Ramblings...

Today we enjoyed a great early afternoon bowling/lunch date with some of our M.O.M.s. Yes, we took the dysfunction outside of our home *gasp*! While bowling a friend and I started chatting about the issue of influence. It was nice to talk this out with someone who understands where I am coming from on this issue. To back track a bit, the F.O.D has been on me about enrolling General Disarray into public school this upcoming school year. Why?

Well socialization…of course! He can completely see homeschooling being valid on an academic front, but social time, that seems to trump the educational value that he can see in homeschooling. That *social time being more important than the educational component* annoys me in and of itself. This aside for me the issue of social time extends to more than just chatting with people their own age. For me it boils down to what kind of interactions are they having and the kind of influences these interactions are having on T.B.M.

There are plenty of post out there on the interwebs that discuss the insanity of the socialization issue, and how children aren’t encouraged to have social time in schools. All of us who attended school can list numerous times when we were punished for talking too much, or passing notes, etc. For me when I look at what I have personally seen in schools, not just in my own schooling but during my field experience as well, I don’t see the socializing that takes place as valuable. Then there is the behavior I’ve noticed when kids are let free from school, the built up energy that explodes on sidewalks, playgrounds, and backyards.

These situations create social interactions that I don’t deem healthy for T.B.M. I prefer their social interactions to encourage/uplift them as individuals, reaffirm our family’s values, and most importantly be fun. I feel we can provide these all important interactions far better than a school system can.

I also feel that The Spouse and I can have a far greater *more positive* influence on our children if they spend the bulk of these formative years with us. Of course they won’t spend every waking hour with us, but we don’t feel they should spend eight to ten hours a day five days a week under the influence of others at such an important junction in their young lives. While they would come home to us and interact with us, these interactions would pale in comparison to what they ingested during the school day.

It’s like my friend said this afternoon “It’s about feeling confident in knowing our children are ready…”. Ready to understand the weight of their choices and to realize that certain people aren’t meant to be followed. We want them to grow in an environment where they are free to be themselves and not feel forced into their peers ideas of what and how someone should be.

For us homeschooling is more than academically superior, but it is also emotionally and socially superior. We are not only able to provide T.B.M. with tailored educations to fit their learning styles and academic levels, but we are also able to provide them with quality interactions that enrich their lives. For us that is far more important than the superficial interactions of a classroom.