I want input from other homeschoolers

[blase6]

If you are currently being homeschooled I would like to know what your social life is like.

1. Do you have many real-life friends? What opportunities do you have to communicate with them? Are they mostly other homeschoolers?
2. Do you have internet friends? If so, are they the majority of whom you communicate with?
3. How often do you get out and do outdoor/non-home activities?
   Your (name removed by moderator)ut is appreciated.

 

[TheCartoonist]

I wanted to make a post similar to this myself.

I’m no longer being homeschooled, but I was until I finished high school 3 years ago.

I didn’t have real friends until the age of 13, but we didn’t start to get super close until 14/15. We met at a church youth group. Before that I had 2 next door neighbors that I hung out with during two different summers, but they both moved and we didn’t speak after that. I spent most of my time with my siblings, or cousins which wasn’t as often.

I tried to makes friends on the internet, but I spent most of my time on message boards trying to get people to like me and bribing them with drawings. I never got close with any of them either.

My outdoor activities were Irish Dance classes once a week, and at 15 I started working which I did roughly 4 times a week. Once I befriended the two girls mentioned above, I started to go out more little by little, but it took a while for my mom to get used to it. She’s still not sometimes and worries a lot. 16 was the age where I really started to make friends and hang out with them a lot more. I was never apart of any homeschooling groups but turns out Irish Dance classes are filled with other home schoolers!

There was definitely times when I was lonely, but overall I’m glad I was raised the way I was for the most part… though there have definitely been times I wished I’d went to school.

 

[Lochias]

If you are currently being homeschooled I would like to know what your social life is like.

1. Do you have many real-life friends? What opportunities do you have to communicate with them? Are they mostly other homeschoolers?
2. Do you have internet friends? If so, are they the majority of whom you communicate with?
3. How often do you get out and do outdoor/non-home activities?
   Your (name removed by moderator)ut is appreciated.

I was home-schooled from 4th grade through high school, so my experiences might be of use.

1. I don’t have a ton of friends, but several close ones that I hold near and dear. That’s not for lack of available friends, though, but more my personal tastes. Growing up, I usually hung out with my cousins, and through them I began to meet other people.
2. I actually only had a few friends on the Internet; my real-life friends and family were the ones I interacted with more, and the same still applies. I have one friend from the 'net I’ve known for many years, and we still exchange the occasional txt. None of my friends were home-schooled; I was considerably older than the vast majority of home-schooler kids in the area, since those groups started relatively recently compared to I started myself.
3. I didn’t go and do a lot of outdoor school stuff, but there were occasional things…Mom signed me up for one of the local severe weather spotter networks, and there is a science center for kids here in town that we’d go to. I also did things like daily Mass for a while, growing up.

Hope that all helps.

 

[jawgee]

My kids are homeschooled. I will answer for my oldest, who is a 10YO boy.

1. He has many real-life friends, through church, scouts, and karate. He has a typical social calendar for a 10YO, getting together with friends on the weekends, occasional sleepovers, and getting together 3-4x during the week for activities. A lot of his friends are homeschoolers, because those are the friendships he is able to cultivate. Not all of his friends are homeschoolers, though. At his last birthday party he had 5 kids sleep over - two are homeschooled, three are not.
2. He has no online friends because he is not old enough to be involved in online social networking.
3. He gets out almost every day for activities with friends. This is what is scheduled each week - it doesn’t include seasonal activities (sports, camps, etc.) or extra scouting events.

S - open, other than church
M - karate
T -
W - karate, scouts
Th - morning gathering with other homeschoolers
F - class with his best friend
S -

 

[ATeutonicKnight]

I am a fifteen year old male and have been home schooled my entire life. When it comes to friends I am pretty introverted, but I do have a few. Most of my friends are online, but I have a lot of interaction with my family, which ranges from my brother, sister and parents to my cousins and other extended family. Some think this is bad or harmful, but it really isn’t. I would rather spend time with my twenty-one year old sister than another fifteen year old male any day for a number of reasons, some of them being I am more comfortable with women in the first place (Because most of my interaction in life with people has been with women), young men my age generally aren’t mature and we do not relate much, and I do not really enjoy their company. Most of my friends that I know in real life are in college right now. All my life I have always been friends with older people, and I like that, really. I am able to have deep conversations about discernment and religion, or politics (I am an absolute political machine) instead of a boring one about Call of Duty. I have yet to meet someone my age that was interested in any of these things the way I am. My short list of friends is certainly not because I have not had the opportunity, though. I do boy scouts and so have regular interaction with young men my age once a week or more, I was in CCD classes for years and went with them on the trips and made many good friends through there, I did football for three years, and I have done karate for eleven years and have met many people through that (And no, it is not Tae Kwon Do. Tae Kwon Do isn’t even karate, though it is commonly mistaken for it), but all of the people there that I would call friends are the black belts, meaning they are all adults, so we get back to the part where I prefer interaction with adults.

All in all, home schooling has had positive effects on me and I do not regret it one moment. If I had been publicly schooled I would care about what other people thought, I would probably hate my parents and family as many other teens do, and worst of all, I would have no faith. Home schooling was a great idea and I am glad my parents decided to do it. I have never stepped foot in a classroom and I never will (Except maybe for Seminary), and this is something I actually like being able to say. I remember in football some of the other boys would say “Come on! You have to go to public school at least one year.” but I honestly do not want to. There is nothing a public school can offer that I cannot get here. I get all of the social skills I need while having better grades.

 

[leonie]

If you are currently being homeschooled I would like to know what your social life is like.

1. Do you have many real-life friends? What opportunities do you have to communicate with them? Are they mostly other homeschoolers?
2. Do you have internet friends? If so, are they the majority of whom you communicate with?
3. How often do you get out and do outdoor/non-home activities?
   Your (name removed by moderator)ut is appreciated.

what do you mean by real-life friends?

the phrase makes me think there is an aggenda here. Actually each question makes me thing that the presumption is that homeschooled kids live sequestered at home with only online communication.

 

[LaMusicaSenior]

If you are currently being homeschooled I would like to know what your social life is like.

1. Do you have many real-life friends? What opportunities do you have to communicate with them? Are they mostly other homeschoolers?
2. Do you have internet friends? If so, are they the majority of whom you communicate with?
3. How often do you get out and do outdoor/non-home activities?
   Your (name removed by moderator)ut is appreciated.

I have been homeschooled forever - so I might be of some help

1. Yes. I have many real life friends. All of them are from my homeschool group and youth group - keeping in mind that I consider my friends to be all ages. I do work, and I get along with those there quiete well. I did go to college classes during Junior year (I’m a senior now) and have a few aquiantances. ALSO, I’m one of eight kids (I’m the oldest) so I have to count my 7 little siblings as great friends, too.
2. I have some internet friends on here! But no, my real life relationships come before my internet ones.
3. Ok, this has changed a lot for me over the years. When I was little (12 and under) we did get-togethers with a few close families in our homeschool group. When I hit , beings that I am one of the oldest in the group, we started a youth group. So I get out and do youth group stuff, I did take college classes at my community college, I work, I play music so I get out twice a week for lessons and performances, I run erands for my Mom, etc., and I go to morning Mass once a week and an adoration hour. So I get out a lot
   In reality, I’m busy enough that I wished I got out less!

Hope this helps - feel free to PM me with any questions you might have concerning homeschooling!

God Bless you!
Chloe M.

 

[blase6]

what do you mean by real-life friends?

the phrase makes me think there is an aggenda here. Actually each question makes me thing that the presumption is that homeschooled kids live sequestered at home with only online communication.

Actually, I’m homeschooled myself, and don’t have as many opportunities to “get out” as I would like, so I created this topic to see how “normal” of a homeschooler I am.

 

[mommamaree]

If you are currently being homeschooled I would like to know what your social life is like.

1. Do you have many real-life friends? What opportunities do you have to communicate with them? Are they mostly other homeschoolers?
2. Do you have internet friends? If so, are they the majority of whom you communicate with?
3. How often do you get out and do outdoor/non-home activities?
   Your (name removed by moderator)ut is appreciated.

Are you asking homeschooling parents or home schooled teens?

If you were asking the parents, I will chip in my two cents. I asked myself these same questions and my answers were unsatisfactory. Consequently, this year I am quitting homeschooling and we are sending our daughter to the parish school here. Our Homeschoolers association was just awful. No fellowship, no mentoring, no friendships. All of our friends had kids at the school, and my daughter missed her school (she went for a half year in 5K).