon Do and love teaching kids. They are accomplished musicians and artists also--because maybe they were free to study and play with these topics as well when they were homeschooled (do you know how many public school systems are cutting these subjects due to "budget cuts"?).

My wife and I didn't push them into these fields--our kids just followed their dreams and their interests. Their *education* and their *social skills* got them their jobs. Both kids have gone on to attend college, although briefly. My wife and I weren't happy that they decided to not pursue a degree (even an A.A. would have been nice), the kids are starting to realize that getting certification in some skill or field would be good for improving job prospects. At the moment, however, they are enjoying adult life and exploring the world. That's the main joy of homeschooling--seeing your kids get out there and being successful at carving their own path and their own futures.

And the main thing? Our kids are comfortable talking to my wife and me about things that my wife and I would have been terrified talking about with our own parents. They like being with us, their parents (weird, huh?)... and what's really cool... my wife and I like being with them, too!