Your child can get a lot out of homeschooling. It makes it possible to teach your child in a way that fits his or her needs and creates an environment that helps your child learn best. When you think about how much a private school education costs, homeschooling is also a good deal. Because of this, it seems to be getting more and more popular with each new generation.
One problem with homeschooling, though, is that your child might not be around other kids as much as he or she would be in a public school. Also, as a parent who homeschools, you are under a lot of pressure because the quality of your child's education depends entirely on you. You probably have a lot of questions of your own. Getting together with other homeschooling parents is a good way to deal with this.
Meeting up with other homeschooling parents on a regular basis is good for both you and your child. You will be able to talk with other parents about ideas and ways to teach. Most importantly, though, your child will be able to talk to other kids his or her age. Young children are easy to influence and often worry about being different. Most kids just want to be like everyone else.
When you homeschool your child, it's important to remember that not everyone does it. You can't hide this fact from your child, and he or she will figure out at some point that lots of other kids go to school. Meeting up with other homeschooling parents can be good for your child because they will see that they are not the only ones. The child's worry about not being "normal" will go away when he or she sees and talks to the other kids.
You can meet up with other homeschooling parents in many different ways. One of the best ways to do this is to teach it to children. Keep in touch with other parents, and if your kids are learning the same things at the same time, suggest a field trip. This way, you can do what public and private schools do and give your kids time to learn and socialise at the same time.
Another good idea is to suggest doing a project with another family as a group. If, for example, another parent is also teaching a biology unit, you could suggest that the kids plant a garden on your property together. When learning about zoology, you and your children would both enjoy and learn from a trip to the zoo with another family.
By staying in touch with other homeschooling parents on a regular basis, you will be helping your child's education and social growth. By talking to other homeschooling parents and sharing ideas, you can learn new ways to teach and show your kids that they are not alone and not strange at all.
