If you’ve been concerned about your children not getting enough social interaction while homeschooling, I trust you’ve checked out my other articles on the topic:

What about socialization (which included some information about free homeschool support groups in Santa Clarita) and

Social opportunities – co-op groups

In this article, I would like to mention one other way of finding social opportunities for your children in the form of taking outside classes.

Once again, like with almost anything in the homeschool world, there are multiple possibilities for how this could work.  Here are just a few:

1. Classes could be taken at learning centers (like Learn Beyond The Book and Huckleberry Center for Creative Learning), or

2. It could include sports, music, drama or art classes (Canyon Theater Guild, Santa Clarita Parks & Rec. , Vibe Performing Arts and more),

3. Many homeschool support groups also offer the option to take academic classes as a group with some pre-organized teachers.  Once you join these groups, you will receive emails about classes being organized.

4. Some businesses would also open a homeschool class during school hours for a homeschool group of kids e.g. gymnastics, karate, art, etc. because they have some dead time during school hours.  They usually require a minimum, which varies.  If you have anything in mind that your child would like to participate in, call the company and find out if they have that as a possibility.

5. Sometimes private schools will allow homeschool students to participate in classes e.g. Legacy Christian School.

6. Certain charter schools, like SCV Charter School and Gorman, also offer classes for the students enrolled in their homestudy program, free of charge.

Pros:

• It gives the children opportunities to meet other kids;
• It gives them the opportunity to be taught by other individuals
• Less work on the part of the parent than co-op classes – no prepping required, just chauffeuring;
• It is possible that the teacher could be highly specialized in the field that is being taught, e.g. they might be taking an art class from an artist or a Biology class from a chiropractor.
• If e.g. a business opens a homeschool class for some homeschoolers during school hours, you will have a really quiet and low traffic experience, easy parking situation and sometimes big discounts since they would love business at that time, but kids are in school.
• You can drop the class if you don’t like the teacher or their teaching style or philosophy, you’re not invested with friends teaching with you as might be the case in a co-op.

Cons:

• You have to pay for these classes (although some businesses are vendors for homeschool charter schools);
• You are not as directly involved with your children’s education, it’s delegated to the teacher of the class.

If you have any questions about this article, feel free to write to me.