The "cool" thing

I'm talking about Home's Cool...errr Homeschool. It's that time of year that we are making the decision on whether or not to homeschool next year or send the kids off into the big bad world.

That's a joke people.

I have been feeling lately that people around me turn to homeschooling as the "cool" new thing to do. I've fielded a LOT of questions from Moms at church, Moms at ball practice, Moms at the grocery store, and even Moms at the therpist's office. I'm quite frankly getting tired of the same questions.

"What about SOCILIZATION?!"

"How are you going to teach CALCULUS?!"

"I could never do that!" *gasp*

"I would kill my kids if I had to be around them that long. How do you handle it?"

and oh so many others. I have smart aleck responses for each and every one of them. I have honest and truthful answers for each and every one of them. But you know, lately, I have found that unless someone brings UP homeschooling I just sit quietly.

It's become the "cool" thing here though. I fear that many of these parents will hit the hardships of teaching their own children, and then their failures will reflect badly on those of us who succeed. I don't want them to fail, and more than for my own benefit...but honestly, when homeschooling fails many times that child ends up in a school setting where the teachers roll their eyes and "teach that subject" and then...oh then...I get the JOY of sitting next to those teachers at a ballgame. I hear, first hand, from them how awful homeschooling is when that teacher sitting next me at the ballgame has NO clue I homeschool.

Or I'm at church and I overhear some people talking negatively about homeschoolers (and yes it has been church staff as well as members). I hear how they perceive a homeschooled child as being out of control and unruly (when in reality that child was just being a child). Or how it is not fair that a homeschooled child gets to be on a city travel ball team that is zoned by schools. Or I hear about how those awful homeschooling mothers are sheltering their kids and not letting them experience the big bad world. The people I overhear are talking about how those children never get taught how to socialize. Many times this is said in front of me because they have NO CLUE I homeschool my children, and yes they know my children.

I have had church members teaching my children tell us that I should not make my child do schoolwork on a school holiday while my child was standing there. I've been told that I should allow my child to have a summer break without school work, because the public and private schools are "out" for the summer. I've had my children questioned in front of their peers WHERE they go to school, and the teachers not accepting "home" as the correct answer until I explain that yes indeed I DO homeschool.

I wonder how the new homeschooling families will handle those situations, and if they are truly prepared to defend what they are doing. Then there are the situations of how will these new homeschooling families deal with the "quizzing" that seems to happen everywhere we go.

My child has learned to say the name of the cover school instead of "homeschooled" in certain situations. Why? Because other children have said that they must be weird because they are homeschooled. My child has been quizzed by everyone they meet, just to see if they are learning enough at home.

They've asked my Kindergartner what 4x3 is then gotten upset when he did not know. They have asked my child how to read a sign (when they were in K or 1st grade) and the sign was one of the statement kind of signs at the bank or grocery store. I've had another patron in a grocery store, standing in front of me, quiz my child about each of the colors and all the letters they could find in my cart until they were satisfied my Kindergartener was not just watching television all day while I ate bons bons or something. I've had one ask my child about capitals of the different states, and then got upset when they did not know the capital of Iowa (we're from the Southeast). He was 7. Strangers have asked my children to spell things, and not all words that are age appropriate...like giraffe for my Kindergartener.

ALL of these questions were asked AFTER they found out I homeschool. Usually it follows the questions of "Oh are you in school?" Yes. "Well what grade?" I usually give them the age grade. "Where do they go to school?" I answer their cover school. "Where is that? I've never heard of it." I tell them, and then it usually comes out that it is a homeschool cover school.

I cringe when those questions are asked because I know what is likely to follow. I know that had I answered they went to a public school, or a traditional school the person asking the question would go on to ask if they LIKED school, or what their favorite subject was. It would be assumed that my child would know what they needed to know.

Homeschooling is not for the fainthearted. It's not for everyone. It's HARD. It doesn't mean you sleep in and have these idyllic days with your children exploring the universe and seeing when they learn new and exciting things. Sure, those things happen sometimes...but most likely your day will be filled with more frustrations of trying to balance family life and homeschooling. Balance the cooking, cleaning, tending to younger children, running errands, answering the phone, and then teaching.

But homeschooling DOES allow you to go to Disney World in February, count a Saturday family trip to the Zoo as a school day, and yes, while I school "year round" my kids get multiple 2 week breaks throughout the year. The flexibility it gives us is amazing. We hardly ever have "homework" to do in the evenings, so our evenings are for family time. We almost never have work to do over the weekends either. Sure we have projects that have to get done, but I can schedule them for when it's best for our family (like I made sure a project was not due right after we got back from Disney World).

Like all things in life, there are good and bad things about homeschooling.