I misspoke yesterday. Homeschooling is not a subculture. That would imply that it is a smaller subset of the culture at large. No wonder I found that categorization offensive. No, homeschooling is a counterculture. It runs against the grain; opposite to the culture at large.

Today my son went to an airsoft party. He and several of his homeschool buddies started an airsoft club, and they take turns hosting parties. The boys dress up in as much camouflage gear they can find, and break up into two teams. They spend the day in an elaborate war game complete with strategy, covert operations, and prisoners of war.

The boys spend many of the warm weather days bundled up in long-sleeved, long pants camouflage battles. One of the boys even threw a war in January. That was quite something for the boys, trudging through 40 acres in the cold. Here’s a group of teenage boys who have organized themselves around a joint activity. They take dues, agree on rules of engagement and insignia.

That was the kind of socialization I’d heard about when I first started homeschooling. It had sounded too good to be true. Now it’s just an accepted part of our homeschool counterculture.