I have to force a smile because gut reaction is to pinch my eyebrows together and flare my nostrils.
I can't even begin to tell you how many people ask this question. From doctors to cashiers, this exact same question is brought to the table over and over with a side dish of, "how does this work? Does the state give you something, how about testing....." The social question is almost always first.
I usually give a bland response that seems to suit them, "park days, co-op classes, and other activities." What I don't say is my kids socialize mostly on the computer. Seriously. My last two talk all day, if I let them ( we do have to do school you know), to kids all over the world. My youngest knows kids in Norway, Australia, Canada, Scotland, and Britain. He also has friends all over the USA. When we go to game stores teens and 20 something's ask him what video games he is playing and they discuss them. The kid is more socialized than I ever was in public school. We don't go to park days anymore, or the co-op classes. He couldn't find kids that liked what he liked; video games. I decided it was time to let him be himself and stop trying to get him to fit a mold of having friends from the homeschool group. Life is easier for me. I know where he is and he is laughing, talking, and is happy with his headset on and Skype going simultaneously. My only rule is they have to be kids. Yesterday Skype was ringing off the hook; Scotland was calling. This is normal for us. The iPad starts to ding and we scramble around to find my son to tell him a friend is calling. His friends range in age from 7 to 16.
My son is 11 and he started gaming 4 yrs ago with Minecraft. I was angry for a long time about his game usage. I took it away, I made him do other things. He was never as happy as gaming. His reading, spelling, and manners are all improved from gaming. Many of his starter games were communicating through typing only. He learned real fast he needed to know how to read and spell.
Now he does both. He also communicates with other cultures and needs to cooperate with others to play many of these games to survive. His please and thank yous and the attitude of gratitude has improved greatly.
This past week I bought him his first computer. A gaming Asus laptop. It's a monster of epic proportions. As I was looking to buy computers I heard stories. One man told me about his son now makes games after going to school in Georgia to learn such things. Another told me a friend is sponsored by Monster. Another told meh is brother met almost all his friends there online playing games. His sister in law was me of those friends. His brother and her met when they were 14 and 6 years later they met each other in person with the other friends at a gaming convention. They are great friends, they just don't physically see each other. My best friend is in California. We text every morning. Monday through Friday she wakes my ass up at 8am. We text on and off during the day depending on what has happened. Friends don't always have to be right there physically. It matters if they are there, period.
My children socialize. They just do it differently. It's all good.
