Monday, September 6, 2010

Lifers (Those Who Start Homeschooling from Birth), Convertees, and School Kids (Oh My!)


Lifers: I find them to be a curious species (in a good way, of course).

As a homeschooler, I kind of compare this situation to people who are born Jewish, versus people who convert to Judaism.

People who convert are not any less Jewish than I am (I was born into it), but they don’t always have the exposure to the culture that Jews-by-birth may have.

We weren’t “born into” homeschooling. We kind of converted to it…

But these homeschoolers from birth are pretty amazing. They have kids who sometimes want to try public school (and sometimes do), but most of the time, they seem to be perfectly content with living in their always-been-homeschooled world.

Which I find wonderfully fascinating.

In a way, I’m envious. If-I-knew-then-what-I-know-now, would I have homeschooled from the beginning? Probably. Do I regret Becca’s public school time? Not at all.

But I can’t help but wonder how it would have been if I’d homeschooled Becca from the get-go.

I am on the “Board” of our primary homeschool group. I look at the other three board members, and I realize, that I am the only “convertee” in the bunch. It’s a sobering thought.

(I’m also the board member with the oldest child.)

It’s great that we have a somewhat diverse little group helping to run (facilitate) our homeschool group

It’s a direct representation of our homeschool group at large. We have a great group of homeschoolers from birth, convertees and a few schooled kids, thrown into the mix.

To borrow a phrase from Martha Stewart: It’s a good thing!

2 comments:

  1. I've never really thought about it!!! It is kind of cool...the way we all have our own stories and paths and yet we have all found each other and have this wonderful group!!! ;) I wanted to homeschool from the start but my family talked me out of it...they tried to scare me with all the usual stuff...like no socialization, will I be able to pay for it, will I be smart enough, etc...so I put my son in public school and it was a nightmare...he hated every minute of it and so did I!!! I finally decided I was not going to force him to do something he nor I hated...so here we are and we love it!!! We are converters and proud of it!!! ;)

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  2. LOL!

    It never hit me, until I was looking around the table one day at my friends. Like you said, we all have different paths to homeschooling. It's interesting, to me, to think about the kids who have never stepped foot in a classroom...

    ~ Linda

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