Rants of a Non-Conformist

So I'm warning you now - if you don't want to hear/read strong opinions about my thoughts on homeschooling then I suggest you just skip this post. And just for the record - I do not mean to offend anyone.

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So I have been 'officially' homeschooling for almost an entire school year and have not really come across very many people that object to my choice. For the most part everyone pretty much supports me and I am grateful for that. My family has stood behind me 100% - maybe not since day one when I first brought it up, but after educating them on homeschooling I think those who were iffy about it have realized that it's not such a horrible thing and is nothing like they thought it was. To be honest, when I first heard of homeschooling the first thing that came to my mind was "Oh, those poor kids!". Since then I have educated myself and have read many, many books about the subject. You will not find a more passionate person about homeschooling. I love to talk to people about it, even though I find myself not offering as much information as I used to unless the person I am talking to specifically asks about it.
The thing that really irks me though is when people who know NOTHING about homeschooling open their mouths and tell you what you are doing is wrong. Maybe not in those exact words but they pretty much get their opinion across to you. Most of these people base their opinion on a "couple weird homeschool kids" they knew years ago. So are they weird and a little shy BECAUSE of homeschooling or would they be the same way if they attended public or private school?? I actually worked in a private school for a little while and came across some kids who were a "little off" and not as social as most of the other kids. Did I think anything of it? No, because everyone has a different personality - some are not as outgoing as others, even as adults. It's not fair that people tend to judge and scrutinize homeschooled children more then they do school kids. Perfect example of #20 from the Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List - "Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood." How true that is.

So yes, as you can tell, the reason for this post is because I had a run-in with a person who just does not agree with my choice at all. Not a friend or family member - I will just say that it was an acquaintance.
Basically their whole argument was the "socialization thing". Without even knowing ANYTHING at all about homeschooling they had the nerve to tell me that they were worried about my child socially.
***insert huge eye roll***
"What about having friends?" (She has more than I do!)
"How is she going to learn how to behave and follow directions?" (Because she spends all day with her meanie Mommy who orders her around, makes her clean her room, help with the house work, feed all her pets, take her on all my errands - you want me to go on??? I think what you might ACTUALLY be concerned about is that my kid is not going to turn out to be some cookie-cutter, government raised school child who can't think for herself)
"How is she going to learn how to stand in line?" (You're kidding, right????? What are some of your examples of standing in line in everyday life? The grocery store, bank, DMV - been there, done that - WITH my child. She learns about standing in line just fine THANK YOU. In fact, she acts better most of the time then other children at those places, who I assume learned to stand in line at school)
"Does she get to play with other kids on a regular basis?" (No, she's locked up at home all day and night and has absolutely no contact with other children..... Of course she gets to play with other kids!! I've practically adopted the neighborhood children!)

Ok, so if you know my child AT ALL then you would know that she does, in fact, know how to socialize - I call her my social little butterfly. Most of the time I can not get her to QUIT talking! She talks to EVERYBODY! When we go to the park she is the first kid there to walk up to another kid and say, "Hi! My name is Brenna - do you want to play?" As for having friends - almost every day of the week I have at least two kids from our neighborhood over here playing. Actually, as I am writing this right now she is in her room playing with three little girls that live in our neighborhood. She has friends in my Mom's neighborhood, in karate, Girl Scouts and in our homeschool group. My daughter gets along and knows how to socialize with kids of ALL AGES. She has friends as young as 3 and as old as 10 and they get along GREAT and act as if age difference is not a factor. Would she get that in school? No - she would be segregated into a classroom with children 6 months older or 6 months younger then her. Is that realistic? Does that happen in real life? When was the last time that you were at a job or a party or at any kind of function where ALL of the people were either 6 months younger or 6 months older then you (well besides your High School reunion LOL)? In real life you need to learn to get along with people of all ages, right? Socialization is what happens in society. When we play, talk, work and live with other people - people of all ages - we are socialized by the experience. Very little of this happens in schools.

Here are a few paragraphs from a wonderful article that I found written by a homeschool parent of five years. It says exactly how I feel but I am not able to put it into words as eloquently as he does so I will just share this with you (read the entire article here).......

"In order for children to become assimilated into society properly, it is important to have a variety of experiences and be exposed to differing opinions and views. This enables them to think for themselves and form their own opinions. This is exactly what public education does not want; public education is for the lowest common denominator and influencing all of the students to share the same views ("group-think") and thought-control through various means, including peer-pressure.
Homeschooling allows parents the freedom to associate with other interested parties, visit local businesses, museums, libraries, etc. as part of school, and to interact with people of all ages in the community. For example, my son goes on field trips with other homeschooling families in our community. He recently was able to visit an audiologist, a McDonald's restaurant (to see how they run their operation), and several other similar activities. He gets to meet and talk to people of different ages doing interesting (and sometimes not so interesting) occupations. He spends a lot of his free time with kids older and younger than himself, and adults from twenty to over ninety years old.
Meanwhile, in public school, children are segregated by age, and have very little interaction with other adults, except their teacher(s). This environment only promotes alienation from different age groups, especially adults. This is beginning to look like the real socialization problem."

Brenna interacts with many, many children as well as adults - which is very important too. As most of you know, I am my Grandfather's caretaker and Brenna and I go over there everyday of the week. She spends a lot of time with her great-grandparents. My Grandpa has diabetes and has been on dialysis for the past couple years. When Brenna is around him she is so sweet and she loves to take care of her Papa. She has learned empathy, caring and how to interact with older people. She knows that she has to 'speak up a little' and she knows what is and is not good for Papa to eat (she sounds so cute when she says, "Papa, that's not good for your blood sugar!"). She is getting a priceless life lesson by spending so much time with them. If she was going to school, she would be missing out on all of that.
The bottom line on all of this is that I love my daughter with everything that I have. I love spending time with her and teaching her and yes, I love the fact that I have control over what kind of socialization she obtains and who it is with. If that sounds too protective, then so be it. Brendon and I are the only people in this whole world who are responsible for raising her and making sure that she turns out to be the best person that she can be.

I apologize for being so blunt and opinionated in this post. I told Brendon that I was going to post about this after I had that encounter and he said that I should just let it go and not write this post. I told him though that I would never say any of this TO someone (at least not as ugly LOL) and that I am usually not this obnoxious but this IS my blog and it IS about homeschooling - the good and the bad - and that I should be able to write what and how I feel. I don't force anyone to read this. I love to write and I really enjoy it.
And just for the record - I don't want anyone to feel that they can't talk to me about homeschooling for fear that I will "blow up" and become offended. I LOVE talking about it and I love educating people and answering questions. Questions, even the silliest ones, I don't mind (I actually LOVE them! :) - I just get irritated when uneducated people spout off stupid, ignorant things when they have no idea what they are talking about.
Thanks for letting me vent. Maybe SOMEBODY got some entertainment from it. LOL :) *cringing as I hit the "Publish Post" button*