Well....

[Angelsj]

Get them into one or two activities here and there that they enjoy. They will find friends more easily if they are doing compatible activities. Take advantage of youth enrichment (art classes, summer fun stuff, swimming lessons). Check with your local community center. Look for home school groups in your area, and ask them.

I have four kids currently in college/trade school, and all of them were home schooled through high school. Some places they found friends: neighborhood, local school through band or choir participation, youth groups for church, Bible camps, activities such as dance, TKD or gymnastics, home school groups, swimming pool...etc.

[AmyLeigh]

Get them into one or two activities here and there that they enjoy. They will find friends more easily if they are doing compatible activities. Take advantage of youth enrichment (art classes, summer fun stuff, swimming lessons). Check with your local community center. Look for home school groups in your area, and ask them.

I have four kids currently in college/trade school, and all of them were home schooled through high school. Some places they found friends: neighborhood, local school through band or choir participation, youth groups for church, Bible camps, activities such as dance, TKD or gymnastics, home school groups, swimming pool...etc.

I second the activities. Weekend playdates with current friends are important, too. After a while, your dd will learn that her same age friends aren't available to play until x time. Once my odd made that adjustment, she was fine. She has friends from church (locally and in other towns), dance, and swim lessons. My ds just started gymnastics and is happy there are other boys his age in his class. He's more of an introvert, like his mom, so it wasn't as big of a deal for him.

[Countrygal]

I allowed/allow the children to join one club. My three we were in 4-H. There is a LOT to do, and they formed life-long friendships. Gs wants to join a model airplane club, or I'm thinking about Boy Scouts.

The other place they had friends were from church and our local home-schooling group.

Sometimes my kids wished they had more friends, but what they didn't realize is that even when you are in a "traditional" school, you still only have one or two "besties" that you hang around with all the time.

[SimpleMom]

My local hmschl group meets btwn 1 and 230 in the pm on a weekday. Have you ever taken dck's with you to these or found someone to come in to watch dc while you go with your kiddos?

I like the 4h club idea. I do have her in soccer, one night per wk church group, and a morning church service with kids. Hopefully that will work well. I also found another group for mothers and daughters.

[Country Kids]

This was always our biggest problem! Everything was during the day with homeschoolers and we rarely could do things- Alot of the 4-H clubs was even during the day because thats when the homeschoolers did them. It was frustrating.

We did join one 4-H club and she really like it but it there was only two others in it.

People did offer to pickup and we did do that but I really wanted to be able to participate. I did take dcks when I only had a couple. No one seemed to understand why we couldn't do things because I worked. Also, I and one other mom where the only homeschool moms we knew that worked! It was very frustrating at times.

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

Dd did dance classes and piano when she was younger. She did 4H when she was older. We hosted kidlets from Japan 4 times and Dd went to Japan. She loved the library and volunteered there when she was 13-16 and they hired her at 16. She had a limited group of friends. Now that she is at a small college with lots of like minded young people, she has awesome friends. There just were not that many here that we loved.

Ds- Cub Scouts was his first group activity. He also did 4H a couple of years and then at 9 he joined 4H shooting sports. He is now a competitive shooter. He has friends from all over! He is still in Scouts and is working on his Eagle. He doesn't have a really close friend but has a larger circle of friends. He is comfortable in all the groups he is with. He was on the jr fair board this year and had a great time.

I really try to not be too social. There are enough things that pull our kids away. I really liked the fact that because of childcare I had a reason NOT to go to all of the homeschool stuff. Even in that group it is very material and the same "cool" and "uncool" kids exist. By feeding our kids interests instead of trying to belong to a group has really helped my kids be themselves. Dd has done great in college. She is head of a household this year, prefected a summer program for hs kids, and was on the dean's list. She is an elem ed major and wants her masters in library science. Ds does well at scout camps and this past summer he was at training and then traveled to the jr olympics with his team and they only had great things to say about him. My kids do well in social situations because they have always been with a wide range of people. Ds shot with a bunch of men on the range when he was 13 doing tacticle shooting. He was invited to join them. This is a special group of guys and the leader is well known. The conversation went, do we let a 13 yr old do this? Well, he is not an ordinary 13 yr old! He handled it well. These guys love him and take great pride in him. One is a judge and he always asks me what I did to raise him. Socialization begins at home. Being respectful to mom and dad and the littles. My kids know how to take care of little ones, to love them and care for them. Then it broadens out from there. I do require my kids to use Mr and Mrs for adults. It sets the tone that they are to be respected. It also helps when they are in those senerios with older people, they are not your "friends" you treat them as adults.
Ok I am climbing off my homeschooling socialization soapbox. FInd your own kids' genious and it will all go from there!

[Countrygal]

My local hmschl group meets btwn 1 and 230 in the pm on a weekday. Have you ever taken dck's with you to these or found someone to come in to watch dc while you go with your kiddos?

I like the 4h club idea. I do have her in soccer, one night per wk church group, and a morning church service with kids. Hopefully that will work well. I also found another group for mothers and daughters.

Actually, at the time, all of the kids were too young to join 4H (have to be 5), but they all ended up joining right when they turned 5 So it worked out well. I would have had no problem bringing the dckids with me to a meeting or outing. They are very educational and a lot of fun! I'd just call it a field trip.

Back in the days when my kids were in 4H was much more active than it is now, tho. At least around here. If you are in an area where there isn't much going on, I'd still consider Boy or Girl Scouts.

IMO, it sounds like your daughter gets plenty of interaction, at least during soccer season, but she might enjoy something else on the off seasons.

Oh! We also did gymnastics one year, until dd broke her arm in it one day. She never wanted to go back.

Also, if you have a hsing group locally, they usually have events, some in the eves to accommodate whole families. Picnics, field trips (littles are almost always welcome), tours, speakers. Definitely something you should check out. Our hs group has field trips and I am hoping to rejoin this year and just take the one or two dckids with us! They all love field trips!

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

Oh and Ds did floor hockey at the YMCA for years! Loved it!