THE TRUTH ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING
It happened again: yet another conversation with someone who was spouting nonsense about homeschooling.
I’ve been an advocate of homeschooling since before I had kids. And the older I’ve gotten the more my desire has grown to empower, equip, and encourage families to homeschool — which is exactly what we do now here at GoodSchooling.
But on this night, many moons ago, I’d finally reached my limit with all the misinformation being thrown around.
I knew I wasn’t the only one who was frustrated. Homeschoolers everywhere fight the same assumptions my family does about things like the cost, the implications for college, and the ubiquitous “socialization problem,” just to mention a few.
I read multiple posts weekly from homeschooling moms who have been caught in conversations with people who thought it appropriate to slam home education for being “too this” or “not enough that.”
Becoming a homeschooler shouldn’t mean also signing up to be a homeschooling apologist — but unfortunately, many of us find ourselves in that position. And y’all, homeschoolers are tired of having to educate the whole world. We have our own children to teach, thankyouverymuch. We don’t have time to argue and debate and defend ourselves to every stranger in the grocery store who stops us to grill our children on math facts and historical dates.
Plus, all this misinformation has some serious consequences — not the least of which is that is stops many parents from considering homeschooling in the first place.
As someone who sparkly heart loves homeschooling — and who knows there are thousands of kids out there who would benefit significantly from homeschooling — this really burns me up.
So on that sleepless night, instead of counting yet another flock of sheep, I wrote a book called Busting the Homeschooling Myths.
This is the perfect resource for a lot of people. Homeschoolers can read it to arm themselves with both good answers to give the haters and the research and resources that back them up. Those considering homeschooling can get answers for their concerns. And the misinformed can, well, get informed.
Just what are these myths? See for yourself:
- Homeschooling is only for geniuses (or really smart/talented kids)
- Homeschoolers are religious fundamentalists
- Homeschooled kids can’t get into college
- Homeschooled kids miss out on all the “fun” milestones
- Homeschooled kids miss out on extracurriculars
- Parents have to be teachers to successfully homeschool
- Homeschooling is too expensive
- “I’d go crazy being around my kids all day long!”
- Homeschooled kids are awkward and unsocialized
- “I could never do that!”
There was only one small problem with the book: it has a lot of information. Which, one the one hand, is actually great! Why write a book at all if it’s not going to have a lot of awesome content?
The problem comes when you’re a mom with eleventy billion thoughts in her head, like me. When someone asks yet again, “But what about socialization?” you have to track down that information in your mental files, and it’s buried under — you guessed it — those eleventy billion thoughts.
Heck, even I forget some of the reasoning and research, and I wrote the book!
I wanted to make sure folks had quick answers at their fingertips, so my super awesome husband created this handy-dandy infographic.
(Isn’t it fabulous? My husband is the bomb.)
I have a lofty vision of this infographic sweeping across the internet and finally giving us homeschoolers a break from having to justify, explain, and defend ourselves — and maybe even turning the tide of culture’s negative assumptions about homeschooling.
A little unrealistic maybe, but hey — dream big, right?
But if you, too, would like to see truth prevail and the myths get shattered, then please download and share freely this Busting The Homeschooling Myths infographic. It’s the perfect way to fight fiction with facts and remove the stumbling blocks that prevent some parents from considering homeschooling.
The infographic is just the tip of the iceberg, however! You can get the Busting the Homeschool Myths ebook right here for FREE! It’s chock-full of information and links to resources, articles, and more to help those skeptics (and maybe even your doubtful self) understand the truth about homeschooling.
Now, when I say the “top ten myths” what I really mean is “all the myths that I know of.” I suppose it’s entirely possible that I missed a myth or two. I really hope not, because ten is a nice round number and I think having something like eleven or thirteen chapters might make me a little twitchy.
BUT, if you know of one that I didn’t cover, then please comment below so I can rectify that. Having a book that’s incomplete would make me more twitchy than having a peculiar number of chapters.
One more thing before you go:
If you’re not a homeschooler yet, but you want to be, then check out my How to Start Homeschooling article. I’ve also created a comprehensive checklist and curriculum organizer to go with it for all you checklist-lovers like me. Also, make sure you’re on our mailing list so you can benefit from advice, ideas, and encouragement delivered directly to your inbox.
If you’re not yet ready to take that step into homeschooling, but think you may want to someday, then I hope you’ll keep coming back to check out our latest articles. They may answer questions you have, address insecurities you harbor about your ability to homeschool (spoiler: you can do it, really), and help you come closer to a decision.