April 28th, 2008
Now I’m embarrassed for being so rude to the imaginary judgemental people in my head
…which is not to say that I am preemptively defensive or bitter or anything like it. Just as I was surfing for useful information, I keep coming across cute little answers for common questions. They’re all utterly adorable and utterly safe to forward to your grandma, and after reading a bunch of them I was smiling and wishing that they were more in line with my similarly adorable but slightly less forward-to-your-grandmaable humor.
Like: “Hey shouldn’t your kids be in school today?”
“Why don’t you go stick a corn cobb up your ass?”
(Bonus points if one of your children adds: “Sideways.”)
Because I’m obnoxious and not very mature.
But the truth is that I’ve never been asked any interesting questions because we’ve only been doing this for um, a week? And nobody knows except Nina and Alisha and my parents. And the internet. Besides, this is Georgia, and we live in a town where there are more churches than squirrels — people sort of assume that there’s a good chance you’re homeschooling.
Not that towns with an overabundance of squirrels are necessarily against homeschooling. My point was more that — oh, nevermind.
So! Anyway. Yes. Um. The only need for silly defensive responses to hard questions is in my own mind, mainly as I imagine what will happen when my father in law notices what we are doing.
April 28th, 2008 at 11:19 am
It’s always good to have your answers ready for the really rude questions. And I don’t think all squirrels are against home schooling. ;-)
April 28th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I’m always rude to the imaginary judgmental people too. And sometimes the real judgmental people…like my in-laws. My favorite argument I’ve heard so far is “But, homeschooled kids always grow up to be WEIRD.” Yes, smart people ARE weird. Totally.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Heh. I get it. I’d just thought, Dannnnnng! She’s already fielding these questions and I’m sure she hasn’t been homeschooling for more than a week or so. I’m sure you’ll encounter those people, but try to keep in mind that most of those questions are because they’re curious, not because they think you’re a freak. You don’t owe anyone an explanation other than, “Because it works out best for us.”
Given what I’ve read on your blog homeschooling sounds like a great choice for your and your oldest.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
You are exactly right, Rosie. And really curiosity is awesome, and even though it’s fun to be indignant the boring truth is that it takes a serious effort to offend me. Like I said I’m mainly bracing for guff from one particular person who is 95% likely to freak out.
April 28th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Let him freak. It’ll be fun to watch. By the way, your replies are great. I didn’t want that to get lost in my INCREDIBLE ADVICE ;).