Another must-have school supply for homeschooling parents is a thick skin. People are going to question your decision to homeschool your children. They’re going to ask whether you have a teaching certificate, as if knowing techniques for handling a roomful of children you’ve never met before has anything at all to do with teaching your own child, whom you know far better than anyone else does except your spouse.
They’re going to ask how your child will ever have friends, and they may even ask your child that question directly. That requires you to have an extra thick skin, because we parents have real issues with people directing nosy and misguided questions at our kids.
The questions and comments may slow down as your children get older and it becomes apparent that homeschooling is working, but they won’t ever go away, because there will always be people who cannot get past their reliance on authority figures and institutions. So start toughening up now.
…and don’t the questions get more interesting when you homeschool a child with special needs.
And the comments are even more hurtful if you have more than 2 children. As though any person smart enough to homeschool should be smart enough to use birth control!
No kidding, Amy, that’s a whole ‘nother post! 🙂
Carol, I hear you. I have a friend whose husband never bothered to tell his coworkers about babies #5 and 6 because he’d already taken so much flak about having four! Sheesh.