Today I will be starting a series about a VERY touchy topic in the homeschooling community. It is one of those topics that is guaranteed to come up the minute you make that decision or if you even decide that you want to voice that you are thinking about making a decision. The result is generally, “Don’t Homeschool! You Will Ruin Your Kids!!”
“You want to do what?”
“Why would you do that?”
“You are just going to ruin them”
These are the statements and supportive feedback most homeschoolers get once they decide to share with friends and family their intentions to homeschool.
Whenever someone says this to me, however, it always catches me a little off-guard. Thankfully my Jamaican stubbornness mixed with my Canadian politeness always saves the day. Sometimes I even have to remind myself that my advisers are simply concerned for me and not trying to attack me and my choices.
As a result of these experiences, I will be addressing the popular reasons given for why no one should homeschool. So sit back, grab your cup of coffee (or 2 or even 3) and walk with me over the next 3 weeks. My first post will be on Thursday and it is entitled : “Don’t Homeschool : You Have No Teacher Training”
I had to visit your site just because of the title of your post, and you made me smile. 🙂 I am a homeschool momma going on 14 years now, just graduating our oldest who was homeschooled from the beginning. I wrote a little about that on my blog last week, but the age old quote ” You are not a trained teacher” always sends shivers up my spine. I look forward to reading your posts about HS’ing.
Blessings!
Dawn
Dawn, what is the name of your blog I would love to read more about your journey. You can email me at alecia@funlearningideas.com
I am happy that my title grabbed your attention and hopefully I won’t add to the shivers down your spine.
Hey there Alecia! Glad to begin this new series with you. Yup, I hear those comments all the time…even now. My oldest is 9th grade this coming Autumn and I get all the time, “So, when are you going to enroll him in school?” Family, friends, neighbors, etc. You aren’t a teacher, what about socialization (don’t even get me started on THAT one!), aren’t you afraid they will be behind, well, it’s ok for the younger years but what about when they grow up (or: well when they are little you just couldn’t let them go but now isn’t it time?). On and on the comments go and the undercurrent (what they want to say but don’t want to say out loud) is even worse. Still, your comment about being “polite” is spot on. I’ve learned to not engage per se and just smile and tell them we take it year by year and are enjoying ourselves. Then change the subject to something else about them, most people like to talk about themselves anyway so this is a great strategy for those who aren’t really wanting to know *why* you homeschool as much as they want to point out *why you shouldn’t* be homeschooling! I look forward to your upcoming thoughts. Hopefully it will help us who read to remember why we do this in the first place, that we don’t need to explain/defend (unless someone is genuinely interested and how to know the difference), and give us some great thoughts to carry for those conversations when they do come up. Handling it all with grace and kindness as our Lord would want. 🙂
Bethany, we definitely need to be Canadian about the issue of homeschooling.
This title grabbed my attention! I cannot wait to read those posts! I was actually told by a family member that we wouldn’t succeed & that they would be ruined. It hurt but you know what?? It MADE me want to prove them wrong! We are moving into our 9th year & I am actually bumping my 13dd up to 9th grade!! SO HA! 😀
I am glad it caught your attention and I also want to prove everyone wrong as well. Sometimes criticism definitely can make us stronger.
Great title! This is the second time in a couple of weeks I’ve seen a post about negative feedback people get for choosing to homeschool. I haven’t run into that myself yet, thankfully! (I don’t know, maybe most people around here are polite Canadians? Or maybe they can tell that my kids aren’t being ruined…)
I am so sorry to hear that you (and others in the comments) get such negative reactions from your friends and family! I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone give a negative response when they find out I homeschool (at least they don’t say it outloud =) I am glad that you all have so many incredible resources and so much great support online so you don’t feel alone! We’re here for you =)
Apparently we’ve been on the same thought wave lately! People are interesting in their thoughts of why homeschooling shouldn’t happen. Looking forward to hearing your insights.
It definitely seems to be the topic of the month.
This should be an interesting series!
Looking forward to your series! I laughed when I read: “Why would you do that?” It seems like an outrageous question (insulting?), but one of my in-laws actually said that. Actually, it was a bit more insulting: “Why would you do that to her?” I’m mostly looking forward to your series because your attitude is far better than mine – I still feel attacked with that type of comment. So, your responses to these types of questions will be appreciated. I need to let gooooooo. 🙂 So glad I found your blog today!
Thanks for this! I’m preparing myself for all the comments I’ll receive – can’t wait to see what you have to say!
I had a neigbour tell me this week that the only reason homeschooling is going well for us is because we have smart kids, and that if we had a child with ADD they would be much better off at school. Say what?!
Fun post! I’ll be looking forward to the next ones. 🙂 Please link them up as well!
–Gena
Hi Gena. Glad you enjoyed the post.
Years ago, a family member told me all the reasons why we shouldn’t home school, and how we would all fail. Years later, same family member mentioned how well educated and engaging the children were, but no admission that the homeschooling contributed. Rather, I got this impression: “Imagine how much MORE well educated and engaging they would have been if you hadn’t homeschooled.”
You never win when you live your life by other people’s rules.
Can’t wait to read more! I love how your Jamaican/ Canadian combo saves the day.
My Jamaican/Canadian combo either makes me or breaks me. Lol.
Hey there! I’m one of those Homeschool program graduates that plans on homeschooling my children, Lord willing, and that has seen such shining improvement from my younger bros and sissies since we began our homeschooling journey a few years ago! HAD to check out your post when I saw the title LOL! Hope to catch the rest of the series!!! 🙂
My Mom got all the same comments when she decided to homeschool, which was about 20 years ago now. Of course, after her siblings saw how awesomely it worked for our family they took back what they said and when they started having kids, most of them chose homeschooling…which means most of my little cousins are homeschooled because their parents were convinced by the example of my mom when it came to education!
Funny thing is, before I looked into homeschooling, I thought that you did have to be a certified teacher!! The facts just aren’t out there (well, they are out there, but not mainstream info) when it comes to homeschooling. The one and only person I knew who homeschooled was a certified teacher, so I assumed you had to be… oops! Thanks for shedding some light on this topic. 🙂
I’m lucky because I’ve never had much push back about us homeschooling. I am a teacher so that excuse can’t be used against us. The main worry I’ve heard expressed is that home-schooled children aren’t socialized with their peers and they won’t know how to “act” with other children. I’m sure you’ll be tackling the “socialization” in one of your post so I won’t go on about that one now.
By the way, I don’t think you need to be a certified teacher to homeschool. Parents begin teaching their children the minute they are born. All parents are teachers!
Looks like an interesting series. One of questions I get asked is “Don’t I want the break?” With kids in school I could work or do whatever…maybe even clean the house. People don’t question too much especially since I am a certified teacher. I usually receive positive comments and sometimes people say they couldn’t do it. But you really don’t have to be a certified teacher, just a willingness to do it. With all the curriculum out there, its just a matter of being an expert on your child and their learning bent. With all the support online, anything is possible if you want to. I’m looking forward to reading your series!