I'm reading through "Educating the Wholehearted Child" by Clay and Sally Clarkson right now and I just loved their response to that question. Very well thought out. Not sure if you have the book, if so, it's found on page 16 and is called "Response to the Socialization Indictment" I just found myself constantly nodding my head and saying, "yes, this makes so much sense" If you need to borrow it, just let me know.
We are all "socialized" in whatever situations we find ourselves most frequently, whether it's our workplace, the sports teams we are part of, the friends we choose as individuals and families, or the schools we attend. The bigger question I think this man should ask is, "who do I want socializing my kids? Who do Iwant impacting the world view, beliefs, ideas, attitudes, behaviours, values, morals, etc... of my children?" If this individuals children are out of the home from at least 9:00-4:00 five days a week, plus extra curriculars (a minimum of 30 hours/week just at school alone)...he's got to ask himself, who is influencing my children the most and do I agree with their approach: world view, beliefs, ideas, attitudes, behaviours, values, morals, etc... because it is guarenteed that those who spend time with our children are going to have an impact on them - that's only natural - but what kind of impact? Who is he going to trust to be the primary socializers of his children?
In my opinion, socializing and sheltering work hand-in-hand. "Sheltering" is not a bad word. We all shelter our children from harm (I believe there is a difference between difficult situations and harmful situations). This is natural. This is part of being a good parent. We should shelter our children from harmful socialization, if possible. And when not possible, hopefuly we will be close by, soon, to talk with or children, process, debrief, etc... This is part of training up our children to be Christ-like, mature, healthy, functioning adults in society. However, we must be balanced in our approach, so that while we intentionally shelter from harm when possible, I believe we should also intentionally provide opportunities for healthy socialization. Homeschooling allows the freedom to provide so many opportunities for learning about and engaging in healthy socialization, so that our children can grow to be healthy, independent, strong Christians in a hostile world.
Also, perhaps he can think on how much weight is put in peer relationships/same age interaction. If you look at all of the kinds of relationships our children have, the list in pretty big - relationships with: God, parents, siblings, extended family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...), teachers (ie., music, clubs), coaches, neighbours, church family, time to just be alone with themselves... Why is the balance of time so unproportionate when it comes to peers?
A couple of books this dad may appreciate reading are: Hold on To Your Kids (Gordon Neufeld) and Keeping our Childrens Hearts (Steve and Teri Maxwell).
Hopefully these thoughts can help contribute as you move forward in this conversation with this family.
Here's my question - can you please give me your best resources on this topic that demonstrate why socialization is not a reason to not homeschool. Blogs, web sites, research, books, DVDs etc. Even if you want to list your reason why socialization is not a big enough reason to be THE reason to leave your child in public school - and if you have a husband who thinks this way, maybe ask him - I need a few resources for a man (thankfully not my own!) I'd also welcome your definition of socialization. I have a family I'd like to share with. Thanks ladies.
