Common Misconception #1

We had a wonderful visit with my cousin Jenny and her husband and their daughter yesterday. They were here for dinner. ( My husband barbecued. ) Their little girl and our 3 oldest went and played non stop together, outside and back in the bedrooms! The kids really enjoyed playing with their little cousin!

Above is a photo of Jenny and her daughter during a visit over a year ago. We are very fortunate to have quite a lot of family on both my side and my husband's side that we can also call 'friends'. ( Jenny married a great friend for my husband - both being Pacific Islanders, very family oriented and great at barbecuing! ) People we truly enjoy not only being blood related to but also enjoy getting together with on a regular basis. This got me thinking about a common misconception people have about homeschoolers. Something I got asked quite often growing up and still get asked today. Both my brothers and I were homeschooled and my husband and I now homeschool our children. When other people find this out the #1 question they always ask is " How do you get friends?" All of my homeschooling friends can also tell you this is a question they were asked.

I look around me now as I'm in my 30's and take a look at who my friends are and I urge you ( anyone reading this ) to do the same ... how many of your current friends did you meet in school and if you do have many of them for friends today - how many of those relationships are/were ones that were beneficial in learning attributes God would like you to have learned?

My point in saying that is - there's nothing wrong with having friends in school but if your goal is to meet people there and acquire friends - what kind of relationship and knowledge are you trying to gain by having them as friends?

As a homeschooler - yes, I had friends and yes, my kids have friends. I count both of my brothers as my best friends and when they and cousins got married we gained even more friends! When I got married my pool of friends doubled or maybe even tripled with all of my husband's family members. Besides the enormous amount of blood related friends we have, we also became friends with children in church, our local 4-H club, all of the fairs we spent so much time at showing our animals, the children in our neighborhood and we were part of a small homeschool group. My cousins Jenny and Brad... ( Brad shown here with his wife who is pregnant with their first son! ) grew up next door to us and are probably more like siblings than cousins. They are still our friends today. This handsome couple here - the Wilsons - are very close friends. We met Adam and his brother in church as young children and then were in the same homeschool group - getting together once a month to work on science experiments!

This is a photo of myself and my VERY dear friend who I met when she was 2 and I was 5. We were neighbors, then attended the same church, then the same 4-H club and the same homeschool group. 28 years later and we are still the best of friends! I find I have so many friends that I barely have time to keep in touch with all of them as do my own children.

I also find that during the few highschool years that I spent in public school - I made some friends, nice people who were fun but they were very shallow friendships and I no longer see or hear from any of them. Hopefully, my children will grow to learn that quality of friendship is greater than quantity of friends and that they can have a 'friendship' bond with their own siblings and family members that can last a lifetime.