One of the most important parts of presenting yourself to the inquiring public as a homeschooler is to not try to convert others with evangelical zeal. My experience has been that keeping responses to questions short and sweet is usually the best way. If someone is truly interested in homeschooling, you could suggest getting together sometime when you both have time to talk. For the next few sessions I will be sharing some of my homeschool sound bytes that I developed for the “Inquiring Minds” in my circle.
READY RESPONSES FOR INQUIRING MINDS
Q. I could never do that!
A. It’s not for everybody.
This response immediately lowers defenses and catches the other person off guard. Your inquirer was expecting you to say, “Oh, yes you could, blah blah blah” She had already thought up a bunch of reasons to tell you as to why she couldn’t. So you just saved her a bunch of time, and presented yourself as a confident and together person who realizes that homeschooling really isn’t for everybody. If you don’t have the love, dedication, and true grit to be a homeschooling mom, then it’s really not for you. (But you don’t want to come out and say that now do you? Answer: No.)
Q. Is it legal?
A. (Research the laws in your state to be prepared for this one.) Homeschooling is legal in all fifty states, although the requirements differ.
Q. How do you stand to be around your kids that much?
A. If you are in charge of your children’s discipline, they are usually much nicer to be around. That’s not to say that we don’t have our moments, but that’s one reason we chose homeschooling. It gives us the chance to teach our values all day long.
Q. Are you qualified to teach?
A. The main qualification for a good teacher is a genuine concern for the student. I have a dream job and small class size! Nobody cares for my students as much as me!
Q. How do you know what to teach? Aren’t you afraid you’re going to leave something out?
A. There are scopes and sequences that tell what should be learned in each grade. Packaged curricula and correspondence schools are available for those who don’t want to build an individualized course.) Teacher’s guides have directions and answers in them, so it’s not as difficult as you might imagine.
Next time more Sound bytes for Homeschooling Skeptics