The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
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Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.
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Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).
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Yes, this is key. We're hoping to have them out of the house doing something with other kids their age at least 3-4 times per week, plus playdates, playing in the park, etc. One of the two is very outgoing, so we're already thinking about how we're going to handle this and looking for homeschooling groups and activities that are not tied to schools. We very much want to avoid the "house arrest" model of homeschooling.
Sounds like you've thought a bunch about this!
Were you home schooled? Personally I feel like I'd have missed out on all of the activities and dumb stuff of school if I skipped it, but that doesn't mean that is the "only right way."
key thing is being involved other ways - church, neighborhood two huge ones that are admittedly probably harder than they used to be. Once you hit high school might be worth starting to get more involved - taking some AP classes, dual enrollment at local college, and highly highly recommend music and athletic extra curriculars.
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I wasn't, but I think I might have liked it. Probably like a lot of people on here, I enjoyed reading almost anything as a kid, from children's fiction to reference books and encyclopedias, and I always wished I had more time for that (well, that and PC gaming). I also used to write and draw for fun, but my enthusiasm fizzled by the time I finished middle school. I think I would kept them up had I learned how to properly draw or had a chance to write about the things I was interested in (history, fantasy, adventure) instead of analyzing e e cummings poetry or whatever.
I'm still a bit worried about their ability to make and maintain friendships without school, though. Friendships happen when you have forced repeated contact and shared experiences, and I've heard that some homeschooling circles have a constant flow of people coming in and out (but I guess some schools do too). We will have a good family friendly neighborhood and a nearby church, so that might help. Sports will probably be important for this as well.
Yeah this will help a lot.
So many people are maladjusted now and have no or few friends and I cannot imagine how much harder it is for the young. Like it's hard enough to find a GF for functional wealthy adults now.
A freshmen in high school? Yikes. And home schooling might be much, much worse.
However it seems very clear you are actively thinking about what you are doing and what the plan is and aware of limitations - fantastic prognostic indicator.
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