When Homeschooling Parents Get Criticism From Family Members

Written in response to a fellow homeschooling mother who was being criticized by her family for teaching her children at home:

I am so sorry you have to deal with this irrational criticism of your homeschooling. Try to resist the urge to lash out in frustration – I know how tempting it must be. With calmly presented facts and Scripture, perhaps your family will be persuaded.

First of all, the letter your family member sent you is full of bad arguments for public schooling. Your response should be designed to put her on the defensive. You shouldn't have to explain why you are homeschooling (the perfectly natural thing to do for a child whom you love). She should have to explain why she is public schooling and especially why she is discouraging loving parents from leaving the failed public school experiment which has been a dismal failure!

I got a real "kick" out of her comment, "I see all of the things that we can offer that home school and small Christian schools cannot." Precisely!!! The public schools are offering our kids waaaaaaaay too many things that we do not want them to offer... like condoms, evolution, the immoral company of other bad children, tolerance and diversity training, etc. I would encourage you to look at the website www.101reasons.org/ for great current news stories about the tragedies going on in the public schools. It’s enough to scare any good Christian parent.

To respond to your sister-in-law’s little blurb about how great some teachers and schools are, we all realize there are some wonderful, kind, Christian, well-meaning teachers in the system, but the reasons to homeschool still hold true, all the good things about public school notwithstanding.

You are homeschooling because:
* You believe God called you to it!
* You love your children and believe you can care for them and educate them through intense one-on-one instruction much more effectively than they could get in a classroom full of kids of very varied backgrounds, struggles, and intellects.
* God has entrusted your children to you to keep them safe (physically, emotionally, spiritually), and you can do that better than a teacher who has 20 or 25 other kids for which to care (not to mention that the teacher may not be a Christian).
* Money and supplies do not make a school any better or more successful. (America has proven statistically that no matter how much money we throw at public education, we continue to rate at the bottom of the world in math and science).
* The idea that you need "trained experts" to teach children reading, math, history, science, etc. is laughable! I graduated with honors in Elementary Education from Florida State University and never learned how to teach a child to read until I taught my own child during homeschooling! I'm afraid the parents' involvement with public school students at home after school hours has a lot more to do with the success of the student than your sister in law is willing to admit!
* The last and possibly the most important reason to homeschool is taken from the admonition of 1 Corinthians 15:33, which says, "Bad company corrupts good morals." The bad company that children often experience from the other children in school is reason enough for me to not place my child in harm's way all day long without my direct supervision.

Don’t worry. You are doing a great job. Maybe in time your family will come around. Stay strong and keep praying for their eyes to be opened.

Love,
Elizabeth