How do you socialize during home school? Here are 3 approaches to help build social skills.
Here's what you'll learn in this article:
- Socializing comes up a lot in home school, but it doesn't have to be stressful.
- Three approaches to help build social skills while homeschooling.
- Answers to common questions about socializing in home school.
- Key takeaways to elevate your social experiences today.
- Where to learn more about navigating homeschooling.
Socializing During Home School Gets a Lot of Attention
Anyone who home schools has probably had someone express concern about socializing--will your children see other kids? Interestingly, socializing during home school might receive more interest than the academics or other aspects of homeschooling. People tend to perceive home school as isolating, while glamorizing the types of social experiences children receive in traditional school.
Home school can span the social spectrum from isolating to socially fulfilling--just like traditional school. It takes the right alignment between individual needs and available experiences to have quality socializing during home school.
3 Approaches for Enjoyable and Engaging Home School Socializing
Meeting your family's social needs while homeschooling is possible with awareness and intention. Here are three approaches:
1. What Gives Your Children Energy?
Not all children have the same social needs, which is why home school and traditional school aren't necessarily going to meet your children's needs. It is all about finding fit. While extraversion, introversion, and, even, ambiversion, are common ways to think about social needs, they can also be overly simplistic.
When thinking about social needs of your children during home school, consider their learning styles and what types of activities they are drawn to. Where are there opportunities for them to build relationships? Follow your child's lead on how much engagement they really need during school.
2. Is Home School the Best Time?
Home school at its most probably consumes 40 hours in a week for your children, which leaves 128 other hours. There are lots of opportunities for high-quality socializing that don't have to occur during school time. Additionally, socializing isn't only being in a classroom--it can be how you ask for help at the library, engage with the docent at the museum, share an experience with a friend, etc.
As you navigate socializing during home school, give yourself the space to engage with lots of socializing opportunities. And rest assured that all types of socializing don't have to occur during home school each day. There are afternoons, evenings, and weekends for social activities.
3. What about Group Learning?
Learning how to navigate group dynamics toward a common goal is another one of life's skills that is good to have. Like any skill it takes a lot of practice and is highly dependent on factors outside of any one participant's control. To build group learning skills during home school look to your community for extracurricular classes, coops, or other home school families.
Your children's participation in activities outside of school or during unstructured play is also building their group learning skills. If your child prefers group work, then seek those opportunities, but don't discount the benefits of building skills to work independently too.
FAQs: Social Skills Are Developed in Many Ways
How Important is Socializing?
Socializing is important, just like eating well is important to overall health. The key is to remember that socializing comes in many forms. Home school is a space to seek novel social situations and build specific skills. It doesn't have to be the only outlet for social activities.
Look for your child to be able to navigate various social situations in a reasonable manner for their abilities, age, and grade. Use home school as a space to include activities that develop and build skills.
What if My Child Doesn't Like Socializing?
Get specific about what aspects of socializing they don't like. Do they avoid group work? Do they prefer reading alone to hanging out with friends? If your child knows how to engage, but doesn't enjoy it, then their temperament might have fewer social needs. However, if they are anxious in social situations and avoiding them, then they might need extra support to develop those skills, which can be done during home school in a supportive way.
Key Takeaways
- Let's socialize! Just like in any school setting, meeting social needs during home school must take into account individual needs and contextual circumstances.
- Intentional socializing. Socializing happens in and outside of school, so don't feel that home school has to provide all the socializing opportunities.
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Social fit. Incorporate social activities into home school that uplift your children and gives them opportunities to develop and practice new skills.
Where to Learn More
If you would like more information about building home school lessons and experiences that are custom-tailored to your children's needs, consider becoming a member of Crush Home School. With our membership plan, you get monthly guidance delivered to your inbox with downloadable resources and much more. Learn more about becoming a Crush Home School member.