NoRmAl PaReNtS dOnT hOmEsChOoL

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katieoh

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Jesus fucking Christ on a pogo stick, WHAT ABOUT NOW IS NORMAL

Sorry I'd rather my kids be a little weird with weird friends than risk them being shot. Or getting covid. Or measles or whatever shit antivaxxers are bringing back. Or having another teacher do "the face" when my son says we don't go to church. Or have to explain that it doesn't matter what the other kid said at recess, our aunties aren't pedos just because they're both women. And that our art teacher isn't trying to brainwash them by asking for pronouns.

I have 0 judgement for parents who send their kids to public school because I know it's a privilege to be able to stay home and finance this. Hell, my middle daughter is going to public school next year because it's what's best for her! And I can pull her out if she decides she wants to homeschool. But it's our choice!

Christ almighty. My kids are weird but they aren't antisocial brainwashed mentally ill cult members like apparently all homeschool kids are.

Next person who says something to me about it is getting told to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut because what the absolute fuck. This is the most stressful, difficult thing I've ever done, but I can tell my kids "you're grumpy because of inertia" and they know what I mean!

This is what I get for being curious about a reddit post in a popular subreddit and reading the comments. I know it only ends in angry tears but I still do it.

Edit: this truly is the best subreddit. I stayed off my phone and took the kids to the science center. We're now members and are committed to volunteering two hours a week! I decided to take my anger at the multiple "hOmEsChOoL iS aBuSe" posts and comments and funnel it into showing myself that I'm a decent homeschool proctor.
 
@katieoh We're Christian want-to-be homeschoolers (big kid is about preschool age) which I guess falls in the stereotype? Someone I know and looked up to liked a tweet that was very much anti-homeschool and it was so disappointing :(

I think secular homeschooling is a fantastic option. Religion's tossed aside, my partner and I were both left behind in the school system in various ways through the years. (Math learning disability + probable ADHD for me and AuDHD for husband) Our girls are more than likely going to be some form of neurodivergent as well and I don't think they'll be able to thrive in a public setting. There's so many ways to make up for the socialization that comes from public school.
 
@katieoh I saw that post too. It’s unfortunate that what most people believe about homeschooling comes from the most extreme and bizarre situations. My cousins were homeschooled through high school; one of them is a dental tech and the other a biologist now. They were part of a co-op funded by the local school district and they got to take classes outside of their home. Homeschooling can be done right, and it sounds like you’ve got your kids’ best interest at heart.
 
@katieoh I wish I had the patience, ability, and time to homeschool sometimes - so go you!! I’m not into our local area either and spend an ungodly amount of money yearly for the one private “hippy school” close-ish by. We are driving two hours a day between drop off and pickup to skip the racist, pronoun fearing, CRT obsessed derps in our community.

I love our school and it’s filled with happy little weird kids (shouldn’t all kids be weird?!). I’m willing to bet your kids are just normal weird instead of having their weirdness stripped out by classmates parroting the worst of their parents’ behavior, tapped out teachers in overfull classrooms, and too many hours not playing.

I’m already stressing about what to do for middle school (I’ve got a 1st grader and a preschooler next year lol) and seriously considering trying to be available for homeschool by then and I think I’m exceedingly normal 😅

Solidarity ♥️
 
@katieoh yikes. people who make random speculations on others gross me out. who gives a flying fuck what another household is choosing to do? i want to get little buttons to pass out to folk like that that say: "mind your business and worry about your own".
 
@katieoh I am genuinely curious now and want to see this post. Can anyone tell me, even in a PM what sub to look for? No cross posting.

I could not home school due to my lack of abilities and the fact that I bring in half of our family’s income. But homeschooling done right can be wonderful! I also think “weird home school kids” is a stereotype that is often affixed to kids that are homeschooled due to being in cult like settings (looking at you, fundies) who ARE sheltered from the outside world completely on purpose.
 
@reporter94 People are essentially taking one of four tracks.

1: They were Trump supporters and this proves MAGA is a cult.

2: We need better mental health support and ways to identify mental health problems.

3: Gun control.

4: They homeschooled her and she was isolated from people/institutions that might have helped her. Home school parents are mostly fundamentalists who want to control their children and they grow up socially crippled.
 
@katieoh I was public school educated and I was socially awkward until college. I'd rather be weird than a lot of things. Families should do whatever they feel is best for their kids. I don't care how a stranger chooses to educate their kids. It's not interesting to me.

Try to remember that anyone highly opinionated about something like this is a busy body. Happy people don't need to bring others down especially about something as benign as homeschooling. Why would they care? It doesn't affect them and their perfect choices (sarcasm)
 
@katieoh My kids are “home schooled” and by that I mean they are virtual schooled for 2 hours a day and the rest falls on the parent. We chose this path before Covid hit. We enrolled our first the year before Covid was around. Time and time again we hear from people that our kids are going to be socially awkward or that I am ruining them for keeping them home because of a “fake virus.” It’s insane how so many people shame you for trying to do what you think is best for your child. 🤷‍♂️
 
@katieoh As a kid who was homeschooled, I firmly believe that it is a homeschool parent's moral imperative to go above and beyond to make sure their kid is not left behind academically or socially. The r/homeschoolrecovery group is full of current and former homeschooling kids whose parents missed the mark, some in small ways and many in huge ways. I had to leave the group because the constant depression there was exhausting.

My mother was a great English teacher and a shit math teacher. It took me years of work in college to make up for that deficit and I absolutely know it affected my career trajectory as I didn't pursue any field that used math or science on the regular.

I think every one of your concerns and reasons for homeschooling is valid. On some level, I understand the religious folks, too. But at the end of the day, the success stories aren't as prevalent as we homeschoolers would like them to be. Many of my homeschool friends weren't just weird when they grew up. They didn't launch! I used to defend homeschooling all the time, but as I talked about it with my former homeschooled friends, it became clear to me that the only reason I got a good education was because I liked to learn and was self-directed. My mother, for all her efforts, wasn't a teacher. The only reason we were socialized was because my mom is a social butterfly, not because she thought it was important for us to be socialized with other kids. (We've had this talk. It was a byproduct, not the goal)

So I question homeschooling a lot now.l, not because I want to be judgmental but because experience has taught me that there is a lot more to it than just a kid growing up and being weird.
 
@strongheart I have five kids. Add in weekly trips to museums, curriculum that isn't created by me (I say I'm a homeschool proctor), and so many outside resources, my kids are above grade level and socially much better now than they were in public school. My oldest are ND and homeschool has helped them more than anything when it comes to emotional regulation.

I was homeschooled. And I wish I had stuck with it because middle school and high school are when/where most of my trauma happened.
 
@katieoh I homeschooled a bit during covid. Now that the kids are back in public school (1st and 2nd grade), they haven't learned a damn thing all year. I'm really torn because I love the community and am very active with the school (fundraising board, volunteering in classrooms), but homeschool is simply a better education. We are neither religious nor anti-vax. I don't want to skip them ahead any grades either, because I was skipped several grades ahead as a child and it was very traumatic socially. I still don't know what to do here. So torn.
 
@katieoh Omg I love this post so so much!!!! We are in the same boat. Our hybrid homeschool is 3 days at home and 2 days at a learning center. Let me tell you my kids hate those two days. They love seeing their friends ok sure but they hate dealing with the “muggles” and the crazy shit they say. My 4th grader was just told that girls can’t marry or date each other but it’s totally ok for men to do that. Wow. Homophobic and misogynistic much?! I’d rather have my kids that are quote “unsocialized homeschooled weirdos” then be that freaking ignorant about the world around them. I hated public school. Every single second of it. This is the next best thing. They only endure 2 days of it.
 
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