What About Socialization? :::groan:::

Socialization. Don't we just HATE that word? What about socialization? What about the prom? Sigh.


I have found that my adult children relate better to older adults than they do people their own age. Correction: Public school people their own age. Sure they did not have the same socialization that the public (and even private) school kids did. Nope not at all. Am I upset by this? Hell no!


Speaking of high school only, since my kids were 13 and 10 when we began homeschooling, my kids had an extremely "weird" social life. They didn't stay out until all hours of the night while that age. I always knew where they were since they were, you know, underage and all. Drinking? Nope, none of that. Drugs? Again, nope. Would I know if they were doing these things? Sure would! I was a pretty wild teenager back in the 70's where the drinking age WAS 18, and we, of course, drank much younger than that. Not proud of it, but what can I say? I am not saying that all public and private school kids do these things either. However, from what my kids saw in college, it seems that a great percentage do. Parents may not know it.


My kids also had no problem talking to adults. We traveled all over the U.S. and Canada with them and they met most of our customers. Talking to adults just was never an issue for them. Once they began their dual enrollment, they had no problem talking to their instructors. My son always talked to them and discussed things with them such as politics and current events. Weird kid, he wasn't hiding in the back of the class trying to nurse a hangover. Neither one of them did that in college, ever.


Am I mom of the year? Hahaha! No. We did the best we could with them and that's all I can say. Were we really strict? Again, no! My daughter actually thought, when she was about 15 or so, that I was totally cool allowing her to see N'Sync concerts and hang at the mall with her friends. Yeah, well, I went to all the N'Sync concerts, too, and I always sat at a table in the mall drinking a cup of coffee waiting for the girls. For some reason this was still pretty cool to her. She actually had a couple of teen friends ask her if she hated her mother. She said no. They thought it was weird because everyone hates their mother. Wow!


So, after homeschooling them until college I can say that they got just the right amount of socialization from other homeschooled kids, neighborhood kids and each other. We traveled all over and they each went to Europe, without us. Heck, I've never been myself, but both kids have gone. My daughter went to a prom with her then boyfriend who is now her husband.


We are an insanely close family even now when the two kids are 22 and 25. My 25 year old daughter is married and she is still close to her brother and to us. We watch each other's backs and we have a great support system. I am not sure this would be the case, at least with my two still being close, had we not homeschooled.