I have a dear friend with three children (girl age 5, girl age 3, and boy age 1) who desires to homeschool, but is struggling with whether it is a good idea for her extremely extroverted oldest child.
This child always wants to be around other people. I am around her frequently myself and can attest to this. Even after long play dates with other children, she cries when it is time for everyone to leave. She begs to be sent to school where she can be around friends. When they drive past her old MDO, she begs to go back there. At home, she follows her mom around all day wanting to interact with her.
A couple of weeks ago she was over at our house and was telling me that one of my kids didn’t want to play with her, so he must not like her. I told her that we all love her, but sometimes {my child} just wants to spend time by himself. I said, “You know how that is, when you just want to be by yourself a little while.” She looked at me and said, “No. I don’t know how that is. I never, ever want to be by myself.” She was dead serious.
My friend takes her to outside activities often. She is in dance and a co-op and has lots of park time and play dates.
My friend is not sure if this is something that her daughter needs to overcome, or something that is just a part of her that should be respected and accommodated (maybe by sending her to school).
She is only 5, so maybe she’ll mellow out, but I know my friend would love to hear from someone who has had experience with this. None of my own children are like this, so I’m not sure what to tell her.