Yes, it has been awhile since I last wrote. I don’t even remember what this blog looks like anymore. I am busy. I will just leave it at that.

However, some things have come to my attention that I just need to get off my chest. I am going to do it here. Because I can.

Lately, I have been dealing with some verbiage from people who state that because my children are/have been homeschooled they lack the maturity of their peers. First of all before we discuss this, I think we should define our term. What is meant by the word maturity? According to Wikipedia, which I tell my children never to use, maturity is defined by a person’s ability to respond to their environment in an appropriate matter.

Ok. There we go. That is my definition.

Now let’s ask the question. Are homeschooled children mature? Do they respond to their environment in an appropriate matter? Yes, I would say that my children do. They respect people in positions of authority. They obey the traffic laws. When they go to the store, they are polite to the people behind the counter. And when one of my young adult children ran into an unpleasant situation that required a backbone, they had one. Ostracized by their friends, they made a very mature and adult decision at a young age.

Now, if by maturity you mean have my kids been in relationships that lead no where in order to play act, then no. If by maturity you mean that they are able to “play along” in an environment that is the survival of the fittest, then no. If by maturity you mean that they tolerate and understand belittling. Then no, my kids are not mature. My kids seemed to have bypassed that section of maturity where we have to treat each other like garbage in order to establish some kind of pecking order.  They have a very low tolerance for people who are unkind. Sue me for homeschooling them and raising them that way.

Not all homeschoolers are kind just as not all public schoolers are unkind. But, for some reason we paint homeschoolers with a broad brush, and I am tired of it. The funny thing is that I am not all that invested in homeschooling anymore. I just don’t care how anyone chooses to educate their kids. Honestly, I am too tired to care. Do I still believe that homeschooling is a superior choice? For the most part, yes,  but how you choose to educate your kids is up to you.

The even more funny thing is that now that I have graduated two kids from homeschooling and one is graduated from college, I see how trivial the whole thing is. Education is so much more than getting a good SAT score or into a good college. (What is a “good” college anyway?)  It is so much more than what math curriculum you choose to use.  It is about the people living in your house. The relationships that you are forming with your children and that they are forming with each other.  It is about critical thinking and asking questions in a world that doesn’t want to do that anymore.  It is about learning how  to work with people with whom you don’t get along. It is about preparing them for a world that is unkind and teaching them how to respond with kindness. Do I believe homeschooling does all these things? Yes, I do. And it does it better than other schooling methods. Are kids are still going to be stupid sometimes? Yes, even the homeschooled ones.

So to all of you that are so very worried about the maturity of the homeschooled children around you,  I ask that you turn your attention to more important matters. Like what you are going to have for dinner.