Oh I could NEVER do THAT!!

The next time someone tells me that they put their kids in public school, I’m going to respond with an emphatic, “OH! I could NEVER do THAT!!”

In the workshop entitled The Socialization Trap I took last weekend, Rick Boyer gave me this great idea. It makes me grin since that is a standard response to my words, “we homeschool our kids.” The other big response, if people don’t feel that they need to appear supportive is, “Don’t they need to be with kids their own age?” Or more directly, “What about socialization?”

Until Rick’s workshop, I felt the stress of living up to the socialization “standards” set by the government-controlled-public school system. And, was I being dumb. Here, in this one hour class, I had a paradigm shift. And, I’m still trying to uncover all that it means for my family. Here are some thoughts floating around in my brain

1. It’s not okay to send kids to age-segregated schools/functions/etc and then expect them to respect any one else but their peers.
2. Why do people feel that it’s important for children to get more peer socialization than their parents?
3. When as adults are we segregated by our age? Church? no. Work? no. Shopping? no. Why do we need to segregate our children by age? I don’t choose my friends by their age, making sure that they are no more than 2 years difference. I choose them by their integrity, honesty, and other internal factors.
4. The natural cycle of Serving Up and Teaching Down is key to success. Not segregating. I remember the few times that I learned from my grandparents about how they grew up. That stuck with me more than anything else I learned in school about the history at that time. Why do we not make that the norm? Text books are better? NO!

So, stew these ideas around. They’re tough changes and most people will back away. But, ask yourself why you’re doing things. The answer “because that’s how I grew up” is a cop-out. Really, is it the best for your children?

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