Yesterday my second oldest announced that she would like to give school a try! Help, mild panic attack, guilt and a bit more guilt. I suffered many unpleasant feelings in those few minutes before I gathered enough sense to do the best thing I could and ring hubby.

I am sure that every home schooling mum and dad have had to face this not so great issue. Why on earth would one of our beloved children want to go to school? What can be so attractive about it? Where have I gone wrong?

Hannah at 6 is pretty articulate about her feelings, and it didn't take very long to discover her reasons for mentioning the dreaded "S" word! She wants to have more friends, simple as that. She wants to have other children to play with every day other than her siblings, she just wants to spread her social wings. Hannah is definitely the kind of child that likes to be around people; she loves to have fun and doesn't really take many things seriously.

The big question is, what do we do with children like this? How do we meet their needs as home schooling families when other children can often be thin on the ground? How do we explain to them that providing them with playmates every day just can't be done? How can we convince them that their siblings can be their best friends?

Whatever a child's character, they do need to have opportunities to mix with other children, and there are so many things they can learn from these times and so much fun to be had. As parents we need to make sure they have plenty of opportunities to spread their wings and gain in independence. As local home schooling communities, I do think we should make lots of effort to get together.

It's always good to recognise and deal with these new issues as they arise and not let them send us cascading into feelings of failure and guilt. I have to admit I indulged in them for a little while until I pulled myself up short and gave myself a good telling off. If you, like me, believe God has called you to home schooling, then He will sort out all these little hiccups and put our minds at rest about the wellbeing of our children.

Deb

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Posted by Anonymous

Hi there! I completely understand your quandary. However, we have managed to keep our daughter (also age 6) interested in homeschooling while providing for her friendship-building needs through activities other than The Dreaded S. Through ballet and swimming she makes friends in her own developmental level (not necessarilly exactly the same age, but a span of ages younger and older than her own) while we still maintain our family friendly education. Perhaps if there's something YOUR 6yo is particularly interested in, you could find a local group, club, association. (We even found a local embroidery club, in a town where finding a museum is a challenge!)

Just a thought! Good luck!

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