My home-educating quest...

I finally feel we are making some progress towards being a home-educating family! A few weeks ago I met up with a lovely lady and her five children (ranging from 9 to 18 months!) that live locally to us and have been home-educating for about four years. I immediatedly got on very well with her and really felt like we were on the same wave-length, and her children were so polite and friendly. It really instilled confidence in me that home educating is a totally do-able option for us. The day after this I met up with my usual mum friends and another mum who I didn't know quite so well. As all the children are due to start school next year the conversation inevitably turned to schools and said mum who I don't know quite so well asked me which school my eldest was going to. Until the day before my usual response to this was that I was considering home-education but still applying for the local school; but this time I said that I am planning to home-educate (full stop and no mention of applying to a school!). The said mum, who is lovely btw, said, "How lovely and what made you think of doing that?" and "Are you qualified to do that?". Her response on the subject was very postive despite not knowing anything about it (she thought it was lovely that I wanted to educate my children myself but she thought I'd have to be a qualified teacher!) and it made me realise that a lot of peoples' views on home-educating may come across as negative simply because they don't know anything about it. I've been worrying about how I will justify myself to people that ask why I home-educate, but really I think there is no need to feel defensive about it. Some people will not get it and not agree - that is their opinion, but I think there is also a lot of people out there that just simply do not know anything about home-education and so when they ask questions I should answer them in an objective and not defensive manner.