SOCIALIZATION -  People are often concerned that homeschooled children are handicapped when it comes to socializing ‘out in the world.’ Allow me to tell you a story. It is a true story about a homeschooled student that I know very well.


A fifteen-year-old boy went into a restroom in a fast-food restaurant. It was a single-person restroom, and he inadvertently walked in on an elderly man using the toilet. The man used a walker, and had a splint on one hand. The man asked the boy to please help him stand up and also to help him wipe himself off. The boy was naturally very embarrassed and uncertain how to handle this extremely awkward situation. He offered to go out and get one of the man’s friends. The man then asked if the boy could just help him stand, he would attempt to use his other hand to take care of himself. This sweet boy did what he could to assist this man without embarrassing him or exhibiting his own embarrassment. Shortly thereafter, the wife of the man came in and took over the situation.

This young, homeschooled boy handled an adult situation with the grace and dignity of an adult. Had he been raised in the age-segregated environment of a public school, would he have been able to handle this situation as maturely as he did? I suppose we will never know. I suppose there are also teenagers who have been raised in public school who could have and would handled the same situation the same way. My point in relating this true story is this: Homeschooled children socialize out in ‘the real world’ just fine.