146: the diversity of people who school at home

we are people who haven chosen to school at home.

when we share this information, it sometimes provokes strange reactions in the hearer. usually, the first response is a question. the question: what about socialization?

well, what about socialization? i was very social in school and it got me into a lot of situations i could have done without. like being threatened with butt-whoopings after school by the bully chicks and report card write-ups from concerned teachers (______ is a very good student but she talks too much).

baby bliss has had no problems following those stellar examples. but she's been able to get away with a lot more than i did. it's cuz she has a pretty face that you either love (cuz it's so pretty) or you hate (cuz you just don't like pretty people).

back to the question of socialization...

there was a whole lotta socialization going on in baby bliss's classes. so much socialization that the learning began to lag. it alternated between second and third place on the chart, depending on how much time had to be spent on discipline on any given day.

baby bliss is a fairly intelligent mermaid, being blessed to have smart genes on many branches of her family tree. excessive socialization aside, she was doing great in "outside" school. minus assorted assaults by class bullies (being poked with pencils and pushed down the stairs), teachers who refused to give the children bathroom breaks at the halfway point of an hour-long class, and a few teachers who watched baby bliss get injured and neglected to send her to the school nurse, i felt blessed to send my daughter to several highly regarded charter schools in our old hometown.

the thought of home schooling wasn't on the horizon until we decided to move.

the idea of home schooling didn't raise any particular images in my mind. i couldn't recall knowing anyone who home schooled and the few times i'd heard about it were only vague memories. i had no pre-conceived notions other than the one about my daughter driving me crazy from too much together time.

i realized i wanted to find others who had more experience because i usually learn best from hands-on assistance. so i set out to research home schooling and maybe find people us who had made the transition.

i learned a lot about home schooling and those who choose the option. one of the first things i grasped was the number of ways people do it and the different names it goes by. some folk use store-bought lesson plans; some get free materials online; others may do a combination of the two or something else all together. some people say the home school; some choose to unschool; some don't call it school at all but the children (and the parents) learn just the same.

i'd have to say one of the most important things i learned is that home schoolers are people like me: ordinary folk who for what ever reason(s) chose to teach their children "at home". in other words, folk who want the best for their children and are doing all they can to make it happen.

but i realized sometimes that's where the similarity ends.

home schoolers are truly a diverse group of people. other than the incidental or coincidental likenesses to be found in members of any group, we're no more homogeneous than the residents of a new york city apartment building.

i like people who understand this truth. it happens that i think 98% of those people are home schoolers themselves.

so i'm gonna do my small part to bring more understanding to the world.

please visit my "check 'em out y'all" links and drop in on the happenings at the Life Without School blog. specifically, check out the Celebrating Diversity post. maybe you'll learn something new and interesting. i did. :-)