I've lived here for 15 years. Homeschooling has introduced us to an entirely different crowd and challenging social situations.
Perhaps this is a warning to those used to a more tolerant public environment. I've never encountered this concentration of insular ideas, and it makes it hard to establish friends in the homeschooling realm. Most of my son's friends are in public school settings.
Until this past fall, my son was in preschool and kindergarten at a small private school that strove to be tolerant toward all. We have many neighborhood friends of various ideologies and have maintained comfortable, respectful relationships for years.
My son, as a PG gifted kid, doesn't accept "because I said so" as an explanation.
I appreciate the suggestions to perhaps just avoid the unstructured play, such as park play days. Now we just have to find some daytime kid lessons and such.
But, he still likes the seesaw, swings, and slides at the park, and they're more fun with other kids. Empty parks during the day are sad places to play, especially when tag is a favorite game.
