Perceptions of Homeschooling: When others think you are doing a bad jobby Andrea Hermitt | More from this Blogger 24 Jun 2008 03:10 PM One of the hardest parts of being a homeschooler is dealing with the criticism that goes along with it. Just reading the occasional article or blog makes it clear that by homeschooling people have the perception that we are doing a bad job with my kids. Many of us do try to prove that we are not doing a bad job. We write, we blog, we discuss, we try and try and try to prove to the general public that we are good parents and educators. This approach however is a colossal waste of time. It tends to come across as preachy, pompous, judgmental, and even insecure. Our remaining choices are to ignore the judgments and to continue to live our lives. Still there are times when it is hard to ignore accusations that you are being a bad parent by homeschooling. People tend to make some pretty mean statements. Some of these are brought to us through the media. Others come to us through people we know, and in some cases even like. Nevertheless, my point here is not to whine. It is to encourage homeschoolers to not let the assumptions and perceptions of others get you down. It is also wise to not let these perceptions make us angry. We need to always consider the point of view from which the accusations and assumptions come. Some people just do not know anything about homeshooling. Others may have had a bad experience with a homeschooler. Others may have had bad experiences in their life or with their parents that makes them think too much parental influence is a bad thing. Others are conformists who do not understand how homeschooler can throw away the stats quo and do something so different. Most of these people actually care, no matter how perverted their "caring" may be presented. Meanwhile, we as homeschoolers cannot take our eye off our real job, which is educating our children, and raising them to be productive citizens. When met with an accusation that we are doing our kids a bad service we perhaps should stop for a moment and ask ourselves if we are indeed doing the best we can for our kids. If there is any truth in the accusation, we should make some changes. Barring that, we have to just let people have their perceptions and hope that our actions and examples will change their minds. Misinformation About Homeschooling: Don't Believe the Hype! * Have you seen the homeschooling curriculum glossary? Learn more about Andrea Hermitt  Andrea Hermitt is a native New Yorker currently residing in GA. She has been married for over 16 years and has two teenage children. Relevanthomeschooling tags User Comments tangerinelullaby (553) 24 Jun 2008 11:11 PMYou're doing a great job. :) Whatever the criticism outside of that---you should disregard them all. I guess the best thing to do is love what you're doing and all goes well. It's not your job to please these people anyway. :D -Yvie http://tangerineslullaby.eachday.com jeannieisnew (75) 25 Jun 2008 05:33 AMVery timely! Thank you for the encouragement. I am bringing my middle child home next year and am feeling wonderful about it, but have been questioned pretty heavily by some family. I have to keep reminding myself that they love my children, too, which is why they worry. Their concerns stem from 30-year-old misconceptions, both about public school and homeschool. I think that is some of the criticm, from folks who don't know that it isn't all 14 children lined up perfectly quietly reciting Bible verses and never interacting with other children. Teri (190) 01 Jul 2008 08:09 PMWe also have to keep in mind that no one is perfect and no one can do it all. It is easy to get caught up in all the hype, but we must keep in mind that as long as we are doing the best that we can do and are constantly searching for ways to improve upon our weaknesses, we are doing fine. Community Tags bad homeschooler, criticism, homeschool Discuss this article
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