Life at Oak Grove

This week question for the blog cruise is:
“How do you respond to family/friends that don’t support your decision to homeschool?”

I wish I could say I had support and encouragement from a person close to me.   She did found interesting resources and got them for us.  But at the same time, I know that she doesn’t approve for various reasons.

I got a confirmation of this while talking on the phone one day.   She was worried about how the kids will be able to adapt when they would go to school.   Not enough interactions with kids their age, do they cover the proper material than if they would be in school, would they be able to advance in life, and so on.   The final blow was that I didn’t have a teaching degree to do so.   That was the cherry on the top of the melted sunday if you ask me.    I mean can I honestly not homeschool my kids after what we went through in Senior Kindergarten with Alexandre with his exposure of same sex marriage (in a catholic school) as well as lack of supervision and too much television for our taste?   I understand that not all teachers are the same but still.    Besides, I know I don’t have a teacher’s degree but I do have a Master Degree (not required for homeschool but I was trying to make a point here). 

Then I told her what I also did to prepare myself to homeschool.   I investigated, I researched, I asked questions to people I knew who were doing it, I even went downtown to get the Ministry of Education books on each subjects and levels to determine what needs to be covered at what age.   I worked hard to determine which curriculum would be a best fit for us.  We cover English and French which might be too much but we think are necessary for our kids living in the capital region.    We make sure they go to activities with others kids like swimming and Awana.   

I was pumped.    And as I am writing this, I am almost in tears because honestly I wish I had her support.    It would be so much easier I find.    You see this person is my own mother.    I love her very much but I find it hard when I am criticized like that. 

That phone conversation was difficult on me.   It brought me doubts and I had to deal with them and with being borderline depressed for a few weeks after.   I’m over it now.   I realize that what God called me to do I must do.    We prayed about homeschooling our kids.  We are taking it one month at a time.  If for any reasons, it doesn’t work we have backup plans.  

Are there other people around us that doesn’t approve.  I think so.   I won’t name names or talk about them because they never said out loud what they think of us homeschooling.  But we can sense their disapproval and their eyes watching to see what would happen to our kids later in life.

But honestly, we are also prepare for it whenever they speak up.   We have in hands reports about the effect of homeschooling on people who did it which we received from HSLDA Canada.    Just looking at this report is encouraging for us. 

Our decision of homeschooling is hopefully for a long time.   But as anything else in our life, we put it in the hands of God and trust him to guide us through it.   Homeschooling is a lifestyle and it’s not for everyone.  We love it.   We thrive in it.  We learn together as a family every single day of the year.   Sometimes you are call to swim against the current.   That’s what we are doing with homeschooling.