Home-educating parents, especially parents raising disabled children, are continually being watched, judged, and criticized.
Everyone has an opinion. Hardly anyone keeps it to themselves.
Nobody questions public school parents about their choices. When their kids have a meltdown, society chalks it up to “just being a kid.” When they are quiet, they’re labelled “shy.”
Homeschooling families of disabled children are especially subjected to scrutiny.
When did we become public property?
When our kids have a meltdown, they are considered to be unruly.
When our kids are quiet, they’re deemed anti-social.
When they interact according to expectations, people are surprised our children can understand anything at all.
Home educators are misunderstood.
Here’s the truth: Contrary to the hippie lens society views us through, we are attentive, we make choices with a conscious awareness of our children’s needs, and we weigh alternatives for months (and years!) before coming to a decision that best fits our children.
We are educated (many of us with several accolades to our name), we are employed or run our own businesses (sometimes both), and we are very aware of what’s going on in the world (we read, participate in, and debate political views just like everyone else!).
Despite our credentials, homeschooling parents are judged for not passively following the herd and then put under a microscope when we follow our vision.
What if we granted one another (and our children) the privacy and dignity to which we are entitled?
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