The Homeschool Response

Earlier this week I received an e-mail from someone who had written a post about homeschooling though she does not personally know any of "us".  I was pretty impressed with what she had to say and equally honoured that she contacted me both to read her blog and to comment, as a homeschooler.  Take a look at what she and others had to say, and feel free to "toot your own homeschool horn".

crucialminutiae 

My comment:

thanks for visiting my site and for representing us "homeschool freaks" so well.

JOSH, believe the "stories"!

I agree with you on the description of a typical homeschool family, though most of my homeschooling friends have many more children than just two. I am a University educated Mom of two boys, ages 12 and almost 11. We have been in the "system" and have homeschooled for 6 years also. Neither one of my kids wants to go back to "regular" school. If they did, we would prayerfully consider it and I would send them ... bringing them back home at any time they decided as well; they know homeschooling is a team effort. We homeschool because my husband and I are artists, writers and musicians and embrace the whole "crunchy" lifestyle, if you will. We are very relaxed learners as well, which is not something that can happen in the public system.

It has been my opinion for some time now that what the public schools can do for my kids is make them good consumers.



As far as socialization goes ... you are right ... I should probably skip the enrichment group picnic tomorrow morning as we attended another picnic on Monday of this week, went to a conservation area, studied tadpoles with three other families, visited with an uncle, had tea with another homeschool mom, played soccer with the homeschool league, canoed with the local Scout group and the Cub Scout camporee starts tomorrow night ...

I cannot count the number of times I have been told I am "wasting" my degree/ my time. A fellow homeschooling mom, and former Catholic teacher, told me this just tonight "yep, staying at home to raise and educate my children has been a total waste of time" I love that.

I agree that as a society we tend to question those things that we do not understand. Choosing to home-educate is certainly on the top ten list of things that are misunderstood. I have wondered if my choice threatens others. If I am questioning our public education system, does that mean parents whose children attend are shirking their job as a parent?

If I don't trust the system to give my kids a top notch education, does that mean I am silently saying those children who attend public schools are inferior?

Another great reason to homeschool is so I can choose my hours with all the flexibility I require. We can attend a late night concert because we don't have an early morning bus to catch, and I don't have any lunches to pack ... AND we can eat all the peanut butter we want. My oldest was able to participate in the local young people's theatre group this year as well, since taking a whole week off school was no big deal for us; we simply made it a part of our learning.

All in all, homeschooling is a choice that is becoming more and more popular and is turning out incredibly well-balanced young men and women every day. I am proud of the freedom to choose ... and I choose home.

~onfire