Socialization

To any homeschooler the term ''socialization'' is like fingernails screeching down a chalkboard. People who make assumptions about what social needs homeschooled children might have are of the same ilk of those who don't have children themselves but know all about parenting. They don't have the personal experience to back up what they are talking about. After having my son in the public school system until the beginning of ninth grade I saw first hand the type of ''socializing '' he had access to in school.

This past week we went on a ''Homeschoolers Field Trip'' hosted by the Durham Museum in Omaha. We have gone on these field trips before and have always had an enjoyable time meeting other homeschoolers from the area and learning more about history. This week though a public school group (for reasons unbeknownst to me) joined our homeschool group. There were six children and three chaperons. The very patient Durham employee who led the field trip repeatedly had to keep those kids in check. Constant reminders to not climb on exhibits, to not crowd in front of the other children, let other children look at the display case, take turns to touch the hands on display, keep quiet while she was talking, not touch the displays that were labeled ''do not touch '' , stay with the group and I seriously could go on and on. Meanwhile the three chaperons rarely corrected their children and mostly talked amongst themselves. They were such a distraction that after the field trip three of the homeschool families (including myself) went back through the exhibits so our children could see what they had missed out on.

I wish I had a video tape of this field trip. I would show it to anyone who ever misused the word ''socialization'' with me again.