your crow fried or boiled? Thought I would share a light bulb moment with you about dh's family with whom a few did not agree with our decision to home school. Yesterday, after my sil's funeral, a couple of dh's family members approached me and complimented what a wonderful job I did home schooling my boys, and also said they were very proud. That made me feel good because these people were two that were the harshest in the beginning, to the point of being divisive with my family. Has anyone else had a moment like that?
Good for you, I love moments like that. My dad is one for sure...he wasn't sure at first that it would be best for me to homeschool the boys because I would still have to work but now he sees how much they learned in such a short time.
oh that is wonderful Katie. my family is still off the boat on it, maybe someday they will see the light. Don't know though.
Yes...my stepmom was always so against us doing it, so frustrated with my children missing out on socialization, etc. (yes, roll your eyes!). The first time my eldest took standardized tests and scored 7th grade in spelling, 6th grade in reading and 5th grade in Math....keeping in mind she was 8 and in third grade (and according to the school system she really would have been 2nd grade). I SHOWED my stepmom the results. She is now a HUGE advocate for homeschooling. My oldest is a competitive gymnast - and spends a lot of time at the gym....so homeschooling works great. So many of the girls are rushing to the gym after school and have to stay up late to do homework, or do homework in the car on the way to the gym and on the way home from the gym, etc. I feel for them. I really do.
Isn't that a great feeling? My MIL, FIL, and SIL all seemed to think that HSing the kids was a bad idea in the beginning. Now you would have thought that they were the ones who thought of it. So often I hear my MIL say "Oh, I am so glad we decided to homeschool." WE? That WE is ME doing the schooling but whatever. They all see the progress my kids have made. I, too, am glad WE decided to homeschool.:lol:
My mom has always told me how horrible homeschooling is and tries to give me some sort of ancetodotal evidence of someone she claims to know of. Fact is, she has never known anyone to homeschool. She claimed that this person homeschooled her children and then she died and the children were sooo far behind that large numbers of tutors working with them endlessly to try to catch them up as they were soo far behind, they could not even attend public school. This story strikes me as so far fetched, I have never even heard of this family until my mother started telling and retelling this story when I started homeschooling. So recently, she started in on me again and I laughed and said that I could one up her story. She was all ears. I said "I have 2 neices in public school and they can't read." The 2 neices I was referring to are my sister's children, as in my mother's only grandchildren who are in public school, LOL. My mom made her disgusted look and tried to defend herself but it was clear her story was all over. LOL
Glad to read that they were able to see what wonderful boys you raised no matter how they received their education. Good for you!!!! My mil is one who didn't understand why we homeschooled until she moved in with us for a while. She realized that Ems was learning and thriving and socialized! LOL
Hi Katie, This is great for a couple of reasons: one, because they realized how great a job you've done raising your boys and two, that they had the courage to admit it and share that with you. Cool!
Those are the moments we can really look forward too - until he died, my dh's father was one of our most ardent supporters. He had gone to the last one-room school house in his part of MIchigan!! And he self taught himself about electricity so he could take the electricitian's exam - So he understood about alternative education.
I haven't encountered anything like that yet but I know I will especially from MIL but I could really care less what she thinks or what anybody thinks...... I have found that people that sit and dog stuff are wither (1) jealous or (2) they couldn't do, know they couldn't it so they say stuff just to be jerks.......... Like I tell most people don't say stuff until you have walked in the shoes...........
my family is very disapproving of our choice to hs. so hearing everyone's victory stories gives me hope! thanks!
My mom only knew one other family who homeschooled and she declared the children "weird" and "bible thumpers." Well the one was just commended for her mission work overseas helping illiterate children and the other she saw recently and had a conversation with her and the young girl knew more about the world and foreign policy than my mom did! My mom commented that she didn't realize the children of that family were so smart and worldly, and US KIDS were never that knowledgeable of foreign events etc. I took that as a compliment to homeschool! It's probably as close as we'll ever get!
I am loving this thread! I havent had any moments like these yet. The closest I've come to is my MIL, who has been a public school teacher for 30+ years, was excited to hear through the grapevine that Im homeschooling because the habits that public school children demonstrate are awful. Not saying much in terms of education, but I took any positive feedback I could get! Keep the comments coming please, Im finding a lot of inspiration through them!
The one family member was my dh's nephew that was against home schooling. He said that he was so proud that we stuck with it from K-12 because that was quite an accomplishment, most hsers don't stick with it that long. He also stated he was concerned about the "S" word, socialization but he could tell that my boys don't have any issues in that area as he felt they were quite outgoing. The nephew was an elem school teacher for 10 years and is now the principal of a large high school in the city. He indicated that my boys are grounded, well rounded, very socialized, very intelligent, driven and quite accomplished. I would have to say that is quite a compliment coming from my biggest nay-sayer! :lol:
My in-laws NEVER said anything negative, but they were concerned at first. My sister was probably the most concerned of all. She often asked about socialization, and how would the kids get along in "the REAL world" if I was going to sooo shelter them, and would they really learn all they needed to without being with a "real" teacher and peers?! As time went by though, my in-laws lost their concern, and told me what a great job I was doing because they could see that my kids were well-rounded, and receiving the education they needed. My sister's comments got less and less over the years, to the point that, when her youngest was highschool age, the highschool where they lived was horrible! So, she and her dd chose to homeschool! My sister said she saw how well my kids were doing, and how it seemed great to have the child at home and be able to spend time with them! My neice did very well with the homeschooling, and finished early. My sister now strongly supports homeschooling! Now there's a success story! Another example that couldn't have happened if we weren't homeschooling was when my boys went with a group camping. My dd was 6 or 7 and felt a bit left out. I took her to Dairy Queen about 1pm. There was a line. An older couple came in line behind us. The man asked the typical "No school today?" question. DD replied that she was homeschooled. He actually got a frown on his face! He asked, "What's your favorite subject?" She answered Science. He asked, "Really? What have you been studying about?" We had been reading through a science reader that had neat pictures and was very interesting (that's why science was her favorite subject on that day). DD really liked it and looked at and discussed it a lot. So when this man asked that question, she was in her element! She talked about vertabrates and invertabrates, and on and on. He stood there at first with his arms folded---challenging her to come up with something she'd learned, and she waxed eloquent! I KNOW that we were meant to be there at that moment, not for us, but for this guy's dd. I thank the Lord for His leading, because, after a little more chit-chat with dd, this is what he said to me: "My dd has told us that she is going to homeschool, and I have been dead-set against it. I didn't think they could get socialization or a good education without being in a school building with teachers. I've been a science teacher in highschools for over 30 years, and what your dd just told me is more than some of my highschoolers know! And she wasn't afraid to speak, spoke clearly with a good vocabulary, and truly understood what she was talking about! This makes me realize that maybe my dd can do this after all....and if her kids learn like your dd obviously has, then I feel I can support her 100%!" His wife was pleased too. I think she'd been concerned over her dh's negative response! So that's why I feel God led us there--my dd's interest in science was right up his alley and struck a chord with him! He was now willing to be more open, and I'm hoping that he went and let his dd know of his change in heart! I explained to dd how she'd helped other people out by talking with this man. I don't know that she understood, but that was SUCH and awesome experience!
