If you homeschool, you have and will continue to have conversations, with non homeschooling families, or people who,in general, have no idea what homeschooling is, around socialization. The main “concern” being that we are raising our kids to be socially awkward, super coddled spoiled brats, or some sort of reclusive, uber radical weirdo. It happens all to frequently for my taste, and after the inevitable eyeroll, I usually say something like: that’s a myth, homeschooling kids get plenty of “socialization”. Case in point, I am in Massachusetts, with the first born, as she is rehearsing to be in this incredible performance piece, more on that in another post, and while we are here, the remainder of the Furious Five are with dad and grandma. Grandma, aka nanny, is pinch hitting for me on the homeschooling front, while first born and I are in Massachusetts, and dad is working. This whole scenario had me thinking, about the “socialization” my kids are getting. Yesterday first born and I did some exploring before we went to rehearsal. We stopped in a sweet little playground where my 11 year old happily spent time playing with the children, all of which were between 4 and 5 years old. She skillfully lead them on some climbing adventures on the cargo net and monkey bars, then happily followed along when they suggested a game involving driving the “truck” play structure. She was amazing, kind, and sweet, then just 2 hours later she was rehearsing a serious duet and solo with these 3 amazing artist, all adults, for this incredible piece of art that she will get perform domestically, and internationally. All this without losing her eleven year old sensibilities and platfulness. In the mean time the rest of the furious five were in NJ, helping their grandmother navigate homeschooling with them, they read, together, did chores together, accompanied her to the store, and they made dinner together, and bonded with another adult other than dad or mom. If being able to interact with people across all generations, from all walks of life, isn’t being “socialized” then I don’t know what is?