One of the many blessings of Homeschooling

Tonight we were at church for one of several "going away" events for our dear friends the Sniffs, LOL (not laughing that they are moving, laughing at the name my daughter gave them so long ago that just sticks). Anyway, almost all of us there were homeschoolers and we were talking about it to a soon-to-be new mom, and we were being VERY realistic about the joys and the not so joyous moments. But then I got home and was sending this picture to my doula mentor, and I realized THIS is exactly why we homeschool...
These 6 girls represent the best of what homeschooling has to offer. The best of socialization...without all the bad stuff. Five of the 6 have known each other for 9 years now (okay...8 for one of them since she wasn't born 9 years ago). The other one only move here in the past 3 years. In the time these girls have known each other, they have ALWAYS gotten along. Always. They truly love each other. They truly enjoy each other. They are all God loving, modest, intensely creative, funny, and fun to be around. They don't do the typical "girl" stuff that building-schooled kids do. They don't promise to be best friends one day and hate each other the next. It's never even crossed their minds. And they are not even the entirety of the clan of girls that our immediate homeschool circle represents. And ALL the girls get along great (they just weren't all at this gathering). In school, they would be divided into 3-4 different grades. 3 0r 4. Different. GRADES. Can you believe that? But here, they aren't second graders or fifth graders...they are just friends. And that's the way it should be :-).