A Challenge of Home Schooling

The hardest part about home schooling?  It's not the academics.  Madeleine is only in second grade; I'd be in serious trouble if that were the toughest challenge I faced.  It's not the actual act of teaching; no, that's amazingly enjoyable for both teacher and student (or so Madeleine tells me).

No, the hardest part about home schooling is the realization that no matter what we're doing, how big of a hurry we're in or how bad or well our day is going, we're constantly on display and queried when we're in public during the traditional school day.  I can't blame people, nor do I resent curiosity or questions.  There are days, however, I'd just like to go into a store, find my gallon of milk, pay for it and make it back to my car without having to explain that yes, in fact, we are home schooling and try and parse down our numerous, complicated reasons for doing so into a socially acceptable, quick response.

I understand why things are the way they are; more people utilize local public schools than don't and choosing something else invites curiosity.  However, it occurs to me that when I run into parents and their children in the process of going to or coming from school I don't say to them, "Wow!  What ever made you decide to send your children to public school?"

I guess the moral of this post is this: if you see a home school family out and about and are curious about what they're doing and how they do what they do and why they do what they do and what curriculum they use and question the legality of their actions and ask them whether their children get enough socialization or not and then (hopefully!) wish them luck and tell them you think they're making a good choice, by all means do so.  Just not when they're rushing in for a quick gallon of milk.