Dealing With Opposition to Homeschooling
Though the homeschool community has grown by leaps
and bounds since the days of Ray & Dorothy Moore, there is still
opposition to learning at home. As a homeschooling mom myself I
often hear negative comments.
"If you are not a teacher you are not
qualified to homeschool."
"Your kids won't have socialization
skills...they will be awkward members of society."
"How you can teach your kids Algebra
or Calculus if these are your own weak areas?"
"Homeschoolers are religious
fanatics!"
Where does this opposition come from
and why?
Opposition
comes from a variety of sources. Those associated with public
schools often oppose homeschool, believing they know what’s best
educationally for each family. They cite the cost to the district in
funding lost for each child educated at home. But, actually,
according to National Home Education Research Founder Brian D. Ray,
Ph.D., homeschooling costs taxpayers thousands of dollars less.
Mention that tidbit the next time someone opposes homeschool. Money
speaks a universal language.
Public school teachers and their associated unions have often
opposed homeschooling in the past. Most educational unions with ties
to the public school system oppose homeschool and give a range of
reasons. Lack of socialization for one- which if you look at the
awful way some kids in ‘traditional’ schools behave it’s mind
boggling that those are the kids they want yours to ‘socialize’
with.
Not learning properly used to be the forefront of the
anti-homeschool cry from opposition but as homeschooled students
have consistently outscored their public school peers in percentile
points when tested, that cry has all but died down.
What about well meaning people who don’t know what homeschooling
means and are contrary to the idea because it’s not familiar to
them? Keep in mind that people are often leery of what they don’t
understand or have no experience with. Anything that strays from
what’s considered the ‘norm’—traditional schooling down at the
schoolhouse- raises questions and concerns.
Don’t waste your time trying to win people over to the benefits of
homeschooling. Instead, let test results and research speak for you.
Give them links to studies done proving the validity of homeschool
and how it works. Let them know many homeschool kids end up going to
college and that they have many options. Numerous universities actively recruit
homeschooled kids.
What if you have family members who oppose homeschool? That can be a
little more delicate to handle, especially when dealing with an
older generation. I faced this myself. Out right opposition from
family. I heard everything from worry that the kids wouldn’t be
‘normal’ to fear that they wouldn’t be able to communicate.
If you’re dealing with this issue, I suggest giving your family
information on how homeschool got started, a list of historical
figures who’d been homeschooled and a list of well known people
who’ve been homeschooled. That usually opens the door to help family
see homeschool as a viable education option.
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