Our parents all know we want to homeschool the kids. I feel like we've talked about it with them many times. So I don't know if they genuienely forget about it or if they just aren't taking us seriously, when they say things like, "make sure when you buy a house, you pick a good school district. You don't want to send your kids to the city schools." or "In a few years, Sly will be in school and ________." Really? I don't want to sound like a broken record, constantly reminding them of our alternative plans for the kids' education, but this happens all the time. I usually just respond with a quick smile, and change the subject.
Perhaps I'm just a pessimist, but I have some concerns about the future of homeschooling in this country. I just don't like the way the political winds are blowing. It's times like these I thank God that I have a teaching certificate, because who knows - maybe one day that will be the only thing that allows me to teach my own children. At any rate, it can't hurt. And it might lend me some "credibility" in the minds of certain people, and I won't complain about having less people on my back in the future.
Anyways...here's an interesting infographic about homeschooling that's going around, if you haven't seen it yet.
Source: TopMastersInEducation.com
Love that graphic! I hadn't seen it before!
ReplyDeleteMy MIL occasionally says things like that and, not to be uncharitable, but I know with certainty that she's being passive aggressive. She hasn't done it lately (at least when it comes to homeschooling in particular ... she kind of does it for a lot of things :-P ), but I'm pretty sure we're in for a lot of resistance from her.
My parents are obviously pro-homeschooling, and Keith's dad is supportive of our parenting decisions in general. I think as long as he's content that we're taking our kids' education seriously he's got our backs. :) So yeah, three out of four ain't bad!
Neat info graphic! My family started homeschooling in 1993 when it was just becoming legal, and lots of people didn't get the memo:/ I once got kicked out of a library for "playing hookey". I hope things continue in a positive direction for homeschooling!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this graphic! Thanks for sharing! God has been really working over my heart in regards to homeschooling and I feel fairly certain that's what direction we are heading! Do you have any literature on the topi you'd
ReplyDelete*topic you'd recommend?
ReplyDeleteTwo books that come to mind are Catholic Education: Homeward Bound and Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum. Both of them have really comprehensive explanations of the *practical* side of homeschooling (i.e. what might a typical day look like at different ages, how to address common issues, etc.).
DeleteThanks girl!
DeleteMy husband and his sister were homeschooled in the 80's and 90's because the schools in my father-in-law's first parish were really awful and as he has a talent for fixing broken parishes, they moved around a great deal until they finally bought a house in 1987. By the time my husband was 10, he would have been in probably 12 schools so it was better for him. With my sister-in-law, it was a complete crap shoot because they lived in a good school district and she would have been fine going to regular schools. She would have preferred it, I think, if she could have gone to the local public schools while my husband did so much better homeschooling.
ReplyDeleteMy husband would be totally in favor of homeschooling our son period. However, Daniel has autism and we have a preschool that has an ABA class that is a block away from where we live so that's the best solution. I also refused to homeschool Daniel because I don't have the patience for it and I have no training in how to work with him with regard to teaching numbers, colors, etc. especially as he is still non-verbal. Would I homeschool him if he was typically-developing? Only if the local public schools were not all that good. I was public-school educated from grades 6-college and have no issues with them.
As far as your parents and in-laws forgetting about your plans to homeschool your kids, I would just chalk it up to them honestly forgetting and do the smile/nod politely thing. There are so many programs out there to choose from depending on whether you want something like k12.com or MODG that you can figure out what works for you. It's also one of those things where you can decide each year what works for you and leave it at that.
Keep in mind that even if you do homeschool, you still want to buy a house in an area with a good school district. When we brought our first house we intended to move before our firstborn was even old enough to go to school. When that didn't happen and we found out how bad the school was, we realized that we should have considered the school district when we purchased the house. We utilized that public school for 3 hours and promptly transferred our daughter to a private school.
ReplyDeleteAnd even if you are fully committed to homeschooling, you should still look for a place with a good school because it will factor in when/if you ever go to sell your home.
It looks like we're about to start homeschooling one of our children this year.
Your parents and in laws will come around on it once they can see that homeschooling hasn't turned their adorable grandson into a weirdo. Seriously, the proof is in the pudding. He'll be happy, you'll be happy and they'll get it. It's just a concept that is so foreign to people of that generation, it's hard for them to wrap their heads around it. Just stay strong and stay pleasant and it will all work out!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouraging words! I sure hope so :-)
DeleteI really want to discuss homeschooling and such on my blog, but we aren't ready to tell our parents about our decision to move in that direction yet! We seriously have been called "fanatics" before and I so don't want to go there again...
ReplyDeleteI guess we'll break the news sometime before Claire is of preschool age?
Wow, I forgot you were a teacher. Congrats on being one of the few who are going to homeschool. The others I know are like "oh, yes, well I could never homeschool". Never quite got that.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I agree that your parents will come around once it's happening. My mom (former school teacher and NOT pro-homeschool) now sees how great it is.
Enjoy all the great learning he's doing by God's timetable. Plenty of time for formal stuff later.