Homeschool World Forum

I just have to add, I've heard many parents say they'd never homeschool because they couldn't get along with their kids. Is schooling a way of avoiding the issue of dealing with and relating to your child?

Anyhow, I was bullied too. I learned things from it. People usually learn things rom bad experiences however I don't ever think that's a good reason for deliberately exposing children to bad experiences. Enough of that happens in everyday life.

I don't know any parents that don't like their children, but I am sure some do and send them to school to get rid of them. Just like some parents choose to homeschool so they can hide the signs of abuse their children endure by them. That does not say all parent who homeschool their kids abuse them, just like all parents who send their kids to school don't want them around. And there are others ways to relate to your child other that hiding them keeping them under your wing all day. And I am not suggesting that someone set their child up to be bullied, but sometimes we have to teach them to deal with things in a way that does not avoid the issue. There will be a time when we won't be there to protect them and I want my child to know how to take care of himself, and before you jump on that one, I do not promote violence.

I've never had a problem getting my child exposed to bullies, unfortunately. My child has encountered bullies at the park, at after school classes he attends through community ed and even on his own sports teams. If your child has adequate social outlets with a variety of kids (and most homeschoolers do citing a study done where homeschoolers surveyed are in an average of 2 extracurricular activities per week), the child will encounter bullies and have to deal with them at some point or another.

I don't think homeschoolers are avoiding the issue of bullying because you simply can't short of locking your child in a box and hiding him from the world. What homeschoolers seek to do is control exposure and ensure their child is equipped to deal with the situation. There is a big difference between letting a child go to school knowing they will be bullied and knowing they are ill equipped to handle the situation hoping they'll "figure it out" on the fly and letting your child be exposed to an incident of bullying and then talking with them about what happened, how the situation made them feel and ideas on how to handle the situation next time - because there will be a next time. It's called controlling exposure to minimize short and/or long term physical, emotional or psychological damage - that's a far, far cry from avoidance. Think of it as easing yourself into a hot tub vs. jumping right in and getting burned.