Sunday, March 25, 2007

Socialization

Bj had a sleepover last night with four friends to celebrate her 12th birthday.

Several things were very cool about that.

This was her first time at having sleepover guests at our house. Bj planned who to invite, made the invitations and delivered them in person and/or got them mailed, how the night would develop, chose what movies to watch, the dinner to eat, the games to play, supervised and helped clean the house over the course of a week or so, rejoiced in knowing the day would be perfect, especially the weather and it was (75 degrees in Helena yesterday)!

The four friends are all in public school and it turns out that they had more in common than each being friends with Bj. All four play the clarinet, three of them go to CRA and one goes to HMS. Two of them dance at QCB with Bj, two of them know each other from some time ago and hadn't seen each other in awhile because they go to different schools. Bj has known two of them since they were little kids, but they never played together as a threesome back then.

I've had conversations thru email with moms inquiring about hsing in Montana, they wonder if there is a large hsing community as one of their concerns is their kids being able to make friends with other hser's.

I wonder, is this a throwback thought/feeling from our ps days, of socailization with the kids in our grade level?

The general public has concerns about kids that hs, they wonder about socialization, how will hs'ed kids be able to fit in, etc...

Do parents of hs'ed kids only want their kids to socialize with other hs'ed kids?

Is my family not mainstream in either the hs'ed world or the mainstream world?

Bj does know other hs'ed kids, she dances with some at QCB, but her buds are girls in ps. Amy our oldest child, had tons of hs'ed friends in the mid-west, one she still has connections with, but here in Helena, her friends were all in ps, same goes for my boys.

Me, I have friends of many ages, interests, professions, etc...

One of my best friends and hs mentor said to put my kids in classes, not just to learn what was being taught in the class, but to connect and develop friendships with other kids, be they in ps, hs or not.

... works for us.

Anyway, Bj had a great time last night and this morning. she is already planning for next year's birthday sleepover... and ones for this summer.

As for me, I had a wonderful time, listening to the chatter and the laughter as the night or wee hours of the morning wound down...

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