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What if my 5 year old wants to try school to have friends? by Beverley Paine, Aug 2018 The Educating Parents Homeschooling and Unschooling Facebook group was created so that parents and others interested in home educating can chat to families already doing it and to ask any questions they might have. Most of the parents active in the group are still at the research stage, working out if home education is the right fit for their families. The subject of socialisation comes up frequently. Recently a mum, keen to unschool her young daughter, was concerned that the child wanted to go to school to meet and make friends and she was worried that keeping her home would disadvantage her child. Within minutes plenty of experienced home educators had reassured her that it is possible for kids to meet and make friends outside of school. Looking at it from the child's point of view it's easy to see why five year olds might want to go to school. Try to find a TV show or story book that doesn't feature school as the norm for children approaching the age of 4 or 5. And the main lure for school is friends (because school locks up all the kids for 7 hours a day 5 days a week and they're harder to find out and about in the community, playing on playgrounds, etc). Just about every home educating parent I know went to school, some for 12+ years... the messages that were jammed into our brains about the nature of friendship, how children are supposed to behave, etc need to be critically examined. De-schooling ourselves, de-schooling our minds, setting them free from the dogma we had no choice but to accept as school-kids, is a huge part of learning to be comfortable with home educating, and to trust in our children's ability to learn and grow without school. Another thing that I find works with kids curious about school is 'playing' school with them, adding a bit of structure if it is needed, doing some 'lessons' or structured activities with them, arranging playdates at our place or in the playground, and getting out and about more to places where there are lots of people. Click here to read more articles on social development and socialisation Was this article helpful? Was it worth $1.00 to you? Your gift of $1 or more helps to keep this site operating offering encouragement and reassurance to families wanting better outcomes for their children. Beverley Paine with her children, and their home educated children, relaxing at home. Together with the support of my family, my aim is to help parents educate their children in stress-free, nurturing environments. In addition to building and maintaing this website, I continue to create and manage local and national home educating networks, help to organise conferences and camps, as well as write for, edit and produce newsletters, resource directories and magazines. I am an active supporter of national, state, regional and local home education groups.
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and Learning without School! We began educating our children in 1985, when our eldest was five. In truth, we had helped them learn what they need to learn since they were born. I am a passionate advocate of allowing children to learn unhindered by unnecessary stress and competition, meeting developmental needs in ways that suit their individual learning styles and preferences. Ours was a homeschooling, unschooling and natural learning family! There are hundreds of articles on this site to help you build confidence as a home educating family. We hope that your home educating adventure is as satisfying as ours was! Beverley Paine
The information on this website is of a general nature only and is not intended as personal or professional advice. This site merges and incorporates 'Homeschool Australia' and 'Unschool Australia'.
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