But What About Social Life?

studying-703002_1280Contributed by Daniel Hopkins (age 17)

“But, what about social life?” This question is one of the most often asked questions regarding homeschooling. It’s the reason many homeschooled teens go back to public school.

When I first started homeschool, I was anxious to make friends and be accepted. My Mom helped out a lot with this problem. She helped me organize activities with other homeschooled teens so I could make friends. We also had a regular “park day”—we all went to the park and played volleyball while the moms talked and the little kids played on the playground. These activities helped me feel comfortable and helped me make some friends. After that, we just did a lot of stuff together on our own. When new homeschoolers came to the activities, we’d include them in our “group” and try to make them feel welcome, too.

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Social Life: The Real Need

Social LIfe

Singing round the campfire at a homeschool campout

When I first began homeschooling, all I could think of was academics. I spent lots of research time trying to find the best books and worrying that I couldn’t teach my children all they needed to know. As the years have filed by and I have gained confidence in my ability to teach them and educate them well, I have increasingly become concerned about their social well-being.

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Lonely, Lonely Child

Question:

My daughter is very social and craves having a playmate all the time. She is very intelligent and easily a grade or two ahead because of homeschool, but she complains nearly constantly about feeling lonely, wishing for friend to play with, wanting to talk to someone, even on the phone. My other children are younger and do not satisfy her social need. She is pretty unhappy. What do I do? [Read more…]

Wishing to Go Back to School

schoolbus-81717_1280Question:

My daughter is 10 years old, and we are homeschooling full-time this year. It is hard because we moved to a small town and she is used to having friends in the neighborhood. We are slowly getting to know some really nice homeschoolers in this area. How do I continue to keep her motivated? It seems like things will go along smoothly, and then she wishes she was back in school. I don’t want to send her back. [Read more…]

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