Socializing Them Home Learnt Kids

Today is homeschool co-op day.  It is also the most hairy morning of the week because everyone must wear socks and a reasonably normal-looking outfit.  Thankfully, we don't leave the house until 10:30!
It really doesn't matter much though because most of the kids there are really nice and would never think of teasing someone over their outfit. (Probably because they had just as much trouble deciding what to wear as my kids do.)
If you are homeschooling a gang or just one, a co-op group is a great place for life lessons in small doses. In our particular group all the moms participate.  We all teach or aid another mom in teaching a class. I get to teach an art class, Benjamin gets to finger paint with the preschoolers and Noah's biology experiments actually get done! It's really helpful for my kids to experience sitting quietly, raising their hands to speak, getting assignments done on time, and getting positive feed back from someone other than their own momma.
They also get to experience peer-pressure and gossip and drama.  All the fun stuff that life is made of!  They get to play games in a gym with kids close to their own age, which is a totally different thing than playing kick ball with a three year old who runs all the bases backwards.  It is true that homeschoolers will turn out just fine without knowing how to play parachute, but getting along with a big group and following directions is a very useful life skill.  Besides, even my three highschoolers loooove playing parachute!
And back to the drama part...drama is, unfortunately, a part of life.  Learning how to deal with it gracefully and not get all caught up in it is immeasurably helpful.  Since co-op is only one half-day a week, we have plenty of chances to talk about what's going on and then we can work on it together.  It's such a great learning experience.  Character building, too. 
I almost forgot one of the most important aspects of homeschool co-op...BRIBERY.  Yep, it's sad, but we homeschool moms need all the help we can get!  So, if you do not stay caught up on your math you'll be sitting with me during gym, and we don't want that, do we??
Happy Socializing,

jen