About socialization

For most students, especially in the upper grades, school’s biggest attraction is the opportunity to socialize. Socialization remains a concern of parents who homeschool because homeschooling can be isolating. The saturated social interaction provided by schools doesn’t necessarily equate to positive interaction, however: witness schools’ increased attention to bullying--cyberbullying, in particular. Most parents would probably be willing to trade quantity for quality when it comes to their children’s social interactions.

Town/city recreation departments, the YMCA, 4-H groups and religious/cultural institutions often provide positive educational and social opportunities for children. To ensure that Allegra socializes with others her age, we enroll her in enrichment classes outside the home. On Wednesdays, she swims with her peers at the YMCA (physical education). She dances on Thursdays (physical education and arts). On Fridays, she takes an art class (fine art) at the local Conservatory. Last fall, she also participated in a youth theater class (language arts/performing arts). These classes serve two purposes: 1) they meet curriculum requirements and 2) they provide an opportunity to connect with other age-group peers.

Allegra's take: These enrichment programs cannot compare to the day-to-day socialization provided in a traditional school environment. On the more positive side, however, the enrichment programs are fun, and I thoroughly enjoy them. We also get much more done in them than we ever did in the public school classes.

Sun studies

Allegra writes: Last week, during the public school spring break, I attended a four-day science workshop on solar energy. This supplemented our home studies in Science & Technology and provided a much-needed break from in-home school.

This program innovatively blended science, art and humanities to create a very well-rounded experience. We discussed how the sun was formed and its importance to Earth, the mythology of the sun, and how we can use the sun in ways other than just collecting its energy through solar panels. We supplemented all of this with hands-on activities, including building and using a solar oven, making “photographs” with shadow-capture paper, and building a spectrograph that reveals the spectrum of colors when pointed at white light.

Workshops such as these can count as both science and art studies. If you take advantage of public school breaks by attending educational programs, you can make homeschooling easier and more meaningful, and maybe even shorten the school year.