The presence or the absence of social skills in a homeschooled kid is always being scrutinized. In fact, the truth here is that people always watch your child and then judge you based on your child’s social skills. This behavior stems from the fact they want to hold you personally responsible for the “lack” of social skills in your child as he is homeschooled. Personally, I was never aware of a system to check if your child has social skills or not.
A new family has just moved into the house next door. I was in the house, and my son was in the garden doing his stuff. After every 30 mins or so, I yell his name and check if he is still is around. If he responds, I breathe a sigh of relief and if he doesn’t I have to dash outside to see if he is up to some mischief or has disappeared somewhere. The same thing happened this day. I called him and he didn’t answer, I went out to check, he was nowhere in the garden. All his stuff was lying there and only he was missing. I checked the front door. Locked. I opened the door and went out to see and there he was chatting merrily with the new neighbor. He was all about his introduction – his name, his house, his dog, his mom, his dad, and everybody. He also offered to help in moving the stuff inside and unpacking, thankfully for us, his request was politely declined. I called him inside and back he was in the garden again.
The next evening when I am back from the office, he holds my hand and guides me to his room saying – “I have a surprise for you. Close your eyes and open only when I tell you to”. I panicked, coz, history tells me these words usually end up both of us having a mild heart attack. When I was told to open my eyes, I saw 2 big cardboard boxes on top of each other and he had created some kinda cave or a hideout for him. He had his drawing book and colors inside as well. He told me he got this from the new uncle who has just moved in. And quickly added that he asked for their permission, and they allowed him to take those boxes.
None of what had happened demonstrated a lack of social skills in Mishu. In fact, what he did displayed healthier social skills than us, his parents. He went and introduced himself, he asked for permission to take those boxes and also spent some time in knowing the neighbor’s family. Something which we both are yet to do for whatever reasons.
Before I post, let me first apologize for not updating this journey regularly.
Things have been a bit busy lately and with that, I have also realized that consistent blogging is not an easy job. Having said that, I am back now and hope to keep on adding our experiences during this journey.
While I was away, our homeschooling journey with Mish continues. We always look for resources and any help or guidance that we can get from our fellow parents. Nothing is stupid, trivial or too naïve for us to seek help, suggestions or guidance. We also keep looking for online resources. A lot of blogs, articles, and stories help us. So while browsing, one thing that is always there – is a question – Why Homeschool?
It’s there. In our casual conversations with other parents or sometimes on the internet forums, chats, question-answer sites. Everywhere. Staring right in our faces in its many different forms and types. Sometimes it’s the first question or most of the times as a follow-up question to the others.