Check out Home Spun Juggling (She lives in Westchester county NY, her neighbors really are likely to be like this)
And the follow up cartoons here and here.
OK Christina; what do you say to the sincerely concerned people who are happy with their public school, or who work there, when you really can’t convince them that your family’s choices are not a rejection of theirs…exactly.
I borrowed Mary Pride’s story about the lion tamer and the cat owner, but it only sort of flied.
I would say it helps to not encounter those people. :-)
Seriously, I think it’s the tendency of most people to defend their choices. If someone tells me, “Well we have a great school system here!” I would just smile and nod and say something along the lines of “That’s nice.”
It isn’t that I have no argument against what they say, I simply will not to be pulled into an argument. The master of martial arts doesn’t fight unless he absolutely has to, you know? I have known many homeschooling friends who were in excellent districts. Many had awful experiences in the schools and they pulled their children out because of that. Any time you put a large group of same aged children together, you are bound to encounter problems. It’s human nature. Some of the problems are just more subtle and harder to catch.
And to be perfectly honest, I have never had anyone get defensive when I say I homeschool. I never offer more than those two words unless they question me further. If they do ask me why I do it, I simply respond that I like being around my kids and we all love learning together. Perhaps I send out vibes that this isn’t something I argue about, it just is. ;-)
This has really made me think about what I believe and why! Thank you for the mental stimulation!
Peace and Laughter!
Maybe I’ll try that – it just is- approach. I tend to get all muddled.