It's a common argument that homeschoolers are "over protective" and that their children will not be "socialized". Now, many excellent writers have pointed out a simple question - what exactly is meant by "socialization"? I won't repeat those thoughts again, but really - how well does school teach manners or the norms of moving about in society?
Of course, what I think people mean when they say "socialized" is "normal" - as in mediocre, non-threatening, and easily understood and dismissed. We fear "weird" people, and we fear that somehow it is terribly bad for children to be individuals and not members of a pack.
My kids are not weird, I'm afraid. You know how I can tell? Today was allowance day, and they each knew just what they wanted to buy. Ever since we've been going to the homeschool park days once a week, Carbon has been admiring the older boys with their giant collections of bionicles. They sit there at the park and trade parts, and Carbon really wants to join in. So, today he bought bionicles and star wars legos (he needed clone troopers to "build his army").
Hypatia still plays on the playground equipment and pretends to have secret hide outs in the bushes at the park, but she also had a toy she really wanted to buy. Our next door neighbors have four little girls, and they have lots of "Little Pet Shop" toys. Hypatia bought some for herself today, and is planning on bringing them out in the yard the next time the four houses in a row here with kids in them all seem to converge in our front yard.
Alas, no desires for books, science kits, or other nerdy things. They also don't feel drawn to donating their allowances to charity. They want the same toys their friends have, and those toys are mainstream, plastic (crap).
How socialized of them.
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