I just found this board the other day. My husband and I will be homeschooling the kids after they finish up this semester. My daughter is 7, my son is 5, and we have another 2 year old daughter. I had been contemplating homeschooling for a very long time, but after the nightmare my oldest has had this year, we decided we could not possibly damage her as much as the system was, and we are going for it! I have been immersing myself in it, searching out local groups, setting up social activities like Scouts, and doing mini-lessons whenever the kids are not burned out from public school and we wanting to learn something. What honestly surprised me was the amount of negativity we are getting from the immediate family. I expected nervousness, second guessing, and questioning. I never thought we would be faced with out and out anger! Sisters have started saying that we will damage our children for the rest of their lives. One have even said she has no problem with HSing, but we in particular have no business doing it. They are convinced that we are ruining our children. I for one have not been phased by it, because I know they are wrong. I know I can educate my children for at least a few years, and there are programs to assist when they reach a math level I cannot teach. But I am astonished at the lack of support from family. I had to say it here because I know a lot of you have been though the same thing! Thanks for listening to my rant, I can't wait to dive in! Ursula
Welcome! Most of us here have faced the same scrutiny. In my case, my family was confident in my ability to teach, but some were angry because of the "s" word (socializing) and others were angry because that meant I would not be working or pursuing my degree. *sigh*.....My kids are now 15 and 12. My Ds15 will be graduating a year early and starting college and Dd12 is well on her way to do the same. They are extremely mature, social teens who can hold their own in a conversation with anyone of any age. We constantly get complimented about it--and often from the people who were the most vocal skeptics in the beginning. Again, welcome! So glad you are jumping in with both feet!
Hi, and welcome! Most of us here have "faced the family" in one way or another, to one degree or another. Most of us have learned to say, "We've decided that this is best for OUR family at this time. Would you like some bean dip??" Others of us learned to say, "If you have a problem with it, take it up with God, because we have, and it's His direction for OUR family at this time. Would you like some bean dip??" Others of us learned to say, "You know, you might be right. Thank you for your concern. We'll take your advice into consideration when we have time. But for right now this is right for OUR family at this time. Here, have some bean dip!!"
I am going to need to keep a lot of bean dip on hand, LOL! Thanks so much for the laugh and the support. Really all the convincing they have done for me is to work harder to make this work better than they want it to! I know that the Allfather wants this for our family, otherwise I would not have the innate ability and desire to do it. I am already in love with the little lessons we do during the day. My daughter is finally asking me to read with her again! She is still in public school (hubby is a semi-skeptic and wants them to finish out the year), but since I stopped pressuring her to do all the homework that she hates, she has been more willing to branch out in other ways. I cannot believe that she thought I was not proud of her! We finished a sheet of math from her teacher, and I asked if they do math at school at all. She said no, and I replied, "Thank you honey, I needed to know that." She lit up, and asked, "Mom, are you proud of me?" OF COURSE!!! (It's the teacher/curriculum/institution I cannot stand! I didn't say that, but for heaven's sake!) If the whole mess of public school is making her feel like she is less of a person, then I am very happy to pull her out!
Welcome! Good for you for not letting family make you doubt yourself. You're going to need that strength in the months to come. Congratulations on starting the journey.
Hi, welcome to the Spot. And yes there are a lot of nay sayers out there family included. But what I have come to understand it's their lack of education on the subject that is causing their ambivalance.
Welcome! I'm so happy for you! My husband was SUPER reluctant, but after 6 months (we pulled them out mid year) he was hooked. It's tough, but it's worth it! Warmly,
I am fortunate to have a supportive family that doesn't try and control my life or question the decisions I make. After explaining the problems my son was having in PS and informing my family that I was going to "school at home," they were supportive of my decision. However, my hubby was NOT initially supportive of my choice. He didn't think I could do it or stick with it. That was 2 1/2 years ago. Now, he totally supports homeschooling and is very glad I decided to homeschool my DS. Granted, I did start out with Connections Academy (I was nervous and needed some hand holding), but now I am homeschooling my son the traditional way and don't regret my decision to pull him out of our local ps. I feel certain that as your family sees the progress you are making with your children, they will come around and show their support...just like my husband did.
Welcome!! I too faced family members that were down right rude to me about our decision to home school. But now their concerns have faded away, as my daughter has skipped a grade and is so well behaved, they will have to find something else to complain about! lol
