Homeschooling the dog or socializing the kids??

As a homeschooling family, I am often ask "What about socialization?" It reminds me of when we  became foster parents of an Australian Shepard puppy, named Molly. I was not excited, and thought, if this little puppy needed a home, of course she could stay with us!  Well, as time went by I realized, this puppy acts like a toddler and I needed some parenting advise! And quick!!

 So, we were referred to a sweet lady, who is a puppy trainer. She took us to the local park, which I thought was odd, because there are so many distractions, how would the puppy ever learn anything.  Well, this lady was AMAZING!! She had that puppy wrapped around her apron, full of puppy snacks!  She told me the best thing you can do for your puppy is to socialize her. Ahhh, I have some learning to do! ~ and that's why we were at a busy park.

 Socialize! Huh? There is that S word again. What does socialization have to do with a DOG?
 The puppy trainer had my ears perked up. So, I asked her "What does socialization mean ( I knew what it meant to me)?" She said, " you need to introduce your new puppy to all kinds people. People that are young and old with hats and glasses, tall and fat, red heads, people with dresses on or shorts and those who wear boots and high heals. Introduce them to the UPS man, police men, doctors, the mom walking her child in a stroller, the kids skateboarding down the sidewalk. Introduce, whistles and bells, little hands clapping, plastic being crumbled, trains and trucks driving by. Show them and let them hear the people and the sounds around the town. Keep them with you at all times, until they have been trained and have learned to obey when you walk out of the room. Wow, sounds kind of like homeschooling my kids!

Proverbs 22:6 ~ Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

As I went home later that day I thought of the reasons why I was homeschooling/socializing my kids. I came up with many reasons, but the main reason is to teach them the ways of the Lord, about God's Word and how and why we obey it.

 So that brought me to the question, am I homeschooling the dog or socializing the kids lol!!