How will she be socially?
Pretty much the same as if she went to public or private school. You find weird / shy / outgoing / gifted kids in each type of environment. Kids are pretty much kids based on their genetics and how you raise them. Unless you plan on locking your daughter in a closet or something she will be fine.
Think about it. Have you ever seen a kid and known automatically that they were homeschooled? I use to think it was so funny when someone asked where I or my sister went to school. I still think it is funny when people ask where I went to school. Shouldn't it be obvious to them that we are weird homeschoolers? Why should they need to ask if homeschoolers are so unsocialized as to not be able to fit into society? Everyone we have ever told has been surprised because we are so normal we just couldn't have been homeschooled.
I honestly think the socialization misconception has continued because until very recently, the only media attention homeschoolers have gotten has been pretty negative or about families at the extreme end of the unschool or religious homeschooling spectrum. Not everyone keeps their kids indoors all day, or is extremely religious, or has gifted kids, or doesn't teach their kids to read. But those are the types of families that all get pushed forward in the media. It makes better drama. I remember an episode of wife swap one time with a family who homeschooled, who pretty much only taught the daughters to cook and clean and told them their only purpose in life was to be a mommy. The mom didn't take them out or encourage them in academics because all they needed was a domestic life. The show of course made it appear like all homeschoolers were like this. The truth is they aren't. Most families are just average families. Ones who for whatever reason (money, bad school district, incident at school, school let child fall through crack, etc. ) has decided that public education isn't working for them anymore.
I can't promise you your kid won't be weird if you homeschool her. I can only tell you she won't be any weirder than any other kid out there who goes to school. At least that's what the research shows. There has never been any kind of evidence provided to show that homeschooled children have any type of socialization issues. In fact, the only research currently out there has proven the opposite.
http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/13/home-schooling-socialization-not-problem/
That homeschooled children perform socially as well or better than their counterparts who go to school. Some even argue that homeschool children are better able to interact in the real world because they learn early on to deal with people of all ages and spend more time as a child interacting in the real world, then kids stuck sitting behind a desk all day.
Think about it. I'm a kid who goes to school. I sit in a room of say 20-30 other kids my age, but I can't really talk to them or interact with them except at lunch or recess. So basically, I was at school all day but maybe only spent a couple hours of that interacting with other kids. Then everyone I interacted with was my same age, exposed to all the same ideas and knowledge, and about my same maturity.
Compare that scenario to a homeschooled child who spends part of the day working one on one, part of the day socializing with kids of different ages, part of the day with kids their own age, part of the day out at the bank, grocery store, or maybe Dad's work interacting with adults and learning about how to function in the real world. Plus all these other homeschool kids maybe learning or studying different things, so the child becomes exposed to other ideas as well. Also, many homeschool kids still interact with school children through friends, sports, activities, or maybe church, so they are still exposed to "normal" children as well.
Is there something that you do such as have get togethers with other home schoolers or anything like that so that your children have friends?
Yes - play dates, birthday parties, back to school parties, end of year parties, holiday parties, just because parties, field day, yearbook, prom, graduation, field trips, co-ops, art classes, gym classes, computer / technical classes, science fairs, theater groups, chorus groups, sports teams, foreign language classes, Girl/Boy Scouts, support groups, parents night out, church, YMCA programs, library programs, local museum or zoo programs, Disney even has a program, pretty much if it exits in a formal school setting, then some equivalent exists in homeschooling and then some.
Here's a good article that gives examples of places you can socialize your child.
http://www.homeschool-how-to.com/homeschool-socialization.html
Socialization as far as activities, is just like with any traditional school. You can sign your kid up for every club and after school activity there is out there, or you can sign them up for nothing. It's your choice.
When my sister was elementary school age a typical week for her looked something like this:
M - YMCA (hour each art, gym, swimming classes with about 20 kids her age)
T - Girl Scouts
W - Spanish class (kids of various ages), Art class (kids around her age) Church
Th - Co-op (history class & writing class), Homeschool Parents Meeting (sponsored by a local bookstore, first half of night there was a speaker and second half was discussion)
F - Library (homeschool activities) & unit study with another family or fun days - where the focus was more on hands or unschooling type learning and not book work. Mummified a chicken once for an Egypt study. That was fun.
We also squeezed in field trips, field days, homeschool get-to-gethers and parties, birthday parties, play dates, sports, and church plays as we could fit them in.
Over the years she also took homeschool karate, public dance lessons, homeschool cooking lessons, private piano lessons, and performed in plays as we could fit them in her schedule. She also played various sports, did cheerleading one year, and competed in a city wide science fair. There were so many options most years we really had to pick and choose and limit what she could be involved in. Some of the activities were sponsored for homeschoolers in particular, some where open to any child.
Also, do you have a normal school day? Like with certain hours?
This depends on the individual family, you are free to schedule your day as you see fit, as long as you adhere to all the state laws and regulations. Usually by law you are required to put in around 4 hrs a day, 180 days a year. We always did formal schooling 8-12 and then electives / socialization in the afternoons, but every family is different. You can be as structured or unstructured as you like.
Does the school district give you the material?
Some will if you are homeschooling through them. Whether you can or even want to homeschool through the public system varies greatly from state to state and district to district. If you go back a few pages, you will see we discussed this option verses online or umbrella schools. Where I live going through the school system is a big no-no and can cause lots of problems, so we all use umbrella schools here, but it is very different in other places.
The best advice I can give to you is research, research, research. Learn your state laws. Learn about the different types of homeschooling - unschooling or traditional. Learn about curriculum options. Learn your local resources. Learn what is available in your homeschool community. Start now. Many homeschool families start socializing their kids at the preschool age. Find local meet ups, let your daughter make friends young and give yourself a chance to observe and ask questions. Then by the time you are ready to start, you will be all set and already have a good support system in place.
Good luck.
And people call US the crazy ones!
Had to share
