You can't homeschool without support. At least not well. You need friends and family who support the choice and help you when you need it. For us, we've not had anybody who has been outright negative about it, although we do have some people who I'm pretty sure are taking the "if you don't have something nice to say" track and just not commenting about it.
RF is passively supportive, like he is about a lot of stuff. Mostly, unless he has a really good reason not to, he pretty much tells me to do whatever I want. The only point he raised with regards to homeschooling was, if I was going to do it, I needed to commit 100% and be home full time, instead of trying to work during the middle of the day and school around that.
Our friends are cool with it and a few have even decided that they might consider homeschooling soon as well. Plus, we've joined several homeschooling groups, mostly just get togethers but no actual co-ops, since those kind of stress me out. We can do games and playdates and park days, but I like to be in charge of the academics and not outsource that.
Back row: Non, Pops, RF, Me, GJ
Front row: WF, DF, MF
ready to zipline!
Out of everyone, though, my parents have been our biggest supporters. For years, we shared a duplex with them, where they had half and we had the other half. MF was born in that house and lived there until she was 5. She had no idea what it was like to not see Non before she got dressed for the day. Our first year of living in this house was rough on her, because of that separation. To help offset that, the kids spend nearly every weekend with my parents. Sometimes, it is the whole weekend, sometimes, just parts. My mom will often drop by during the week, just to hang out as well. The kids are almost as comfortable over there as they are here. Because of the amount of time they spend together, my parents were as aware as we were that things weren't going well.
Pops and the kids ice skating
When I told them that I was seriously thinking about pulling the kids out of public school, they were all in. Somedays, I think they are more into it than I am! LOL My mom even offered to cover outside classes and any curriculum we needed, since I was going to be quitting my job. I could (and did most of last year) pull together free resources from the internet and we would have been successful at this. The purchased curriculums have been worth it and would have been outside our budget without their help.
They are always interested in hearing about how the kids are doing. They take them places and go on field trips with us. They take the kids most every weekend so we aren't together 24/7 and killing each other because of it!
Non and MF, at her play, where she was a boxer.
The adults at a friend's superbowl party last year
Who is your homeschool cheerleader?
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