Just a little rant after a hot and humid day… we “homeschool” our four kids (I put homeschool in quotes because it is more like an umbrella school; the kids learn at home and are tested every week in a group setting with other kids in the organization). My husband works at a job along with a few teachers’ husbands– and boy, do they criticize! I don’t know what it is– for some reason these guys just feel the desperate need to point out stuff like a news story that a homeschooler shot somebody, or that a homeschooler is behind in studies, or that a homeschooler wants to return to public schooling. They NEVER mention it when a public school student shoots people, or a public school student flunks his grade again, or when a public school student is caught with drugs or DWI. We all know this happens more frequently with public school kids than homeschoolers, but for some reason, we homeschoolers always have to feel on the defensive.
The other day, it happened again. While at work, my husband was getting the barrage of questions of “when” my eldest daughter would “graduate.” She’s actually a year ahead in her studies (and these are college level studies, too), but to these idiots, she’s 18 and should be out of school now. “Looks like somebody dropped the ball!” they accuse. My husband is too gracious to shoot out a nasty remark, like I would. Grrr. He has to work with these jerks, so he’s nice; but I don’t. But the lousy thing is these jerks never say anything like this in front of me. The bigots. Don’t these people have enough to do trying to fix their own social problems without criticizing us that we aren’t raising our kids the way they think we ought to? Grrr.
And while I’m ranting, you want to know what really stings? We pay for THEIR kids’ education (through our property taxes) and then we also have to pay for our OWN kids’ education (through tuition). We get no tax breaks and are essentially funding their kids and their teachers, and then they turn around and criticize us every chance they get.
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Tuesday, 10. June 2008
Let me be the first to comment on the post. I have first hand info on how great homeschooling is. My cousin and his wife homeschooled their only daughter up to college. She turned out great!! Then my hairdresser home-schooled her 2 boys up to high school. They’ve turned out great. If I had children I would definitely want home-schooling for them. Back in my day it wasn’t an option and probably wouldn’t have been accepted. But my hats off to all SAHM who do it. My opinion is that as long as the kids get some type of social activities to develop their social skills then go for it!!!
Tuesday, 10. June 2008
I commend you for homeschooling! I think it’s awesome and if we had the option around here (which we don’t) my kids would have been homeschooled as well.
Tuesday, 10. June 2008
I always admire parents who homeschool their kids. It takes a lot of discipline and hard work. I tried but failed. If I had another chance I would do it again. Maybe homeschool my grandchildren. :)
Tuesday, 10. June 2008
I think homeschooling is great…I know it takes a tremendous amount of dedication and determination.
You are doing what is best for you and yours don’t let others undermine your choices!!
Cheers
Tuesday, 10. June 2008
These kinds of comments irritate me so much. I used to hear them from family members. What I realized is that the people who made these comments had no idea what homeschooling is really about. Their minds are stuck in the public school box. They can’t imagine anything else could do as good of a job as how they did it.
Now to give credit to the other people who aren’t as narrow minded, I’ve also had some unexpected responses that were really positive. Like from my son and daughters teachers when I told them I was bringing them home.
Just adding my 2 cents.
Kristie
Tuesday, 10. June 2008
Hmmm, I think people may just criticize what they don’t know. It’s threatening; it makes you question yourself “hey, maybe I’m wrong! Maybe I should have been homeschooling all along, maybe this person is a better parent than me!” that sort of fear.
I’ve never had the experience myself but have toyed with the idea that if we have children we could home school them. I imagine what is important in homschooling is that children not only get a good education but that thye also get a healthy dose of opportunity to interact and work on projects with other kids from a variety of backgrounds as they would in school. Let’s face it, there’s no excuse for kids to be late for class at least! ;)
Tuesday, 10. June 2008
With close-minded people, we can only try a couple of things, in my opinion. First, we can try to inform them. Second, we can ignore them and move on.
I hope this helps; it can be frustrating!
Tuesday, 10. June 2008
If people would think outside the 9 dots, homeschooling would be #1 but with the ignorance running rampant, it just time to move by them and ignore them. Hang in there!
Wednesday, 11. June 2008
hang in there!! we have homeschooled for 6 years, this year 3 out of the 4 kids went to “real” school. needless to say, 3 are coming home next year because in their own words “they didn’t learn anything”! LOL even the principal has begged me to keep our kids in the system…they were good for the school. so how about what can your school do for my kids and not vice versa? anyway, you’ll always get opinions, but do what is right for you and your family…it’s worth it!!!
Wednesday, 11. June 2008
Aw, don’t worry about nasty insults, Mom!
Seriously, they are just plain JEALOUS! ;)
:D:D:D