If you haven't had someone ask you "What about socialization?" ... then wait a few minutes ... it's coming.
This question seems to show up over and over again in homeschool conversations with people outside of the homeschool world.
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And knowing how to ANSWER that question can feel a little tricky!
Today I'm sharing the answer I've developed over the last 14 years that seems to work every single time.
Learn this, and you'll never feel awkward answering the socialization question again!
Want to read instead of watch? Scroll to read a transcript of this video.
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Transcript
Hey guys! ToriAnn here! And from my homeschool to your homeschool, I’ve got a question for you. Have you ever heard someone ask you, “So what about socialization?”
You’re in the grocery store or maybe you’re at a family event and someone’s going to ask you how you’re going to socialize your kids.
Do you know how you’re gonna answer that question?
Or do you start to get all squidgy and squealy inside and feel all rumbly cause you don’t know what to say.
And behind that question, you can hear the real question which is, “Are you gonna destroy your kids?”
Yeah. So I used to get this question all the time. My in-laws would ask it. My parents would ask it. My siblings asked it. I would hear it in a church. I would hear it at the store. What are you gonna do about socialization?
And I got the question so much that I decided I was gonna come up with an answer that was going to work every single time. Because I was tired of fumbling around it and trying to come up with something that didn’t really feel like it satisfied them and usually took us down the rabbit hole of a whole bunch of other questions that didn’t really make a lot of sense and made the whole conversation harder. And it made it sound like I didn’t really know what I was doing with my homeschooling -- which is never a good idea.
So I came up with the answer to the “socialization” question, and ever since then, every time I use this, the answer just puts everything to rest. I can feel everyone I’m talking to take a deep breath. And I don’t get lots of follow up questions that aren’t just interested. They’re not critical questions, they’re, “Oh tell me more about that.”
So are you dying to know what this is?
Okay, so here’s the answer to the question. When someone comes up to me or we’re in a conversation and they say, “So what about socialization?” this is what I say --
“Well, you know, I treat socialization just like any other subject. I’m the facilitator of my kids’ education and development. Which means that I make sure that they get lots of socialization opportunities, and they’re getting educated in how to interact with human beings whether they’re adults or kids in a really great way.”
That’s the answer.
That you are creating opportunities and that you’re treating it like a subject, like any other subject.
And then if I feel like it, I follow up with something like this. “And besides, there are so many opportunities for homeschoolers to socialize with kids their age that if we wanted to, we could be gone every single day of the week and never be home and actually educate. But we don’t do that. So we just pick and choose. But my kids get so many opportunities to interact with other people. Yeah, they get tons of socialization.”
Between those two answers, it pretty much puts all the fears to rest.
And that’s how I want to end this little video. Remember that when people are asking you questions, they’re coming from one of two places.
They’re either curious. Which means you don’t need to feel defensive because they really are just curious and they wanna know what’s going on. And they’re learning more about homeschooling and they’re trying to figure out how it works and they figure you’re a good source of information because you are homeschooling or you’re thinking about it or you’re just getting started.
Or they’re worried. They’re worried that these kids that they care about, either because they’re in your neighborhood or they’re a neighbor or they’re a friend or maybe they’re a family member. You know grandmas and grandpas, they worry. They wanna make sure the kids are gonna be okay. That’s what they’re really asking.
So when you have an answer that’s confident and when you have an answer that’s clear that you’re in charge and you have a plan, it calms everybody down. And when everybody’s calm, the conversation gets a lot easier.
Alright, I'm ToriAnn Perkey, and I bring you these videos every week so that you can feel like a confident, successful homeschooler.
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