Thanks for your thoughtful comment. There’s definitely a lot of controversy related to homeschooling. I just happen to be one of those people that very clearly witnesses both sides.

I think many homeschoolers do an excellent job of providing all the real-world experiences children should have. Others’ purpose is specifically to shield them from those experiences. The beauty of homeschooling is you can do it however you see fit.

We didn’t have the choice of going to my husband’s school this year because we didn’t live in the district. But this coming schoolyear, we could be open-enrolled (met the deadline.) So this is the year we’d have a lot of questions to answer. Honestly, thought, the school where my husband works isn’t a good fit at all – high poverty, low achievement, low parental education — and most of the parents there aren’t paying any attention to anything. It’s the teachers that would have raised the questions with our family.

Hopefully we’ve found a workable solution. We’ll see in the next year!

That said, however, I have never understood the whole homeschooling philosophy/trend and for myself and my family, do not believe in it.

My kids need to get out in the world each day, away from home and parents, and learn to function. They need to interact with all kinds of folks in all different situations and learn to get along. They need to make decisions, make choices, and do it all without the benefit of mom being in the next room to bail them out.

And I need my life. I could never stay home with them all day every day. I would go nuts.

Bluntly, if my kid were enrolled in your husband’s school, I would be one of the parents asking where his own kids were.

I think there are huge regional differences related to this subject.

Where I live, homeschooling is exceedingly rare and usually comes about when there is some sort of difficulty that makes it a better choice than a traditional classroom approach. I have a couple of friends whose children have disabilities, for example, and the ability to homeschool has been a godsend for them. In such situations it should, as I said at the outset, be an available choice.

Congratulations on making a decision and I hope that you have peace with it & everyone is happy, productive and flourishes during the upcoming schoolyear.