Mopdop Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Hi, after working slowly to persuade me that homeschooling is right for us, DH has finally won me over! So, here we go ... DS1 went to preschool for almost 2 yrs before we pulled him out after Christmas. We are working through a pre-k program from Winter Promise, mainly to let me see if I can do this! Things are going great and I am looking to move on to K level work soon. He is enjoying the WP stuff, but I know it is way below his level. We did some work in OPGTR last summer and he did well, so I am going to start that again soon. Also, I just ordered HWT and already have Saxon K, so I guess we are ready to go. We plan to school all year since DH has funky vacations and a 3 day weekend every month, so we want to be able to go, without worrying about school, when we can. DS2 is our bundle of joy and grace. We adopted him from Korea last summer and are loving every minute of parenting him ... even the rough ones! He is severely delayed in speech and so we are wading through the early intervention program maze to get him the help he needs. That is us in a nutshell, so here is the question: How do I go about telling my parents that we aren't going to send DS to school next yr? They are very against hmscling and I am worried that my mum will try to undermine us at every turn. We live about 20 mins from my parents and see them often, and DS spends time with them without me around. Those are the times that I am worried about my mum saying things like "Don't you wish you were in school?" etc. Any advice would be appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendi Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Sounds like you're well-prepared and off to a good start. Others can probably help more with the issues with your mom. I just wanted to offer you a :grouphug: and say, good job with your homeschooling journey so far! Wendi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Welcome to the Hive! The ladies and gentlemen who post here are wonderful and you will glean all kinds of helpful information from them. My first bit of advice is to not allow yourself to get into a defensive mode. Arrange a meeting with the grandparents without the children around and let them know what your plans are. They will be very curious so be prepared to give an answer for how you think your day will be structured and what kinds of curriculum you might choose from. Feel free to list the reasons why you are choosing this method of education but also make your expectations clear...You expect them to be supportive, genuinely interested in the grandkids education in an appropriate manner, and above all, let them know that the decision is not "negotiable". Give them an opportunity to appropriately express their concerns. These are their grandbabies and it isn't realistic to expect them to swallow all of their feelings. Keep things as open and friendly as you can. Give them the opportunity to do the right thing. If they do attempt to undermine your decision, then you will have to revisit the issue and possibly have a stricter talk. Most of my friends have found that with some time and adjustment to the idea, their parents have eventually come on board and been supportive. One family had ongoing problems and unfortunately, those grandparents are not allowed "unsupervised" visits with their grandkids. At this stage, I wouldn't worry yet that this could be your family. Its just such a new idea for the grandparents and they need to adjust. Both of our children's grandparents like to sometimes receive a piece of schoolwork (a spelling test with a good grade, creative writing assignment, or artwork) from the kids. When we are visiting, we often find them posted on the refrigerator. Dh's grandmother hung a string up in her living room and hung the children's work with clothespins. This was the same lady (former kindergarten teacher) who was just certain our children were going to have problems because they didn't go to school! People can change. I hope you love your homeschool journey as much as we have loved ours! Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary in NJ Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Welcome! Approach it from the standpoint that they can be involved with your children's education. Perhaps ask a grandparent if they can read aloud to your child on Wednesday morning, afternoon, or whatever. Maybe if you include them, they can't object! For what it is worth, my family has never agreed with our choice to homeschool. We have been homeschooling since 1999. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommaduck Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 In most cases it will be a "proof is in the pudding" issue. So you will have to give the grandparents time and they will have to give you time. My in-laws were unfamiliar with homeschooling as were my folks. Of course none of them were antagonistic towards it, but I did do what I could to reassure without making it sound like I answered to them. More of a show and tell, how proud you are of your child, things you get to do and are excited about, and how much the child would miss out on this or that if they were in public school (since many will throw in how much they are missing out on by not being in public school). You will have to be positive, may want to keep your struggles to other homeschooling moms and not bring them up with the grandparents. And in the end, the proof really will be in the pudding. My in-laws are fine with us homeschooling because they have seen the evidence of how wonderfully educated and the genuine character of our children. However, they were not okay with my sil homeschooling because they saw the direct opposite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 You can always say you're giving him an extra year to mature... and that you'll be doing some things to keep him up to speed at home. You don't have to say, "we're homeschooling him". Then the next year, you just say that you enjoyed the last year, and so you're giving him another year to mature... cuz he's too young socially to put in 1st grade, but he's doing work ahead of 1st and that you'll look at it the next year to see where he could be..... when he's in highschool... presto... he'll be ready for college soon.. and you'll be ready to send him:-) My son didn't realize until the end of last year that he was "kindergarten age" or that he was homeschooled. He just knew he stayed with Mama. And yes... his sister is homeschooled (by me) and his steps go to school... It's just... life... for him:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.