We took Grandpa Milo and Grandma Sarah to the airport yesterday. We had an absolutely fabulous time with them while they were here. I will try to put up some pictures tomorrow of the sushi the kids made with Grandpa’s direction. Over the weekend, Lorena and I had some interesting discussions with some of our friends. Some of it was about homeschool, but a lot of it was just about life. We have concluded that it is difficult to please those who are displeased with you, especially if you do not know why they are displeased. That seems particularly true when it comes to homeschool, religion, and tradition. It even gets harder when it comes to morality and raising children. We are really quite happy with the education our children receive. We know that their education is not a traditional American public school education, so except with family and very close, like-minded friends, we rarely speak about the kids educational material and level of study so that we can avoid offending people.
The thing for which we are most grateful is the “socialization” of our kids. We rarely speak about that unless we are forced into a corner. We get forced into a corner more often than I would have imagined when we started homeschool. Some are genuinely interested in the issue because they do not know how homeschool is generally able to produce such well-spoken, confident children. More often, people who have an investment in the traditional system, the government schools, ask questions with an agenda other than that of trying to understand. It is amazing how many of the people who have such an agenda actually work for the government schools as a teacher, aide, or administrator. They all seem to have some horror story about some homeschooler who returned to government school and was socially and academically backwards compared to the other students in the school. The questions and stories are so loaded with rancor, that we choose not to engage. We have read the longitudinal studies on socialization and academic achievement, but you can never win such an argument. The sad part is that such a strategy often leads to increased rancor. We really have no opinion or knowledge about what is best for other people’s children. We just know what has served our own family and children well. We are not trying to convince anyone of the rightness of our homeschool or religion. We just know that it what we are doing is the best we know how to do.