General Articles: Your Answers to Their Questions - Handling homeschool Skeptics
By Mimi Rothschild
When you decide to homeschool your child – even if you just consider homeschooling your child – you will immediately see a domino effect of raised eyebrows. The homeschool skeptics will throw a bunch of words at you, like “socialization” and “peers” and “normal.” If these skeptics are strangers, you don't owe them an answer, right? But even strangers can have their hearts changed by the right words from a homeschooler, making it easier for homeschool parents and children who come across this person in the future.
In all stages of life, we come across those who disagree with the decisions that we make. Homeschool is no different. As adults, we are more prepared to handle critics than your child may be. It's important to be open minded when people criticize us and our homeschool choice and we should allow our children to see us practicing a relaxed and open hearted nature in the face of skepticism.
That is the foundation of dealing with skepticism by homeschool critics. The next step is to know your stuff. There is research and statistics that support homeschool as a positive choice for children in all aspects of life. This includes socialization and academics and future prospects: the favorite catch phrases of the skeptics. Facts are the best weapons against prejudices and fears. Having “experts” back up what you know in your heart is the right thing may be the non-emotional incentive that a critic needs to finally understand your position on homeschool.
Being open minded and prepared to discuss homeschool with those who openly disagree is not enough to change anyone's mind. Neither is being armed with an arsenal of pro-homeschool statistics. In fact, nothing that you say or do alone is going to change the mind of the hardcore skeptic. You may be planting the seed for future understanding or watering the seed that another homeschool family planted. Or your words and arguments may fall on deaf ears. The important thing is that you stand by what you believe about raising your children without any investment in whether or not you change anyone's mind.
Opposition comes in many forms. The important thing is that you don't protect your child from the criticism that homeschool receives from skeptics, but show them by example how to handle it: diplomatically and with an open mind. Everyone is different and everyone is allowed to have his or her own opinions. And thank goodness for that. It's this same open mindedness that allows them to be a homeschooler in the first place.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling mother, writer, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of home education company Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of 28 years reside with their 8 children right outside Philadelphia, PA.
Rothschild launched Learning By Grace, Inc. because she believed that our nation's public school system has failed parents and students. Learning By Grace, Inc. offers online education through a multimedia-rich curriculum to PreK-12 children across the country and throughout the world.
An accomplished author, Rothschild has written books regarding education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Homeschooling News Café Blog consists of the most current and relevant education news.Electronic reproduction of this article is permitted if content is published unchanged, appropriate credit is given, and the article title links to corresponding article webpage.
