Riding, swimming, Scouts and Brownies

Because Springy is a) an only child and b) someone who happens to love being around other people, we have made a lot of effort into ensuring she gets regular contact with other children as well as the socialising she does with us, her family and friends or out and about shopping, at the library and so on.

Springy goes riding, to Scouts and to Brownies.  We've also got a weekly or sometimes fortnightly swim going on with some other friends who happen to be home-educators too.

I think that the 'socialisation' issue is important but more from whether a child's personality and temperament makes it so.  It's also more about socialising than socialisation.  If you have a gregarious child then it's imperative imho that their socialising needs are met. My advice to home educators with only children is to ensure that you do set up meet-ups or join in with group activities of some sort on a regular basis, unless your child really can't cope.  If they can't cope then it's worth considering why e.g. auditory processing. I've met home ed only children who were on the autistic spectrum and who to the outside world came across as "odd" and therefore were deemed a "reason not to homeschool" but society often doesn't understand that a.s. children often don't thrive in school either.  In these cases it may be that any group socialising you do is very selective and serves a true need for your child e.g. an interest.