Making friends
Marjorie
Hi all,
I am not new to the list or to unschooling, although I don't post very often. We have an issue that consistently proves to be the biggest challenge we have faced as unschoolers: finding opportunities for the children to potentially make friends that are around their own age.
Of course there is no reason why friends need to be the same age. All of my children have friends of varying ages. But over the years, two of my children in particular have expressed this desire--my oldest daughter, Kelsey (now 21,) and my 11 year old daughter Kaylin.
My sons (now 20 and 18) never seemed to feel such a strong desire to have friends their own age and gender. My 8 year old daughter is currently content with her many pets, her siblings, and the friends she sees occasionally. My other daughter who died just before her 10th birthday (acute myeloid leukemia) mentioned it once or twice.
Kaylin doesn't want to go to school. She certainly doesn't want to have to go to school to make friends. But she would really, REALLY like to have some girl friends her own age, preferably ones who don't go to school but that is not a necessity.
Have others experienced this issue? What have you done? What has worked? I would appreciate suggestions.
Thank you,
Marge
I am not new to the list or to unschooling, although I don't post very often. We have an issue that consistently proves to be the biggest challenge we have faced as unschoolers: finding opportunities for the children to potentially make friends that are around their own age.
Of course there is no reason why friends need to be the same age. All of my children have friends of varying ages. But over the years, two of my children in particular have expressed this desire--my oldest daughter, Kelsey (now 21,) and my 11 year old daughter Kaylin.
My sons (now 20 and 18) never seemed to feel such a strong desire to have friends their own age and gender. My 8 year old daughter is currently content with her many pets, her siblings, and the friends she sees occasionally. My other daughter who died just before her 10th birthday (acute myeloid leukemia) mentioned it once or twice.
Kaylin doesn't want to go to school. She certainly doesn't want to have to go to school to make friends. But she would really, REALLY like to have some girl friends her own age, preferably ones who don't go to school but that is not a necessity.
Have others experienced this issue? What have you done? What has worked? I would appreciate suggestions.
Thank you,
Marge
Tara Johansson
Marge,
We joined a local homeschool park day. In our area, these are well attended. We were able to find a group that was secular and open to all types of homeschooling. It meets weekly and my kids have found children near their ages to befriend.
Tara J.
We joined a local homeschool park day. In our area, these are well attended. We were able to find a group that was secular and open to all types of homeschooling. It meets weekly and my kids have found children near their ages to befriend.
Tara J.
On Feb 5, 2013, at 11:04 AM, Marjorie wrote:
> Hi all,
> I am not new to the list or to unschooling, although I don't post very often. We have an issue that consistently proves to be the biggest challenge we have faced as unschoolers: finding opportunities for the children to potentially make friends that are around their own age.
> Of course there is no reason why friends need to be the same age. All of my children have friends of varying ages. But over the years, two of my children in particular have expressed this desire--my oldest daughter, Kelsey (now 21,) and my 11 year old daughter Kaylin.
>
> My sons (now 20 and 18) never seemed to feel such a strong desire to have friends their own age and gender. My 8 year old daughter is currently content with her many pets, her siblings, and the friends she sees occasionally. My other daughter who died just before her 10th birthday (acute myeloid leukemia) mentioned it once or twice.
>
> Kaylin doesn't want to go to school. She certainly doesn't want to have to go to school to make friends. But she would really, REALLY like to have some girl friends her own age, preferably ones who don't go to school but that is not a necessity.
>
> Have others experienced this issue? What have you done? What has worked? I would appreciate suggestions.
> Thank you,
> Marge
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
ehulani56
My daughter has found most of her friends over the years through homeschooling park days, unschooling conferences and interest-based gatherings such as aikido, gymnastics, and Japanese anime/cosplay events (not all of which are homeschooling). Our relatively-local conference has been a boon for finding kids of like mind.
Other unschoolers have formed Girl Scout troupes to attract other girls of similar ages and interests. What about organizing a club or other group activity and sending out invitations on local homeschooling lists or on Facebook.
My daughter also has many online friends through her gaming interests (some of whom we hope to meet someday when we travel).
Robin B.
Other unschoolers have formed Girl Scout troupes to attract other girls of similar ages and interests. What about organizing a club or other group activity and sending out invitations on local homeschooling lists or on Facebook.
My daughter also has many online friends through her gaming interests (some of whom we hope to meet someday when we travel).
Robin B.
Meredith
"Marjorie" wrote:
What kinds of things interest her? What does she want to Do with her friends? That may be a way to approach the question.
My daughter (11) has been very keen on having girl friends, but as it happens most of the kids she gets along with are boys - she just doesn't have the same interests as most schoolgirls her age. She has a couple homeschooling girl friends she met years ago through a homeschool group, but they don't have the same interests now, so they don't have much reason to get together. She's recently had good luck meeting people online and making friends that way - but then she's not interested in doing "girly" sorts of social things, she's interested in writing and drawing and playing Minecraft, all of which work as well or better online than in person.
---Meredith
>> Kaylin doesn't want to go to school. She certainly doesn't want to have to go to school to make friends. But she would really, REALLY like to have some girl friends her own age, preferably ones who don't go to school but that is not a necessity.*************
What kinds of things interest her? What does she want to Do with her friends? That may be a way to approach the question.
My daughter (11) has been very keen on having girl friends, but as it happens most of the kids she gets along with are boys - she just doesn't have the same interests as most schoolgirls her age. She has a couple homeschooling girl friends she met years ago through a homeschool group, but they don't have the same interests now, so they don't have much reason to get together. She's recently had good luck meeting people online and making friends that way - but then she's not interested in doing "girly" sorts of social things, she's interested in writing and drawing and playing Minecraft, all of which work as well or better online than in person.
---Meredith