Mondays Our Way:Playing Defense

This is obviously not a newsflash for anyone, but not everyone homeschools. Not everyone believes in homeschool and in fact there are actually people who are opposed to it. Of course this is the case with pretty much every parenting decision out there-bottle vs breast, co-sleeping vs cribs, spanking vs timeouts-whatever you decide there is always someone who thinks what you're doing is wrong, and that's cool. Diversity of opinion makes the world go round, and as long as everyone is feeding/clothing/housing/loving their kids that's all that matters. Right?

Unfortunately there will always be that one person who just can't help but butt in. You know this person-the one who makes it their personal mission to try to "make you see the light" (the light being their parenting style). If it's a person in the grocery store or a nosy neighbor it's pretty easy to smile and nod and just go about your business...

but what do you do if Buttinski McKnow-It-All is among your close friends and family?

I have a couple of particular relations that keep trying to "talk me out of homeschooling". Their first plan was to just ignore our intention to homeschool altogether. They've spent the first 5 years of Monkey's life saying,

"You know, when he goes to school...." "Just wait until he's in school...." "Once the kids are in school...."

I've mentioned to them 8739498731099999 times that our kids are already in homeschool, and that we have absolutely no intention of placing them in public school, but they have simply chosen to ignore it. It's almost as if they were trying to trick me into sending Monkey to school....like somehow if they acted as though he was going I'd just get confused and send him.

Unfortunately for them I have a five year old-I'm not one myself.

Now that Monkey's would-be Kindergarten enrollment is coming up soon, they've decided they need a new strategy. I like to call it the "oh THAT old thing". Every time I mention something about homeschool their response is,

"So you still think you're going to do that?"

Then they proceed to tell me everything I "haven't thought of"....Some homeschooled kids are "behind" (I don't actually believe in "behind" but that's a whole different post), Homeschool kids don't get enough social interaction (like I've never heard that before), etc. etc. Then they start backpedaling-they're only saying it out of concern....

You know, you have 2 babies under 2 to take care of-homeschooling would be so inconvenient.

You know, having to come up with your own curriculum could be really challenging.

You know, it's nice to get a break from the kids when they go to school.

I know. I know. I know. But kids are always inconvenient, most parts of parenting are challenging, and to be honest no matter how much they make me crazy (and they DO) I really feel no need to send my children away 8 of their 13 waking hours 5 days a week. And still these people don't think we should be homeschooling, so they simply refuse to let it go.

You would think that such blatant opposition would be fairly rare, but pretty much every homeschooling parent I know has at least one friend/relation who are like mine...so what's to be done about the close people we love who do NOT love the fact that we homeschool?

First I would recommend addressing their concerns point for point. Explain to them your motives in homeschooling, your approach, and your thought process. Offer to send them email links to more information. Try to set their minds at ease, after all they are friends/family.

WhenIf that doesn't work, I recommend attempting to agree to disagree. Let them know that you respect the fact that they have a differing opinion, but they need to respect the fact that your child is yours to raise as you see fit.

If all else fails, you just have to set a boundary and agree not to talk about it. If/When they try to bring it up, I'd simply say "I understand you have opinions about homeschooling, but we are very confident in our decision and are really not seeking any input right now" and just leave it at that.

At least, that's what I've done. What about you guys? How do you defend your choice to homeschool?