Want your child to make more friends this year—but aren’t sure how to help?
Friendships are important for kids’ happiness and well-being, but making friends doesn’t always happen automatically, especially for homeschoolers. Simply putting kids around other kids isn’t necessarily enough.
In this episode, I share a simple three-step strategy for helping your child develop meaningful friendships. And surprisingly, it has a lot in common with shopping at a rummage sale!
You’ll learn:
• How to help your child recognize a good friendship fit
• Why having time for friendship matters
• The importance of shared interests and compatible values
• Where homeschoolers can find good opportunities for friendship
• Why large groups don’t always lead to closer relationships
• The three ingredients that help acquaintances become friends
• Social skills your child may need to be explicitly taught
• How curiosity and good questions can help kids connect
• What to notice when friendship interest isn’t reciprocal
Help Your Child Build Social & Emotional Skills
Kids need more than conversation skills to build lasting friendships. They also need practice with teamwork, good sportsmanship, handling frustration, resolving conflict, apologizing, setting boundaries, and responding when someone else behaves poorly.
That’s why I created Training Aliens, my story-based social and emotional skills curriculum for elementary students.
Each lesson uses a funny story, choose-your-own-adventure decisions, realistic consequences, discussion, games, challenges, STEM activities, and more to help kids practice important social and emotional skills.
Both faith-based and secular teacher’s guides are available.
👉 Download a FREE Training Aliens sample: https://funtolearnbooks.com/product/training-aliens-level-1-kit/
If helping your child make more friends is one of your goals this year, remember the rummage-sale strategy: know what you’re looking for, go where real friendships can develop, and teach your child the skills to turn an acquaintance into a friend.
💬 What have you found works well for helping your child make friends? Share your ideas in the comments.
Other episodes to Check Out
Hospitality Lies That Keep Us Lonely
Raising Confident Kids Through Homeschool Theater
👍 If this episode was helpful, subscribe to The Homeschool Sanity Show.
