To Fit In or Not to Fit In

        Our plans to homeschool our kids have leaked and Erik is already getting flak about it at work. We're still a few years away from "school" but there's no question of sending our kids off to be educated by other people. One of the biggest "concerns" that people seem to have is that our poor children won't be socialized or that they will end up as misfits, sticking out in society like sore thumbs. I see this as slightly humorous, since that's actually part of the reason we want to teach them at home. Somehow I don't think that putting my kids in a room with twenty or thirty other immature selfish children and one or two adults is the sort of social environment that will do them any good. And as far as them being misfits? I don't really see that as a bad thing. As I sat at a red light today I watched a group of high school students walk across the street. The girls seem to be wearing less clothing all the time, even though it's January, and of course the boys can't keep their hands off them. That is, the boys who don't have headphones on. Great social skills. If the lack of customer service and general unfriendliness at stores is any indication of how kids learn to relate to people, then I think my kids stand a decent chance of faring as well at home. Maybe even better.
        If not fitting in to society means that my girls will dress modestly and learn to conduct themselves accordingly, then so be it. If my boys never become doctors or lawyers, but only God-loving, hard working family men, then we will have succeeded. Along with the three R's I hope and pray that my children will learn respect, responsibility, and charity. I will teach them to sew and cook and garden and keep a home. Erik will teach them to build and fix. If they never quite feel like they belong in this world, then thanks be to God. So I'm prepared to take some flak for our decision to teach our kids at home: we need more sore thumbs around here.