First unsupportive Facebook comment to me about my homeschooling. :/

[ondreeuh]

I posted about how I love homeschooling, and described today's science lesson and activities. My husband's uncle who is the last person I'm worried about approving, posted a tried-and-true stereotypical ignorant comment.

 

"At least you know what they know and they will know what you know but will they know what you don't?"

 

I replied

 

"We don't live in a vacuum. They learn how to do research and don't rely on me as the ultimate authority. We also use a ton of different resources, so they are not in any way limited by my body of knowledge .. And in some cases, I learn alongside (like with kid's world history, of which I retained very little!)"

 

So there! LOL

 

Eta: he responded!

 

"So at this rate you are still in school yourself; to keep up with with inspired over active minds that will absorb faster than you do. Watch out! You might find new loves and hates in this fantastical creation that you never imagined could be. All I'm saying is that, you must have fun the whole way through the journey. Love Uncle"

 

That is more typical for his posts. He's very interesting.

[kiana]

Make a group called 'jerks' and put anyone who comments in a jerk-like fashion about it in there. Then set your homeschool posts to 'everyone but jerks'. 

 

Problem solved. One post per person and they're gone. :)

 

ETA: This presupposes, of course, that they aren't willing to listen and just want to bash. 

[kiwik]

Dp

[kiwik]

He doesn't sound like a jerk. He sounds willing to listen. And will probably realise the same argument applies to schools gkven time.

 

But the original comment was not as thougtful.

[kiwik]

He doesn't sound like a jerk. He sounds willing to listen. And will probably realise the same argument applies to schools gkven time.

 

But the original comment was not as thougtful.

[8filltheheart]

I am so glad that I am in a btdt stage in my life now that our lives are far more visible b/c of the internet.   In responding to someone like that I have the advantage of knowing just how successful homeschooling is even for the MANY things I do NOT know.   Maybe that IS the advantage to homeschooling.   I KNOW what I do NOT know and therefore seek out information, whereas teachers who do not know are going preserve their jobs.   ;)

[ondreeuh]

I don't actually think he wants to listen. The whole family nods and smiles because he usually makes no sense, and likes to argue for argument's sake. Once in a while my daughter and I look at his Facebook page as a cautionary tale as to why one should not use heavy drugs.

 

This was more amusing than frustrating to me, because he clearly had not thought much about what the situation is like for a child in a school where the teacher is bound to a particular scope & sequence with required materials. That is much more limited than what I do with my kids. We always have time to stop and look something up to get more info or another perspective. And because I know what they are learning about in each subject, I can help them draw connections to things they see outside of the curriculum. If/when I can't keep up, then I will outsource. Really, my reason to homeschool has to do with NOT limiting them to what they would get in a public school.

 

I know this is old hat to most people here, but my whole family has been nothing but supportive to me (to my face, lol) over the 6 years I've been homeschooling. Sure, some people have wondered how it works or brought up tentative concerns, but always with trust that I am not harming my kids. This is the first time I've met someone totally ignorant about it. I don't think he has seen many of my homeschooling posts in the past.

[hornblower]

given the added info you've posted, the appropriate response is

 

"Dude. That's deep, man. How do you know what you don't know? Profound. Peace, man."

 

[texasmama]

I had an uncle like this.  People mostly dismissed the things he said because they were a bit Alice in Wonderland-ish. 

[Tanaqui]

Wow. Word salad.

[ondreeuh]

Have you ever read the label of a bottle of Dr. Bronner's soap? His FB feed is something like that.

[texasmama]

It sounds like he is trying to be clever or helpful and is probably blissfully ignorant of the fact that he sounds odd and is, in fact, not being clever or helpful to you.  In fact, I'll bet he thinks his second post is very supportive.  lol

[Tranquility7]

Wait, I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone!  Do your DH and I have the same uncle?!?! Seriously, both comments are EXACTLY the kind of thing my uncle would write me. And it drives me nuts. He acts like he wants to discuss it, but he doesn't. He just likes to needle me (and is VERY accomplished at it).

 

And I always engage. In spite of my DH's wise advice not to, LOL. :blushing:

 

Fortunately my uncle is not my friend on FB. But every time I see his name pop up in my email Inbox, my blood pressure rises.

 

Btw, if your DH's uncle lives in Alabama, you totally have to PM me his name, because I think we are related. I kid you not. Their communication styles are identical!!

[Coco_Clark]

I dont know.  The first was rude but the second sounded like approval?  

 

My family provides almost constant negative commentary on homeschooling.  From the outright, "Your children will turn our weird and unable to cope with the world." to the more subtle, "Hey so and so, did you know that you don't have to take a test or anything to graduate homeschool?  You can do NOTHING!" in front of me...

 

Then there's my husbands family, who are very supportive of un/non schooling and think I push the kids way too hard.

 

You just cant win.  

[ondreeuh]

Wait, I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone! Do your DH and I have the same uncle?!?! Seriously, both comments are EXACTLY the kind of thing my uncle would write me. And it drives me nuts. He acts like he wants to discuss it, but he doesn't. He just likes to needle me (and is VERY accomplished at it).

 

And I always engage. In spite of my DH's wise advice not to, LOL. :blushing:

 

Fortunately my uncle is not my friend on FB. But every time I see his name pop up in my email Inbox, my blood pressure rises.

 

Btw, if your DH's uncle lives in Alabama, you totally have to PM me his name, because I think we are related. I kid you not. Their communication styles are identical!!

Nope, not Alabama. This guy never left hippie-land (San Francisco area).

[ondreeuh]

I dont know. The first was rude but the second sounded like approval?

 

My family provides almost constant negative commentary on homeschooling. From the outright, "Your children will turn our weird and unable to cope with the world." to the more subtle, "Hey so and so, did you know that you don't have to take a test or anything to graduate homeschool? You can do NOTHING!" in front of me...

 

Then there's my husbands family, who are very supportive of un/non schooling and think I push the kids way too hard.

 

You just cant win.

Oh my gosh! That is beyond rude! How can you not snark back?

[kiwik]

Oh well. If that is just how he is _ water off a duck's back.

[SparklyUnicorn]

given the added info you've posted, the appropriate response is

 

"Dude. That's deep, man. How do you know what you don't know? Profound. Peace, man."

 

 

 

LOL

 

taking notes...

[Coco_Clark]

Oh my gosh! That is beyond rude! How can you not snark back?

 

I suppose I just don't see the benefit of it?  It wont change minds and it wont make ME happy.  I tend to just let things roll off me.  

[Curlymom]

I don't post about homeschooling on FB usually. I think I'm a little afraid of receiving even simple comments like that.

 

But my husband is a prolific FB poster. He posted on the very first day we started about how proud he was of us (he's a sweetheart) and someone I thought was a supportive friend replied and wrote 'what are they doing in "school" today?'

 

Like what we were doing was not remotely legitimate school.

 

And my sweetheart husband responded with something along the lines of "oh, they studied Ancient Greece, Latin, chemistry, literature, math, poetry" and whatever else I had told him we had done, since I had sent him a pretty detailed update about our day before I even noticed that post. Our friend didn't respond after that post.

 

FB is tough. I pretty much just post innocuous kid pics because things can turn ugly so fast and unexpectedly on social media.

[momacacia]

The whole family nods and smiles because he usually makes no sense, and likes to argue for argument's sake. Once in a while my daughter and I look at his Facebook page as a cautionary tale as to why one should not use heavy drugs.

Awesome! Have you told him what you us for your Say No to Drugs curriculum? LOL.

 

(Okay, it's actually kind of sad because he sounds like an IRL version of those brain on drugs commercials , but it would make your point--in a way he may not understand.)

[SparklyUnicorn]

I used to feel the need to explain myself and convince people of what I was doing.  I don't anymore.  I just nod and smile and pass the bean dip as some say.  Some people have the answers and you cannot convince them, but they tend not to really know what they are talking about.  So what is the point of having a discussion with someone like that?  I know it's kinda more difficult when it is family, but it doesn't have to be.  Put the comment on ignore and move on.