The "S" word

The "S" word... If you are a homeschooling mom you probably already know what I am talking about... SOCIALIZATION. It is the first question everyone asks when you admit to homeschooling your children (or planning on it) and probably, if you weren't homeschooled yourself, probably one of the first questions you asked yourself!

People are curious as to how a child who stays at home and isn't surrounded by 30+ same aged peers everyday will fit into the world after highschool graduation. In some ways it is a valid question... most of us have met one or two homeschooling families in our life that are just a touch on the kooky side. However, let's remember that despite their kookiness the children probably did grow up to be somewhat functioning members of society... And we all know a few public school wierdos as well... let's just keep it real here people...

Even though most of us have asked the big socialization  question ourselves at one time, once you begin homeschooling you start to dread the question. You dread it because probably from the first week you started homescholing you realized how ridiculous it really is. You have not locked your child up Harry Potter style in the closet under the stairs. You still go to church, family events, the grocery store, and on a really good day you yourself might spend a few minutes chatting with your own children (I kid).

And we are validated in our decisions when our kiddos walk up to another kid in the Chick-fil-a play place and ask them their name and if they want to play "horrible angry space creatures" with them. When they order their own drinks at a restaurant and tell the waitress "thank you". When you are around other children their age who go to school and realize that maybe your kids aren't complete weirdos and you aren't the worst parent in the world for avoiding the big yellow bus.

Deciding to educate your children at home can be a hard decision to make. I don't think any of us come to it lightly. And feeling constantly like we must defend ourselves to the outside world certainly doesn't do a lot for our self-confidence. So, I just wanted to take a minute today to encourage all of my fellow homeschool mamas that we are doing okay! It is okay to feel defensive sometimes and there will be days when we question if we are doing the right thing. But, isn't that true in all areas of motherhood? Be encouraged friends! People might question why we do many of the things that we do, but let that not be a determining factor in our decisions. 

When I need an extra dose of encouragement in homeschooling I love to look at Deuteronomy 6:5-9. I don't think there is a more beautiful picture of what educating your children at home can look like out there- 

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.