Does Your Family Suppport Your Decision to Home Educate?

[Tarreymere]

We don't discuss it. My parents have passed away, but they pretty much felt that I was weird and I would make my kids weird. My mom would try to bribe me not read books when I was growing up, she thought I read too much and that I should have been out chasing boys or something. We have extended family members who feel that our kids will grow up to be 'too naive', whatever that means.

[Leav97]

My older sister thinks were nuts but doesn't say it out loud.

 

My younger sister is baffled by why anyone would want to homeschool. Her DH is a teacher and schools are awesome.

 

My parents have never commented.

 

My FIL has decided only whack job religious people and those for whom school isn't good enough homeschool. I have yet to ask which category we fail into.

 

My MIL hasn't said much but has been quizzing DD to make sure she is learning. She is a preschool teacher.

 

Last year everyone wrote it off is preschool. I think they thought we would change our mind. This year everyone has been very quite.

[Donna]

I think my parents were a little concerned at first. They did not know anyone who homeschooled so they did not really understand why I wanted to do it. We had a number of talks about my decision. I wasn't looking for approval but we are very close and talk to my parents about everything...it's my way of thinking through things.

 

They understood and support us no matter what choices we make. I've even heard them brag to others that the kids are/were homeschooled. My brother and sister-in-law have already talked to us about homeschooling their now 2yo because they see how well it is working for us.

[TexasMom]

We just started homeschooling this month, so it's still pretty new to us and our families. I will say that everyone seems a little more comfortable with it because I'm a certified teacher. I don't at all think that that makes me a better homeschooling mom, but if it makes them feel better about it, then that's fine with me.

 

My mom has been very supportive, ever since I told her we were considering it. She was a little concerned about how I would handle it... meaning that I won't get any breaks from my kids, especially because my husband travels a lot. But she basically told me that if I felt that I needed to homeschool, then I should at least try it, or I'd always regret it.

 

My dad and my brothers think I'm crazy, but they support us.

 

I have one sister who thinks it's a great idea. Where she lives homeschooling is very common. I have 2 sisters who don't agree with it. One of them is still nice about it though and asks me how things are going, but with the other one (who has no kids), we never discuss it.

 

My in-laws have no idea. My husband hasn't told them yet. We agreed that I'll tell my family, and he'll tell his. So who knows when he'll get around to telling them, and who knows what they'll have to say about it??

[snipsnsnailsx5]

No, we've had a lot of debate with our family...mostly my side of the family.

We are lucky enough that my husband's brother and his wife already decided to homeschool their kids a couple years ago, so my husband's side of the family is familiar with homeschooling and don't have anything negative to say.

 

However, I am the "pioneer" on my side of the family, and my family has very dated opinions about homeschooling. They don't realize all of the wonderful opportunities and how many homeschooling families there are now.

My mom is more "concerned" but supportive.

My dad and brother were totally against it.

My sister and her husband were the most vocal against it and still like to get into debates about it.

OH its so frustrating!!

 

I hope I can be a good example and change their minds!

[lllll]

..

[Mommy22alyns]

Yes, both sides, THANK GOODNESS!

[mom2scouts]

They were more supportive than I expected. My dad was a public school teacher for 40 years and he is the most supportive. After spending a day with my son talking about the subject he taught, I think he's even more convinced. Ironically, my mom, who was a high school dropout who never had a good thing to say about school, still isn't quite sure. She supports my decision anyway.

[jplain]

Well, they're not unsupportive. And if they don't support us, I don't want to hear about it, because then I'd have to bite off their heads. :tongue_smilie:

 

My mom homeschooled my sibs, so I was shocked when my dad was the first to express reservations about me homeschooling. He said he was worried that my older daughter's intensity would be a challenge, and that I'd never have any time to myself. Heh. No worries on those counts. I'm fine. Spoiled, really. Honestly, being a SAHM of littles was way harder than being a homeschooling mom.

 

One of my mother-in-laws disapproves, but she knows better than to open her mouth. Before she knew we were planning to homeschool she said to me "I don't think it is healthy for kids to spend that much time with their mothers." I said, "That's ridiculous. By the way, has DH mentioned that he really wants me to homeschool?" She shut up.

 

I feel blessed, because my education level and specific areas of study mean that no one can ever claim that I'm unqualified to be homeschooling. That's not to say I'm the best teacher ever, but no one, not even a classroom teacher or school administrator, could claim that I'm unqualified. It is a nice feeling. :D

[Dmmetler]

My parents do. Both are very involved with ISEF and JSHS competitions, and have seen a LOT of homeschooled kids who are very successful.

 

My father in law is a conspiracy-theorist type and therefore thinks anything that keeps his precious granddaughter out of government control is a good thing.

 

My BIL/SIL think it's strange and think I'm pushing DD too much academically. They don't seem to get that for DD, it's a lot harder socially and emotionally to be so out of the norm for her classmates, compared with having school be completely separate and being with kids who she shares interests with outside of school-and that she has MANY more friends now than she had when she was in school.

 

My brother keeps sending me e-mails about legal challenges to homeschooling and legal supports for it. He's a Civil Rights lawyer, so I suppose it comes with the territory.

 

Extended family mostly has a lot of questions, but if they think it's a negative, they keep it to themselves. Honestly, most of the extended family on DH's side are sports addicts who find the most interesting part of DD's life to be the rec sports teams she does at church or at the local parks and rec center, and my extended family usually is too busy griping about how bad their lives and bragging about their kids to care about mine.

 

 

The single person I was most worried about was DH's grandfather, who was a very powerful personality and absolutely was a proponent of public education, preferably the same schools that family members have gone to for generations (this is the kind of guy who's name is on the business school of the "Family university"). I guiltily admit to having been relieved when he died last April, after we'd made the decision to HS, but before we'd actually started.

[Pretty in Pink]

Short answer: Nope.

 

I used to think they were all starting to come around after receiving several positive comments from members on both sides of the family, but those hopes were smashed over the holidays as both my MIL and my mother openly criticized our choice. In fact, I was venting to my mother about what my MIL had said and my Mom's reply was, "Well, I think you're making a mistake, too, but I only told you once and I've kept my mouth shut ever since." :001_huh:

[ScoutTN]

DH's family is almost never supportive of anything we do! Our worldview and value system is very different from theirs. They are all die-hard public school people.

 

My mom and step father are supportive and open to learning about home schooling. Though they are both retired teachers and school heads (one from private schools, one public) and there is certainly a good bit of skepticism in their minds too. They are aware that they don't know much about HS and are open to being educated! ;)

[gingersmom]

Four years later and my family still wants to know when I am going to be putting my kids back in school.

[texasmama]

My father is a strong supporter of me homeschooling (my sweet mother passed on but she would have, as well).

 

My inlaws and husband's entire family do not, but they know better than to say anything. ;) Dh's 91 yo grandmother used to ask a lot of questions and insinuate that the kids weren't learning what they needed to, but I spent some time educating her about what hs'ing is about and what we did, which helped her be more supportive. She is a big part of our lives so her support, while not necessary, makes things more pleasant.:001_smile: About the only comments I get now are about my 2nd graders handwriting. Ummm, not concerned but thanks anyway.

[UmMusa]

Thankfully no one in my family has come out and criticized our decision. My parents were pretty supportive when the words first came out of my mouth that I was considering it (back last May). I was shocked at how easy they took it. My brothers (no kids) were like 'huh'? Ok. They probably thought it was weird but they don't care enough to say anything against it!

 

My inlaws.... they're polite enough not to say anything negative. I know for sure they don't know what it is like, and they live in a diffeent country where no one does it. Thankfully, they've seen me and DH make some big decisions that are different from their life choices, and they know not to challenge us.

 

Ironically, and this might be a blessing, but I felt a little hurt last weekend when my two brothers (one SIL) came over and not one of them asked me how hs'ing is going. They don't care. But she's a teacher!!! I guess that's better than fighting about it.

[kwickimom]

My parents...they dont like it, but they arent negative about it...we just dont say much. My IL's are against every.single.thing we do because they are mean, hateful people. They are against it just because we do it. I do have 2 aunts that HS and are all for it. My siblings and cousins are all cool with it too!

[Lisa3033]

We have not shared the news officially yet. Dd1 is 5 and missed the cutoff for Kindergarten, dd2 is 3, nearing 4. We let them know that they were on the waitlist for a local Montessori charter school and that if they didn't get in, we'd be considering homeschooling for preschool.

 

FIL works as a janitor at an elementary school and is always bringing us things they were going throw out, so he supports us in that way. He would never a voice an opinion so who knows if he agrees with it. If pressed, he'd likely say your kids, your choice. A table, construction paper, books. Perfectly good stuff, I have no idea why they'd throw it out:confused:

 

MIL I'm sure does not agree, but surprisingly has not said much. She continues to call it daycare for whatever reason:confused: (and no, she's not an immigrant or anything, English is her first and only language) She'll ask the kids "did you do your daycare earlier today?" Which of course they say no, because they have no idea what daycare is or what she means by it. So only then will she'll call it school, "You didn't do school today?" It annoys me because, one, I know she's only asking to check up on me, and two her calling it daycare to me just seems as if she doesn't want to believe that her grandkids are homeschooled. "Daycare" is ok for her because they're still young and it's more like daycare instead of school but I'm going to guess when she finds out dd1 won't be attending Kindergarten.

 

My parents are very vocal in their displeasure in homeschooling, and have been from the time I can remember. They have more of "leave it to the professionals" mindset. I remember asking them to teach me, addition with remainders I think it was as a child and being told no because they didn't want to teach me in a different way than what the school would teach me. Say wha? :001_huh: That comment still befuddles me to this day, especially since I was always a child who struggled in school.

 

SIL/BIL I don't think care one way or the other. They're 'eclectic' themselves and buck quite a few social norms so I doubt they even give it a second though.

 

My sister rocks. She even gave me a compliment last time she was over and said something like "You always do so much educational things with the girls. Mom and Dad never did anything like that, I don't know why."

Edited January 27, 2011 by Lisa3033