Real World

As a homeschooling mama, I've had people ask me about socialization. I've had others go one step further and ask, "What about the real world? They need to get used to it sometime."

 That question gets asked after I admit to homeschooling not only for the educational aspect but also for the peer aspect. Because, yes, I do want to shelter my children a bit.

Shelter them not from the "real world" but rather from a manufactured world where kids can be cruel. They can pick, pick, pick on a child like a flock of chickens will peck a lesser one to death. From a pack of peers that can and will dictate how to act, who to be, and how to conform to fit in.

That's not to say that one can't fit in at school, or that all kids are bad, or that you can't flourish in a school setting. But one does realize, right, that there are as many different ways to learn as there are children on this planet. Whether it be public, private, homeschooling, or unschooling. 

Because school is not "the real world". The real world is the world around you. A little village in Africa or the big city of New York. Everyone is different, everyone has a different life path.