You may think, “Hey, you live in Maine, everyone is weird right? So why would it be a big deal if you homeschool in a place where everyone is already weird?” To which I would reply, “regardless you would be surprised as to how many times I get “The Look” when I mention that I homeschool.” I am starting this “In Defense of Homeschool” series so that next time someone starts to drill my children on their ABC’s ( hee hee hee), I can hand them a card with this blog address on it. So without further ado…
In the never ending Homeschool vs Public school debate, one of the biggest problems people have with it is that they think that families who homeschool are a cross between a granola eating, berkinstock wearing tree hugger and an over protective, ultra conservative conspiracy theorist. The truth is that like most things, families who homeschool are somewhere in the middle. But regardless, the general consensus is that they are “different”. Home schooled children are “weird”. That is what most people think. Now, I wasn’t home schooled a day in my life. Neither was my husband. And yes, we both think that we turned out pretty normal.
Neither Matt or I were what you would call “popular” in school, but we certainly knew a lot of people. And we have continued to meet people since being in school. And I’m going to tell you straight up, that the determining factor of whether or not a kid is going to be a wierdo is if one or both parents are wierdos. True story. Think of a family you know where most of the kids turned out… kind of off. Now look at the parents… Am I right or am I right? Now to be fair, you can’t judge a whole family just by one strange kid. If MOST of the kids are normal, then they are probably a good, well rounded family. There is always one.
So if you are scared to homeschool because you don’t want your kids to be little oddities, there is a simple test. Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you are one egg short of a dozen. If not, you are good to go! Who best to teach your children than yourself and the person you decided to marry?
If you honestly look at yourself and decide that the lights are on, but nobody is home, it doesn’t matter what you do, your kids are going to be strange, so public school is probably best, because they will need every chance they can get to meet a normal, well balanced person that they can look up to. And since you just admitted to your lunacy, please seek help 🙂
***** Disclaimer ***** I have chosen to homeschool because it is the best for MY family. NO I do not believe it is for everyone (see the rest of this article for more information)! No one is allowed to be mad at me for defending my stance. And I will not be mad at you for defending yours, as long as you do not attack my way of life, we can be friends 🙂
