a month in the life

Ironically one of the biggest thoughts family, friends, and complete strangers pelt me with on a regular basis concerns not the school part of homeschooling, but the home part. Thanks largely in part to television and sensationalism (oxymoron!), they envision us sitting around 24 hours a day isolating our kids from the rest of the world. Many people now understand that homeschooled kids are often academically ahead, but still we're accused of "not socializing our children," as though a typical school classroom is the answer to everyone's problems.

To better illustrate some of the social opportunities my kids were given this month, I thought I would list them out and include some photographs. Our lack of isolation is boldly apparent. This month included the local public school spring break with which our P.E. programs coincide, so the number of classes attended was a little less than usual.

As homeschoolers we had eighteen official gatherings in March:

we participated in seven homeschool P.E. classes

we visited a park with P.E. classmates seven times

our homeschool co-op hosted three book club meetings

we attended one field trip to a Civil War reenactment camp

As 4-H members some or all of my kids took part in three events in March:

we attended one club meeting

we participated in one county-level club meeting

Alexei competed in the (one) 4-H state air rifle competition

As a family:

we watched one Civil War battle reenactment

we witnessed the miracle of life when one of the kids' 4-H show rabbits had babies

As regular old kids living in a busy neighborhood:

we were guests at two parties

the kids played with their neighborhood friends on numerous evenings and weekends, interacted with siblings, went on shopping trips, took care of our leased horse, etc., etc., like any regular old kids do.

One thing my kids don't seem to lack is social opportunity. Contrary to belief, there's not really a lot of staying home involved in homeschooling!