subject: Dealing With Homeschooling Naysayers [print this page] Everyone who decides to homeschool their children will run into at least one person, maybe more, that tell them they shouldn't homeschool. The decision to homeschool, isn't an easy one to make, and often isn't popular. However, the choice in how your child is educated is entirely up to you, so you need to decide ahead of time how you will deal with homeschooling naysayers.
Regardless if you have a Bachelor of Arts in Education or not, one of the quintessential arguments of a homeschooling naysayer is that you're not qualified to teach your own child. I say poppy-cock to this argument! You have already been teaching your child since birth, if you're a parent. Why wouldn't you or your spouse be qualified to teach your child how to read or do math, if you could teach them how to talk, walk, and use the restrooms themselves?
Besides being "unqualified," other naysayers will tell you that teaching a child is too difficult. What I find even more difficult is the thought of having to teach with 18-20 five and six year olds several subjects all in one day. That is a difficult job; teaching one child to read is not. You can do it!
If you are wanted to homeschool, another argument you might hear by nay-sayers is that children need socialization. I'm not sure I want my children to learn all the things they learn at school and I am sure you feel the same way. Not all lessons are given by the teachers but rather are learned as the result of being with other children.
95% of home schooled children are better socialized than the children in public schools. Home schooled children can carry on intelligent conversations with people of all ages besides being able to deal with their peers. Public schools are not true to life and create artificial societies. There isn't any time at any point in your life that you're going to deal with people all your age. It won't happen, and it just doesn't happen, either.
You will most likely hear comments along the way of researching the possibility of homeschooling your child. It is okay if you don't know everything that you're told you should know. Take it as a learning lesson right along side your child. Since you want the best for your child, you will be giving them the opportunity to concentrate on subjects that they are interested in learning, and learning at their own pace.
