Apr 8, 2019

All Ages Socialization

We don't look for friends Hope's age specifically.

Why? At first, it wasn't on purpose.

I learned the joy of socializing with people of all ages many years ago. It started in LARP where people from all walks of life and age and come together to play a story. I never found age was a hindrance either way so it acclimated me to an all ages social environment. I even met my hubby through this hobby; Jaze is 11 years younger than I. So before we had Hope, we already knew that age was not a measure for how well a connection can be and it carried on to our homeschool/parenting measures. We started our Un/Homeschool Club when Hope was 2 years old so we'd have some community for her when she was school age. When we first started Park Meetups we didn't think about what ages would come, but rather, if anyone would come, so we were over the moon grateful when anyone showed up.

Fast forward to this past year.

We started to notice many homeschool families seeking kids with the same age group. I started to wonder if we should be doing the same. So I asked Hope.

She said, while she did find younger kids could be annoying (lol), she liked playing with all the kids we hang out with. She went on to talk about how she can see the way she used to be when she was younger, through being with younger children, and I saw it was giving her the patience and positive mindset to find these interactions fun.

So just like her father and I, Hope is learning the value of all the people around her. Maybe she can't roleplay with Florence, her 16 month old friend, but she can with Louis, her 4 year old friend, and she can LARP with 13 year old friends and bond with her 8 year old friend and play board games with her adult friends and...the list goes on. Jaze and I are so grateful to have passed on this love of people of all ages, regardless of their stage in life, so that she can see the value of everyone's interaction.

This Week

We approved the proof of the 2nd and final edition of our children's book "Freeschoolin': Life Is My School!" and are absolutely in love with it! It is available in both Paperback and Ebook. We had our amazing radical unschooling/Freeschoolin' friends over and they made us a delicious organic, gluten free pizza! Recipe in the photo gallery. We also had a lot of fun playing and chatting together.