Opinions

Perhaps you've heard the saying, "Opinions are like (insert your bodily choice here: nose, tuckus opening, etc), everybody has one." Well, ain't that the truth. Oh, I'm guilty of interjecting my own opinion into the lives of others around me when an opportunity presents itself. I think that is just part of our genetic makeup as human beings. But how do you deal with those undesired opinions? Especially from family?

Scott and I were talking about this type of thing earlier today. It is amazing to see the reactions of people around us when we bring up the topic of home-schooling our son. To give a little background, Hunter is 6 and was home-schooled for Kindergarten and is currently in public school for 1st grade. We felt we had a myriad of reasons to keep him at home last year but we still met opposition, mostly from family.

One of our reasons was Scott's work schedule. Scott works in ministry - by choice - and enjoys his work and calling. His days off are Monday and Friday. He also teaches guitar lessons three nights a week. He is gone all weekend, a time when many kids might get to see their parents. He is gone three nights a week and maybe more if he takes the occasional gig. And again, he works in ministry, which means, when someone is in need, he is there (good boundaries in place all the while).

Another reason for home-schooling last year was also a reason for public schooling this year: I had a baby. Knowing Hunter's personality, it would not have been a good thing for him to spend two months adjusting to school life only to then have home life disrupted by the addition of his baby sister. So, it was a good thing to keep him here, prepare him for school life and adjust to a new baby in the family. And the new baby prompted the decision to go out of the house for school this year.

Hunter's personality and intelligence just lends itself to one on one attention and home-schooling -this was also seconded by his pediatrician. And with a seemingly larger number of people in our area choosing to home-school, there are many more opportunities for social get-togethers, field trips, co-op classes, sports, and much more that is and is not offered in public school systems.

And there are many more reasons, but these are a few. Yet, opinions still seem to fly. I got wind of one opinion out there stating that taking him out of school next year would be the worst thing we could do for him. Uh-huh.

We have choices in life. And all those choices are not necessarily permanent or life scarring. If choices were permanent, people would think a little more closely about who they were marrying! HA!

We have the ability, the willingness, and local resources to be able to home-school our son. We have the choice in Texas to remove him from the public school system in order to home-school. If we see that our choice is not the best for him, we have the choice to re-enroll in him the public-school system or choose another school source. We have the choice to coordinate our family schedule to do what is best for our family. And that is what is all boils down to...Doing What Is Best for OUR Family.

Yup. Opinions. Everybody has 'em.