Socialization

I realized today that we have become the stereotypical isolated homeschoolers. I used to counter questions about socialization with how we go to the store, church, etc. But I find that I can't even say that anymore. This is what having only one vehicle and high gas prices does to you I guess.

I find myself wondering how I'm going to respond to the inevitable questions when we attend the CAH clinic at UCLA in a few months. One of the members of the group of physicians is a psychologist who is there to determine how well dd is handling her condition among other things. The surgeon also wants her to meet privately (not happening without us present) with the psychologist to make sure she is okay with the surgery. There seems to be great concern because of the type of surgery and her age.

I am so out of touch with what's going on in the world that I didn't know how to answer questions about the way Lorna dresses when we were at the hospital last week. She wears jeans and boots everywhere. The nurse wanted to know if that was what the kids in our area were wearing. How do I know and why would I care? Of course asking Lorna inevitably brings out the, "I don't have any friends" comment that raises eyebrows. It's difficult to get angry with her, she doesn't have any friends in the area, there just aren't many kids here. The vast majority of houses here are only occupied a few weekends a year and then the people spend most of the time at the lake. Not that the kids are suffering in any way, they can hold a conversation with people just fine. But try to explain that it's not a necessity that the kids have friends their own age to people who can't imagine life any other way.

Maybe I'll just confirm everyone's suspisions that we homeschool and keep our kids isolated. At least then we will have earned those strange looks