Elitists or Average Joes? The Scoop on Homeschoolers

What does the public think of homeschool families?

In the last few months, I have heard from a number of sources that we are considered elitists.

My first reaction?  Why in the world would they think that?  We're just Average Joes.

After further reflection, I realized:

In attempt to defend our choice of schooling our children at home,
many homeschool families develop a "thick skin" and defensive attitude,
which may come off as:

"We're better than you."

I hope that my previous articles regarding homeschooling have not cast that light on us.
If so, that was not my intent.

In order to shed some light on our point of view and the way we represent homeschooling,
I'd like to share what an average day is like for my family:

After breakfast, we spend 1 1/2 hours doing schoolwork.  My daughter works diligently at her reading, writing, spelling and math.  My preschoolers watch videos and play games to learn their alphabet and numbers.  We quickly dress and bundle up, then head out the door.  While wooshing through the grocery store with my three children, we are stopped by an older couple who pause to admire my children and compliment me on their good behavior.  They ask, "Why aren't they in school?"  to which I reply, "We homeschool."  Their response: "Why would you do that?"

When we reach the checkout line, the cashier notices the ages of my children and asks if they have a day off from school.  "No," I replied, "we homeschool."  The cashier gives me a funny look and says, "I could never do that.  I was happy to send my children off to school when they turned 5."

After loading the groceries into the car, we zip over to the dentist's office where the receptionist also notes their ages and asks if my oldest daughter has the day off from school.  "No," she replies, "we homeschool."  "Oh?"  She responds, "What is 5+10?"  My daughter answers the question, has her teeth cleaned, and we head for home.

As I walk through the door, my phone rings.  It's my mom.  We catch each other up on recent events, and then she tells me about my nieces who are reading well above grade level.  And they go to public school.

I think about my daughter who has struggled to learn how to read in kindergarten and first grade, and is now doing quite well, but is nowhere above grade level.  Her current struggle is writing.  A friend who is considering homeschooling visits in the afternoon and notes that my daughter's handwriting work (in second grade) is the same as what her son is doing in kindergarten.  Homeschooling self-esteem is in the toilet once again.

When my husband arrives home, I fill him in on the events of the day.  He encourages me once again that homeschooling is the best choice for our family and that we want our children to develop at their own pace.  I pray once again for courage, strength, guidance, and reassurance that homeschooling is right for us.

Is it becoming clear why homeschooling families so strongly support their stance?  We have to daily, hourly defend our choice to homeschool our children.  We have to convince everyone we come in contact with, and ourselves that this is the right choice for our family.  We have friends and relatives that think homeschooling is "out there" and we are crazy for trying this.

As an effect of this constant defense, homeschool parents (who really are Average Joes) develop a super-pro-homeschool attitude.  This comes off as elitist to anyone who hears our "We love homeschooling and these are the 300 reasons why" speeches.

We're overcompensating in order to avoid judgement, and in order to feel good about our educational choice for our children.  And that's the scoop...from my perspective.