What kind of social events do your kids do?

[Gamom3]

Just curious as to what others do. I know that PS's put on a lot of social events..my kids just had a friend tell them about a Valentines Dance that they are going to. So my kids were asking about it. We don't have many outside events that we do, the ones we do co-op has a good number of kids, bowling not many. Homeschooling families are hard to find!

My two younger kids are social bugs, so they would love things like a party or other things to do, but to do things like this and NOT know anyone makes things hard.

[Janet in WA]

Homeschooling families are hard to find!

 

We didn't look to other homeschooling families for socialization. Instead, we looked for good, worthwhile activities, and made friends there (some homeschooled, most not). Church and Boy Scouts were numbers 1 and 2 on our activities list. Then followed sports as there was time and interest.

[sdWTMer]

For us, it's church, chess nights on Friday's, local Christian homeschooling group field trips and cub scouts. That's it.

[orangeblossom]

We belong to a HS activity group that gets together for PE, games and fun classes (like Art), as well as outings.

There are also lots of places in our area that have HS days...bowling alley, roller rink, lasertag, etc.

[Sandy in Indy]

Church, homeschool support group, friends and family. DS1 also belongs to the local juggling club.

[Beth in Central TX]

We participate in Wednesday night activities at our church: choir and AWANA. We also do field trips with our homeschool support group and attend monthly meetings. I try not to overload our time with too much outside activity. My main focus is our schoolwork and having free time to just play outside at home.

[Rhesa]

We keep it simple (but my kids are still young)

 

Church, homeschool group events and classes, playdates with friends at the park.

 

I have a feeling that as my daughter gets older, she's going to need a lot more. But I'll cross that bridge when I get there!

[Laura Corin]

The boys do cub scouts as their formal activity and every weekend they spend hours outside playing with the local kids.

 

Laura

[Daisy]

Church: fellowship activities, outreach activities

AWANA

Homeschool park day every other Friday & group field trips

Friend's birthday parties

Piano lessons (recitals, parties, etc.)

 

The funny thing is that the ps around here don't do any social activities. My DH (ps teacher) is allowed two 20 minutes parties during the school year. Birthday parties are not allowed. Parents cannot even bring cupcakes to school. The elementary ages (with the exception of 4th grade mission trip) have NO field trips whatsoever. So for our children, they actually get more opportunities for social interaction outside of school.

[Closeacademy]

We have a playgroup where our kids get to play on the playground and have fun while the rest of us talk. We've made a lot of good friendships this year because of this.

 

And we just started an enrichment club where we read stories and then do another activity like show and tell, music, crafts or games. A lot of the kids are the same for both groups so it has been nice.

 

In the past we have tried to make friends through church, outside activities, classes and co-ops but we couldn't seem to make real connections. The playgroup is wonderful.:)

[Deece in MN]

We didn't look to other homeschooling families for socialization. Instead, we looked for good, worthwhile activities, and made friends there (some homeschooled, most not). Church and Boy Scouts were numbers 1 and 2 on our activities list. Then followed sports as there was time and interest.

 

This is the approach we have taken. When I first started hs'ing I looked for other hs families. They weren't easy to find and when I finally found them I realized that we just didn't fit in.

Joining community activities has been a much better fit for us. My dd is in figure skating and Judo and my ds is in bowling and Judo. He is also part of a teen group at the library (not hs specific). We do other random activities as they come up.

For us this has worked really well.

[godpoetry]

Church, scouts and homeschool group meets 2 Fridays a month plus field trips that is plenty for us.

[Mom2boys]

My boys participate in church activities, 4-H, art class, writing class, science co-op, geography co-op, and team sports. We have a large and active homeschool group in our area and have met many friends there.

[Antonia]

They do dances, bowling parties, science and art fairs, book clubs, and playdates at a local park. In addition, my kids are heavily involved in ballet, theater, ski club, and scouts. Sometimes I fear there is too much socializing going on and not enough schoolwork!

[Kelli in TN]

ballet, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, 4H, church, Christian Communicators, the neighbor kids......I guess that's it!:)

[Ellie]

not if you're talking about purely social events as opposed to the classes and other activities my dc were involved in.

 

I didn't do many when I was a child, either.

[iquilt]

DD1 and DD2 are taking ballet/tap; they also both do choir at our church and we have a homeschool group that meets weekly for fun group activities, we have a vday party next week. DS will have to potty train before he can sign up for anything, but he is eyeing the karate studio next to the dance studio :) Oh, and our local community has a homeschool sports league so we have signed up for basketball, just to see if anyone likes it enough to do it again. We also tried tball last year but no one was interested in soccer.

 

DD1 - 6 yo

DD2 - 4 yo

DS1 - 2 1/2

[Serendipity]

Our girls are involved in a homeschool p.e. class that meets twice weekly for an hour and a half. They both take gymnastics lessons twice weekly for 45 minutes. Our older daughter is in choir which meets once a week for an hour and a half.

 

Both girls attend Sunday school and children's worship at church. The older of the two is involved in a church sponsored basketball league right now.

 

There are children in our neighborhood that our girls play with and we trade visits with other homeschool girls.

 

We do stuff as a family. We have people over.

[Tracey in TX]

We don't have formal social activities as the kids have friends in the neighborhood and play several times/wk. In addition, each child has 2 -3 days/wk with sports, music, or drama. They have friends in almost every activity. Don't really want to add anything else into the mix just yet.

[Elinor Everywhere]

Just curious as to what others do. I know that PS's put on a lot of social events..my kids just had a friend tell them about a Valentines Dance that they are going to. Homeschooling families are hard to find!

My two younger kids are social bugs, so they would love things like a party or other things to do, but to do things like this and NOT know anyone makes things hard.

 

When we're home, most of my kids' friends are not homeschoolers. They are either neighborhood kids, or the children of friends of mine. Our area does have a lot of homeschool stuff going on--Valentine Parties, father/daughter dances, all kinds of extracurricular classes as well as subject content like writing classes, science labs, etc.

 

My kids take sailing classes, and I've just signed my son up for a woodworking class and a fencing class. They also take tennis & my dd will be in an orchestra playing violin (she takes private lessons, but obviously that is not a social activity).

 

But still, the majority of social outlet comes from just playing with kids around the neighborhood, just like I did when I got home from school lo those many years ago....:)

[imeverywoman]

The kids get together with another homeschooling family at least once a week for some outdoorsy type play. They play organized golf, soccer, and baseball, and dd does classical ballet 5x weekly. We spend time as a family with families from those groups on occasion.

 

Then, there's church. The kids do AWANA and have their friends from Sunday School. On occasion, we have family time with another family from church, as well.

[BarbaraL in OK]

The activities that have brought friends and familiar faces into our kids lives have been scouts, church, chess club, and my MOMS Club chapter's homeschoolers group that started last spring. By the end of last year my older son, new to homeschooling, had found several casual pals and a good friend, and both boys have an assortment of relationships and group-gathering experiences.

 

Our kids have church activities -- Sunday school, Sunday evening service (ds8 plays with a good friend every week) and the small youth group for ds12 with frequent activities and a backpacking/canoeing trip over spring break.

 

They both have scouting activities -- weekly meetings, occasional outings, and camping trips.

 

They spend time with some of the same scouts and other kids in our homeschoolers chess club (meets weekly), on occasional field trips set up by our homeschooling organization, and even the homeschoolers group of my MOMS Club chapter (2x/month), which includes two families we love to get together with.

 

Just last Friday we actually attended our first-ever roller skating party that the homeschooling organization puts on. Our organization is big enough that in previous years I hadn't felt I knew many people and wasn't inclined to go. This time some friends gave me a good description of the party -- very helpful for me -- and we went. It was very fun, in part because thanks to chess club and scouts we knew or recognized plenty of the kids and parents.

 

Both boys have played baseball every spring for years, but my ds12 has told us he doesn't want to play this year. My younger son is just now seeing a few familiar faces on his team each year. My older son always played on a team with several former schoolmates.

 

A sort of related thought: my boys are rarely invited to birthday parties now (now that they've been out of the public school system for several years), and their own birthday party guest lists are quite short -- but they go to their good friends' parties and vice versa. A small measure of how things are now, and I'm happy with it.

 

That's us, anyway.