Tips For Making Friends as a Homeschooler

Quality friends are the key to a long, happy life. 

When you’re in school, they seem like a given. But for homeschooled students, it’s not always so straightforward. The stereotype is that they are socially awkward, despite studies showing there is no correlation between the two. When students aren’t in a classroom with their peers all day, the assumption is that they don’t develop social skills. They do — just in different ways than those who attend a traditional public or private school. 

While regular school is ripe for social interaction, kids learning from home also have plentiful opportunities to forge friendships. Wondering how to make friends as a homeschooler?  It requires a bit more planning and effort, but there are lots of ways to have a social life when homeschooled.

Meeting Other Home Learners

Co-Ops

Co-ops are probably the most straightforward way to meet other students who learn from home. Co-ops are just like minded families cooperating for a shared goal, which could be academics, socialization, physical activity, or arts and crafts. Search the internet for co-ops in your community to see if there are any opportunities that align with your goals. 

Field Trips

Many local home-based learning groups put together field trips to places like historic sites, museums, aquariums, and zoos. Do a quick Google search to see if there’s anything in your area that interests you.

Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups make it easy to connect with other families pursuing at-home education. On Facebook, just search for groups, and you’ll likely find one in your area. If you live in a smaller town, you may need to expand your search to the region. 

These groups are a great way to learn about meetups in your area, meet other families, and find opportunities for social interaction.

Meeting Students in Similar Life Stages

Sports

Just because you aren’t enrolled in traditional school doesn’t mean you can’t participate in sports. Many parks and recreation departments offer youth sports programs such as basketball, soccer, baseball, and flag football. The YMCA also has a robust youth sports program, including swim team. 

Students learning from home can often participate in public school sports programs and extracurricular activities, though this varies by state. 

Arts Programs

Theater, painting, pottery, choir, band… There are so many arts programs out there available through local arts centers. Parks and recreation departments are also a great resource for finding affordable arts programs in your area. 

Camps

Mostly offered during the summer, there are camps for nearly everything you can think of. Some are traditional summer camps that include outdoor activities, games and songs around the campfire, and sleeping in a cabin. Others are day camps sponsored by the YMCA, parks and recreation departments, churches, and arts centers. Camps are a great way to have fun and meet new people. 

Volunteer Activities

Volunteering allows you to make friends while doing good in your community. There is a volunteer opportunity for virtually anything you can think of, but a few common ones include serving meals at a food bank, spending time with the sick and elderly at nursing homes, or tending to a community garden. 

This is also a good way to make friends who may be in different life stages from you, as people of all ages volunteer. 

Library Programming

Libraries are excellent resources not only for books but also extracurricular activities. They often host activities such as writing workshops, crafting classes, special-interest groups, and more. Visit your local library’s website to see what offerings they have and sign up for something — You never know who you might meet.

Scouting Programs

Scouting programs like the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts provide children and youth with opportunities to get outside, build leadership and life skills, and, of course, make friends. 

Book Clubs

If you enjoy reading, joining a book club through your local library or bookstore is an excellent way to socialize over a shared interest. Book clubs can be in person or virtual, and you can likely find one for any genre that interests you. 

Maintaining Existing Friendships

If you have existing friendships from in-person school, maintain those friendships! You may not see those friends as often or as easily as you did before, but just because you aren’t in class with them every day doesn’t mean you can’t still be friends. 

Send them a text or Snap to let them know you’re thinking of them and plan to meet up to do something you both enjoy, such as watch an episode of your favorite TV show or go for a walk in the park. You don’t have to be going to school together to keep friends you met in school. 

About The American Academy

With The American Academy, you have the opportunity to build a highly customizable online at-home program that is flexible, supportive, and affordable.

We offer more than 100 core and elective courses, so you can customize your education to fit your interests. Some of our courses even introduce students to career pathways, such as health care, video game design, fire safety, and business. 

Learn more about our complete online homeschool program for high school or individual courses.