If you're homeschooled...?

Question

How do you meet friends?

Answer 1

It is easier than you'd think. People are naturally social animals. You just get out and make friends. My daughter keeps in touch with one girl she used to go to school with. She comes over all the time. She has friends in the neighborhood that she bikes and plays with. She meets people at the library. She has cousins her age to hang out with. She meets other kids through martial arts and art classes. She meets still others through my friends and the teens we know. We make friends at the mall, the cafe', the park, you name it. We don't pick friends by age. We just make friends with folks we like. It isn't rocket surgery. People had social lives before there was such a thing as public schools.
I hope that answers your question.
If not, just imagine you did not go to school. What would you do to keep your social life active and interesting?

EDIT: Don't listen to Ellie. She's so wrong. I know plenty of adults who regret very much doing those things when they were teens. Meanwhile, I didn't and I had a blast. I traveled, made some money, hung out with my friends, threw parties (without drugs and drinking) studied my way into college and dated cute guys. That beats a boozed up puke fest anyday.

Answer 2

The same way as everyone else...our kids talk to people! The difference is, they can make friends anywhere - they're not in class with the same people day in and day out. Co op classes, field trips, weekly lessons, sports, people they meet at the library, the park, play days and game nights, church activities, Scouts and other groups, etc.

Just because a kid is homeschooled doesn't mean they spend the majority of their time at home...it just means that they and their parents are in charge of their education. Homeschool kids tend to be very involved in activities, often even more so than classroom-schooled kids.

Answer 3

I meet friends at Church, have other homeschooling friends, make friends that live near me and relatives my age. I know some people who are in an actual homeschool group, and you can also if you want to be on sport teams and other group activities.

Answer 4

I meet friends at fencing club, soccer practice, music lessons, the library, on volunteer jobs, at homeschool group field trips and events, in the mall, at the movies, at blind conventions, online, in the neighborhood, at the park, through friends I already have, at parties I'm invited to, at the community center, at the medieval faires, at the christmas festivals, at the other Parks and Recreation events in the community... Homeschoolers get to see a lot of places. We don't spend all our time at home. For us, there is a lot more to the world than just school and home.

EDIT: To whoever wrote the answer that got 8 thumbs down already...did it ever occur to you that you can have fun without being intoxicated? I imagine one would have to be quite boring for that not to work.

Answer 5

Does everyone realise it's entirely possible to go to school and still have no friends! Homeschoolers do extra curricular activities just like kids who go to school. I personally enjoyed the company of the people in my extra curricular activities far, far more than I did the kids I went to school with. I would argue that anyone who had friends from school and nowhere else ought to get a life!

Answer 6

Do you meet make new friends or meet friends? To make new friends you join clubs, do volunteer work, and participate in homeschool meetings and events.
To meet existing friends you call them on the phone and invite them to your home or make arrangements to meet somewhere. Then, you arrange transportation. In our home that means asking mom, dad, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, grandma, or grandpa to take you to the mall, park, library, or wherever.

Thank you Earl. I think some of the questions and comments we get in YA are from outerspace where there is little socialization. (smile)

Answer 7

The choices are endless! I am a current high school student and I'm homeschooled, and I have lots of friends. I've met them through my church, our honor society, through dual credit courses at my local community college, through homeschool groups, extracurricular activities like debate, swim team, dance, etc, through vacations, you name it!

Just so everyone out there knows...homeschoolers do have social lives!

Answer 8

For starters. Dont start with the internet. Its a bad start. Join a church group. Hang out in the parks after school. And allow yourself to be open to your age mates that are curious about you. Make your parents take you out to meet their friends children. Try and be friendly with the friends of your newly found friends

Answer 9

There are close to 100 kids in our co-op, my kids have friends from there. Aside from classes they get together with them at each others houses, or we meet at the park or movies or Chuck E. Cheese, etc. We go to church on Sundays and they have some friends from Sunday school, plus from events with our local Pagan group. The younger ones go to the playground or the pool or museum and just meet other kids to play with there.

My oldest has met friends through activities she's gotten involved in such as volunteering at the library, theater classes at the community center, church, she has a core group of girls she hangs out with that she met through a writing group.

Answer 10

For example, this week we have already or will be doing the following:
Gone to a ballet, and met the cast (and possibly have started lessons) Sunday
Gone to church Sunday
Gone to the library Today
Gone to the natural history museum Monday
Gone to burger king Today
Gone to cooking class Monday
Gone to science class Wednesday
Gone to scouts for the younger son Today
Gone to scouts for the older son Thursday
Gone to scouts for the girls Thursday
Knitting club Thursday
Shopping at the mall Sunday
Shopping at the grocery store Today
Volunteering in a community clean-up Wednesday
Hosting potluck Friday
Volunteering to prepare for community Christmas dinner Saturday and Sunday

Not to mention the dozens of people who live in our neighborhood and we know, talk to, play with, every day.

At each of the aforementioned places, there are dozens if not hundreds of people we can meet, talk to, and exchange contact information with. In fact, my girls met some of their best friends at the library and at volunteering, because those are people with whom they share common values.