do you need to take care of homeschool mama’s socialization?

Homeschool mama’s socialization, you ask?

Interesting that homeschool moms are questioned about their kids’ socialization.

Meanwhile, kids are being transported to many activities every week: co-op, science classes, theatre or piano practice, baseball games, playdates, and jobs.

Do you need to take care of homeschool mama’s socialization?

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It’s the mamas that are driving, coordinating, managing a house, helping small children, and teaching lessons.

By the end of the day, mama is tired, and she hasn’t been hanging out with friends.

She’s tired enough that she doesn’t feel like asking a friend for coffee or a chat.

Mama would rather get into her PJs after a nice hot bath, sliding into bed with Netflix or a book, a bowl of potato chips, and a gin and tonic (this might be lifted from real life).

It’s not the homeschool child’s socialization that the general public should be concerned about.

Sometimes, lost in her homeschool world, mama remembers she hasn’t talked to an adult all day, possibly not all week, except for superficial conversations with grocery clerks, post office people, the dance, or violin teacher.

When dad comes home, if a dad comes home, mama wants to talk. And mama has a lot to talk about. Even if dad has spent all day talking. A solid partnering relationship is certainly part of healthy socialization for mama.

But it’s not all she needs, and it is a heavy need to satisfy.

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Building relationships and connections takes work and requires a lot of conjuring to step outside the mama role, build friendships for the sake of her own well-being.

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The notion that we are alone is not real.

It’s a feeling, for sure.

A sometimes terribly uncomfortable feeling. It’s a feeling that screams that we need to get more connected, go deeper, or be more vulnerable in our relationships. Maybe we desire a relationship that affirms us and accepts us.

But alone? Seven billion people live on this planet.

We are never alone.

Loneliness is a common human experience.

Everyone discovers that they are alone in the world.

Though they may be surrounded by a community of family, of long-term friendships, of familiarity with the community businesses and restaurants, they are friends with their neighbours and homeschool co-op teachers, music teachers, and dance teachers, still, everyone learns eventually that we are separate and alone in the world.

But we are alone in the world, together. Loneliness is a state of mind.

The grass ain’t greener.

Just because other mamas go to work and chit-chat around the water cooler, just because other mamas drop their kids off at school and have six hours to head to the gym and tidy the house, doesn’t mean they’re also not lonely.

The grass ain’t greener anywhere; there are always challenges.

Mama needs to be part of the bigger world, her own world.

Maybe it is a book club for mental stimulation or a dance class to make her feel young again. Perhaps, she needs to start her own business, start a course, or play with a hobby.

Mama needs her own thing.

Your tribe doesn’t need to be the same person, the ideal person.

The best of your friends might not have homeschooled at all. Your routine coffee dates might not be with homeschool parents. Or maybe they are, but these friends might hold radically different homeschool philosophies.

You don’t have to connect in sameness.

A bouquet of friends.

Recognizing the commonality between you and someone else is the goal. Just as in marriage, there are no two people the same, with identical values, identical interests, or identical plans. There are no two friends the same. We pick each friend like a flower in the meadow and make our own friendship bouquet. Cheesy, but accurate.

• We connect with one friend in how they parent.
• We connect with another in our homesteading interest.
• With another friend, our paths cross regularly because our kids connect.
• We always find community in the common, when we’re regularly crossing paths with random people and being our authentic selves.

More than anything, she needs to let down her guard and not expect identically homogenous people.

More than outside activities, the lonely homeschool mama needs to accept the beauty of non-homogenous relationships.

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We need to overlook our perceptions.

It is only a perception that we are alone. In just one famous homeschooling Facebook group, there are 11,000 people. That’s just one Facebook group. There is a ton of homeschooling community available. Sometimes it’s online. I know, it’s not the same as face-to-face socialization. But it has its place. If 11,000 people are on a Facebook group, and we all know plenty of homeschool families that are not on Facebook, then how many more homeschool families are in our face-to-face world?

Practice recognizing similarities.

We’re not looking for homogeneity (because it doesn’t exist); we’re looking for common interest, common connections, and perhaps common values.

Try to temporarily set aside your book cover judgment so you can find your commonalities. Everyone and I mean everyone, can find commonalities with others. The human experience is every human’s experience.

Find friends based on interest.

So where to start? This might sound familiar homeschool mama: start with your interests. Connect in places you would want to go if your children didn’t exist.

Try this more than once. There’s no guarantee that your closest circle of friends are fast friends the first time you met them (though that happens too). Just because you went to book club once, or a bible study, or the gym, or knitting club, and you didn’t immediately connect, isn’t to say that you won’t develop that friendship.

Don’t expect everyone you like will like you. Not everyone that likes you will you like. (Sounds like advice we might share with our children.)

Familiarity breeds friendship.

Where you are regularly is where you will make friends. Like the grocery store, pet food store, the library, or extracurriculars.

Vulnerability is required.

You must risk being who you are if you want to be known. That means you have to know who you are, be able to be who you are, and let people know that person, not the shiny person, not the closed-off person, but the real person that you know is definitely you.

You have birthed a community too.

Though this suggestion runs contrary to present-day advice, you have birthed, like literally birthed (or ‘heart-birthed’, adopted) your most valuable community. One day, the kids in your homeschool will likely be your friends.

Approach them now as your friends and you might miss the point of parenting and teaching them unhealthy co-dependence. Though these friendships have a different origin and progression, and you are their prime social influence, you are making your own community through your family.

Be friends with yourself first.

Take yourself out to places you enjoy. Not one of my kids will volunteer to follow me into the antique or book store, but I’m all over that stuff. I’ll take myself on the local art walk. I’ll take myself to the Thai restaurant and order something no one else in my family likes. I am different than my family and I like being with myself.

Be comfortable with solitude.

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Belonging is the innate human desire to be part of something larger than us. Because this yearning is so primal, we often try to acquire it by fitting in and by seeking approval, which are not only hollow substitutes for belonging, but often barriers to it. Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.”

Brene Brown

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(But food for thought: why isn’t anyone asking about homeschool mama’s socialization?? That might be more concerning, don’t you think?)

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If you want to show up on purpose in your homeschool AND find homeschool mama socialization, join us at the Homeschool Mama Book Club!

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Homeschool Mama Self-Care: Nurturing the Nurturer

“My homeschooling journey has included a growing pile of books that I have read, browsed, or barely got past the first chapter. This book is just delightful and a gem! It’s not only helpful and inspiring but also funny. The author is like that no-nonsense brave friend who is looking out for you and your well-being as a homeschooling mama. We all need that friend and I am taking my time as I work my way through the chapters and enjoying it all. I love the section on overcoming overwhelm, grappling with perfectionism, and minding and working through our emotions. This book is worth its weight in gold. Find a quiet place to read, bring a warm cup of tea, and enjoy!”

–Sonia in S. Jersey

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