Happy Home Ingredient #3, Friends!

     A big concern for many people with homeschool is the idea of socialization. As we were meeting with our "friend school" the other day, I thought, Shawn gets way more socialization this way compared to the public school! There was a moment where two boys were fighting, which is socialization in itself. It's time to learn the hard way to get along with others, at least when the other kid is older and stronger than you. The reason I said he gets more, is that they have more than 10 minutes of recess together to play and work things out. Our nature days usually last 2 hours as well as the Creative/LA Day. They are more free to play and explore at these times compared to 10 minutes of recess. I also get more social time as we meet with families! It's definitely NOT the main reason to homeschool, but it's a benefit. Yay for socialization. We have done an extra curricular class or sport, and it's been great too. We also have our grandma figure, Ora and we're going to meet with another grandma this week. I love the freedom to get with people of all ages, learning and growing from them instead of being stuck with 30 kids of the same age. With this idea of ages, one thing that has been difficult as we've made the transition from home from public, is that my kids are around one another more. Sometimes it's great, and sometimes it's... not. But this gives them a way to strengthen relationships with time they wouldn't have with homework, sports etc. after school. There's time to become best friends, even with the every day squabbles. Family friends, school friends, sports friends, and most importantly sibling friends. We have plenty of socialization, and I love it. 

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