Thursday, August 9, 2007

Socialization!!


No, I'm not going to talk about homeschoolers and socialization. That's been done to death.
This post is about women. Yes, women. In today's world women have stopped connecting. In addition to the busy lives we lead we have continued the cliquish ways of high school. First, we become Mom and often lose Karen or Maggie or Sharon....somewhere along the way. Then we kind of tool along in the tide of dance mom's or soccer mom's or homeschool mom's or scouting mom's or Little League mom's....almost everything we do is tied to our children's interests or husband's work, our work or our hobby. When was the last time any of you, my 4 readers, got together with a group of women and just had a nice time. Not a meeting, not a birthday party for a child, not a husband or child in sight? Just a few hours of eating and talking. Even better, got together with some women that may lead a slightly different life than you do?
I do this every month. I've mentioned it earlier in my blog. There is a game called Bunco, it's a simple dice game. It's a TX tradition to have Bunco clubs. This is a group of women who get together and play. Sometimes it is done through a church or other organization, often it is 12 women who come together in their homes and play. I was fortunate enough to be invited to sub in a local club within weeks of moving here, and in a few months was invited to join. Some of us are tied in one way or another, there are a couple sisters, a couple homeschoolers, a few neighbors etc....but we don't ALL have anything in common except we all live in the same county and are women. Once a month we all gather at one member's house. She provides dinner. Then we all sit and play Bunco for a couple hours. Bunco requires 4 people to sit around a table and after every game, there is rotation so you are constantly changing who you are talking to. Bunco is a very simple game so you are able to talk and enjoy yourself while playing the game. It's amazing what 3-4 hours once a month just having fun and conversation can do for your morale.
I challenge my readers to think about this. Think about how they can get out and just be Karen or Joanne or Therese every now and then. Have a little fun. Talk. SOCIALIZE. There are lots of games that can be played to encourage socialization. Bunco, bridge, pinochle, any game with more than 2 people at a table that is quick and you can rotate.
Bunco rules are slightly different in every club. If you are interested in Bunco and how it's usually played:http://www.buncorules.com/

1 comment:

Liesl said...

In answer to your question, um, mmmm, lemme think, um, well, never?? Well, I used to meet up with a friend at Atlanta Bread because we were both working on our La Leche League Leader applications, but I'm not sure that counts. Darn it, I need to get out more.

About the idea that women retain high-school values - yes indeedy do, I have seen this. I joined the local MOMS club recently and some of the moms in my AP/homeschooling group were horrified - "You can't do that! Their kids go to public school! And they eat candy! Liam will see all kind of bad things!" In truth we've had a good time at the playtimes we've gone to. They had a MOMS night out last week (Rita's Water Ice - does that ring any bells for you? lol) but I stayed home because both kids and I were sick. I really should go next month.

About socialization of homeschoolers - I had to laugh - I saw a minivan at Target a while back with the following bumper sticker - "CAUTION - This car is loaded with those unsocialized homeschoolers!"

I had to laugh! Homeschooled kids are some of the gentlest, most mature kids I know. People need to be more open to alternate views!

OK, I'm off my soapbox now. Great post, Karen!