[scottiegazelle]

Okay, so as I've started on my homeschooling journey, I've done enough research to know I'm going to get dumb questions and comments. But this one really took the cake, for me, because of the source! There is a woman in my church who used to homeschool her youngest kids - either the first two or three of them. She has since put them all in public school, after she moved.

Tonight, we were standing around talking with another woman. I don't remember how we got onto the subject, but this ex-homeschooler - who was very pro-HS when I first talked to her about it - said to me, "I don't know your reasons for homeschooling BUT you might want to consider putting them in schools, because the schools around here are really good." Then she and this other woman went off on a litany about how too many people want to overprotect their kids by keeping them away from the bad element - her actual words were that too many HSing moms were sheltering their kids from people being mean to them.

Okay, now, aside from all of the standard response arguments on bullying and the like, I was actually a bit annoyed that she would start on the premise of why I am HSing and then not even take a breath long enough for me to respond. (I actually started because my kids are [of course] really smart and because I read novels all through school and passed with straight As.) I finally realized that she and this other woman were just really enjoying discussing why it was okay to send your kids to school and not shelter them, so I left without commenting. But I thought it was a rather interesting discussion from an ex-homeschooler, and I'm guessing it revealed a lot about why SHE originally decided to do it.

On a side note, afterwards I realized that her daughter is the one who keeps making 'mean' comments to mine because my DD only has two or three dresses for church. She's not all-out bullying or anything, and she probably doesn't even mean it, she's so young, but at first it hurt DDs feelings (then we talked). So I guess my kids *do* still get exposure! Oh, lucky them!