Hey Mama Monday: Mama, Your Yay to Their Nay
Hey Mama,
Naysayers. You know them well. In homeschooling, we all have those friends or family members who question our education choices. They are negative and disapproving of our decision to home educate.
-“Your children won’t have the diversity of electives offered in public school.”
-“How will they ever learn to properly socialize with others?”
-“You don’t have a degree. Why don’t you leave teaching to the professionals?”
-“Your kids are going to turn out WEIRD.”
It matters not to them that current and past statistics find homeschoolers are typically above average on measures of academic and social development. Or that colleges and universities nationwide actively and very specifically recruit homeschool graduates—they want them to enroll! Homeschool grads across the board often make VERY good college students.
Homeschoolers on average outperform their public school counterparts on college entrance exams. They generally don’t tear up college campuses or arrive with a “ready-to-party” mindset. They’ve learned how to govern themselves. They’ve been doing it for years.
These students have an ingrained, seemingly innate ability to buckle down and study independently; it comes naturally to them after spending their childhoods learning to love research, pursuing their interests through their choice of electives, and systematically completing their coursework. By the time these young adults reach college, many know their interests so well they dovetail that love into their future careers, readily jumping squarely onto their path to success—goals set, fixed to tackle the next chapter in life!
Stay up on your own research about homeschooling and the growing trends and statistics to counter the naysayers. Read Dr. Brian Ray, a leading columnist in The Old Schoolhouse ® Magazine; his expertise is in analyzing the outcomes of homeschooling in general. You can go directly to his website if you need encouragement about how homeschooled kids in this country are turning out. He conducts national studies, analyzes results, and reports his findings. They are fascinating! Here are just a few of my favorites from our magazine:
Empirical Evidence of Homeschooling: How Are Homeschoolers Doing?
Are the Home Educated Doing Well, and if So Why?
Does Research Suggest Homeschooling Should Remain Legal?
And remember, Mama. . .
You will always have the naysayers, the Negative Nellies; but in time, most are usually silenced. They become believers. Or they move on to new friendships, leaving you behind. Sometimes that can end up being a good thing, especially if they have never supported your resolve to homeschool so they “feel sorry” for your children.
Watch out. Those are the ones who swoop down later and attempt to “rescue” your kids, sometimes even swaying them over to their way of thinking. You don’t need that. Keep your children close to you. When they serve at church or in their communities, serve with them. As they text their friends or extended families, keep your eye on the content. God has loaned you these precious souls for such a short time; be accountable to Him and Him alone. You don’t owe your naysayers. You don’t have to convince them of anything. You only owe an Audience of One. Please Him with your continued faithfulness.
Love your children. Study hard. Play harder. It’s all about relationship. Walk confidently, Mama, in your call to keep your children home where they belong. Yes, it’s a calling. The Lord has placed you on this path. He knew there would be Negative Nellies and Meddling Mumfords along the way. But despite all that, He didn’t remove the calling on your homeschooling journey. Complete it, Mama. Be found faithful. As for now, His hand is on your head today.
“ So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:6).
– gena
