Being in Public Embarrassment

One of the hardest parts for all of us about homeschooling is the looks people give us when we're out in public during the schoolday. The kids have gotten maybe slightly more comfortable with it since they started last fall, but it was not pleasant when I took them to morning mass one day and a well-meaning lady came up and said, "I'm the school police. Why aren't you in school?" At that time she didn't know they were homeschooled, but it still made an impression. Walking around the mall in Anchorage last week and bopping around town with the kids, I could see the same question on people's faces. Never mind that they are with both their parents, and my husband was wearing a tie even. There is always this niggling about it. I'll admit, that it's not very often, and it is generally just a few "toe the line" souls who want to make sure that every kid is being educated, and by golly, you'd better not be one of those deadbeat parents who don't send their kids to school.

Now I know I did the same thing when I would see kids out and about during the day. I wasn't obvious about it, but I did wonder. Of course, that was before I knew how many kids were homeschooled. In Homer there are like 400 kids homeschooled. That's enough to open up an entire school, and if they all were in the brick and mortar building, there would be a huge overcrowding issue.

I am confident that my kids are learning so I have learned to ignore those looks to a degree. I just wish my kids weren't so self-conscious about appearing in public during the day.