Am I just paranoid?

[Sandy]

[seekingmyLord]

[momo3boys]

[Calla_Dragon]

[Theodore]

[Calla_Dragon]

[seekingmyLord]

[StellarStory]

I don't think you can assume that someone is going to react that way without knowing.

OTOH, if you are more comfortable being safe rather than possibly sorry, I can't blame you.

[Morgan]

During the public school's school year (September to June) when I am out at the grocery store/eating out for lunch, etc. I often get weird looks from people who pass me by. It makes me wonder if they're thinking, "Ooohhh....she's skipping school and her mom's allowing it..." and I just want to yell out, "What are you staring at, I'm homeschooled!". I am not ashamed of being homeschooled, but I don't like it when people judge a book by its cover. Just because to some people it may look like I'm playing hookey, and my mom may look like she's allowing it, but that does not mean that it is true. Sometimes I just tell myself, "It doesn't matter what these people think. I know that I am homeschooled, and my knowledge is all I need." but there are times when it is hard to let people's stares and glances go unnoticed.

Also, there are times that people build up the nerve to say something like, "Aren't you supposed to be in school?", and I reply, "I'm homeschooled." Usually I will catch their glances, and I know they are judging me because they do not support homeschooling.

But then there are my teachers. Very few (only two from the past two years of my education) have supported my homeschooling. My 6th grade Language Arts teacher was happy for me when I told her why I was leaving the school. My 7th grade Science teacher thought I made a great choice. All the rest sort of said, "Oh...wow, that's nice." and I knew they didn't have a good opinion of homeschooling. One of the secretaries, when I was with my mom handing the principal my withdraw papers, shook her head and mumbled, "Droppin' out..." I could not believe my ears! Did she really think that leaving to get a better education was dropping out?

[StellarStory]

I hear some people get identification cards made for their kids who home school and are out during the school day without them just in case they are hassled.

Around my area, there are so many homeschooling kids, and so many different school systems with different schedules we don't really get that reaction at all.

[Morgan]

According to the National Home Education Research Institute…

“There were an estimated 1,700,000 to 2,100,000 children (grades K-12) home educated during 2002-2003 in the United States. Homeschooling appears to still be the fastest-growing form of education."

Now, there is an estimated 3,000,000 homeschooled children in America, and the number continues to grow.

It's great to hear this, don't you agree. I know we are not alone!

[StellarStory]

I agree! Yay!

[LasPlagas]

I'm always told how cool it is that I get to be homeschooled. I've never had someone say something like "oh your homeschooled that sucks." I love it, it just can get boring. I can't imagine homeschooling as an only child.

[bittersweet]

We get almost exclusively positive responses--including from school teachers, board members etc. DH chats with a school board member he works with about school things all the time. Dh respects him for trying to change things instead of just complaining about them, and coworker respects him for taking charge of our children's education.

In our area approx one third of all kids are homeschooled, so it's far from unusal here. Just like all things in parenting, it seems that some ppl do get defensive when they choose not to homeschool. I Hear a lot, "that's great that you are able to do that , but I just couldn't". I say, ya know I believe that everyone can but it's not right for everyone.