How Dare a Mom Who Sent Her Kids to School Criticize a Homeschooling Mom!

Recently a homeschooling mom friend told me that she had received "advice" from a mom who did not believe in homeschooling, but in my opinion, the "advice" my friend received sounded more like a lecture.

It was "suggested" first that her entire family would be much happier if the children were put in public school.  Then the mom bragged about how one of her grown children is a doctor and how great all of her children are after going to public school.  This person also said that the homeschooling mom's life would be so much easier and stress-free if she did not homeschool her children.

Then that mom told my friend that she was keeping her home schooling children in a bubble and when they reach their 18th birthdays they will "let lose and go crazy!"

The non-homeschool parent was absolutely shocked to learn that the homeschool mom did not permit her children to watch  a lot of television.  This homeschool mom believes that television today has so much "garbage" and believes that too much T.V. watching may cause her children to lose some creativity.

When my friend told me about this, I told her to ignore this "advice" and just school her children the way she wants.  All three of my children were homeschooled-unschooled and came out fine.  They are independent young adults now and love to continue to learn.

What did my children miss by not going to public school?  They missed the bullying and worrying about what to wear.  They missed sitting at uncomfortable desks all day long.  They missed having homework piled on them.  They missed peer pressure and the need to conform.  They never had to write "I will not talk in class" 100 times.  They didn't have to eat food in a school cafeteria every day or ask permission to go to the restroom.  They didn't have to study all year long for school achievement tests.

What did they do instead?  Since my kids were not sitting in a classroom every day, they became each other's best friends.  They hung out with their mom and did "cool things" with me during the hours of the day when other kids were inside classrooms.  We not only skated together every day, but we went to museums and to the zoo.  We hiked, biked, and skied together and we sang and danced together.  We traveled and we explored.

My children did watch television, but I noticed that they chose shows and movies to watch that taught them about life.  They watched classic musicals and enjoyed documentaries.

Were my children in a bubble?  Well perhaps they were...their friends were also kids with loving moms who wanted only the best for their children.  Those kids were also creative and happy and grew up to be successful young adults. They did meet kids that went to school at Ramah in the Rockies, so they also made friends with kids from all over the world who were educated in the traditional way.

Anyway...how dare a mom who sent her kids to school criticize a homeschooling mom.  Choosing to homeschool children is a hard job and a homeschool parent should not be criticized.