When different holidays come around your children may ask you what you are doing for Valentine’s Day, Halloween or Thanksgiving. The kids probably talk to all of their friends in traditional schools and find that they are having Valentine’s exchanges, class parties, monthly birthday parties and more. While it may not be important to you to have these things for your child you may want to ask yourself how different you really expect your child to be from their peers.
Why do these extra things matter? Well, it matters because we are social beings and we do care what our friends are doing and we all love to feel like we are part of what is going on. Some home school families don’t want anything to do with all of these “extras” and think that they get in the way of what is going on with the homeschool curriculum. May we pose the question to those then: “What can it hurt?” Can it possibly do a lot of harm (unless you teach a certain religious background in your home) for your child to take Valentine’s to their siblings, friends and family members?
For those that are worried about the socialization aspect of homeschool this is a good opportunity to help your kids learn about what others do and how to be part of it in their own way.
