Yesterday I visited with some other moms and while it was supposed to be relaxing, I felt far from relaxed….more like taxed lol.  I was at a table with a gal I’ve known for a long time but haven’t really conversed with in about a year.  Nothing personal, just our paths haven’t crossed much since our old MOPS group closed its doors and I changed churches.  Anyway, she’s a good hearted woman who can come across rather abrasive at times.  Suddenly she asks, “so you still home schooling all your kids?”  There was a negative tone to her voice and I wondered what kind of a ride we were in for.  She wasn’t “pro-home schooling” when I announced I was going to do it to begin with.  Little did I know I was in for an interrogation like I’ve never had about our “choice to home school”.

I should point out that she used to be a kindergarten teacher.  Well, I kept defending our position with one answer after another to her onslaught of questions.  It could be that she was truly curious and wanted information but she has a way of being snappy when she speaks that makes it hard to read anything other than disdain into her reasoning.  A mutual friend of ours was on the other side of me and while she doesn’t home school, found herself defending me as well lol.  They were just small comments here and there backing up what I was saying, but I was thankful for them.

Finally and out of the blue she says thoughtfully, “Well, I see home schooling in a whole new light now.”  Her voice was actually pleasant and cheerful even.  She seemed satisfied that we weren’t somehow short-changing our kids but I was exhausted after it all lol.  I told Erik that I need to keep a list of resources and statistics with me so I can just hand people like this a pamphlet on the who, what, where, when, why & how.