how to get dh on board?

[Summertime Mommy]

I have been talking about homeschooling with dh, because I really think it would be best for the kids. He knows that the school system is messed up, he knows that school system is messed up, he knows that the kids would have a much better education if i taught them at home, yet he still feels that they would be missing out on valuable life experiences if they do not attend public school. He argues that our kids have to be a part of the system to be able to see the errors of the system. He also feels that there is no way for a family to give kids the opportunity to meet such a diverse group of people that schools provide. How do i convince them that homeschooling would be best for the kids? I feel he has some valid ideas, but I still feel homeschooling would be the best choice. How can I form a valid argument to convince him of this?

[SundayCrepes]

Here's an article on homeschooling and socialization: http://learninfreedom.org/socialization.html

Watch this video "Schools Kill Creativity" and see if your husband might like it. It's only 20 minutes long: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinso...reativity.html

[kathymuggle]

I would counterbalance his concerns. He believes the children need to experience the issues in schools to fix them? Why do your kids need to fix public schools? If you think it is important for your children to experience mainstream issues so they can be part of the solution (which is a bit of a load to dump on them, frankly) I think there is a time and place for everything. I would not expect my children to go school to experience issues until they were old enough to deal with issues, analyse them and make good choices. Ages for when this occur vary, but IMNSHO, high school is a good age. YMMV.

As per the diversity concern it is legitimate. How can you assure there is diversity in your childrens experience? While finding cultural diversity may take work, finding diversity in age will not. It is definitely where HS has a bit of an advantage over public schools - groups and interactions are often very multi-age. Moreover, the public schools in my area are not particulalry diverse; my area is not diverse. I think schools reflect the people who live in a community - if you live in a diverse community you will not have to look hard for diversity; if you don't you will (shrug)

[Lillian J]

You might also skim through a current thread, "Please help me explain why this isn't a great idea" - there are a number of good suggestions in there. I'll past some here that I posted:
I'd spend some time leisurely going through the extensive threads that have gone through this forum where people have discussed the ways they've dealt with convincing spouses and family members about homeschooling. This post has a link to those and other links to some other helpful reading: "help? need research support for DH. he thinks i'm nuts for wanting to HS!" And make sure you don't miss this thread when you're reading through - it would be a shame to miss all this: How to teach DH about homeschooling - there are links to lots more of the same sort of conversation in it, and you'll find lots of great ideas.
In those thread about how others have approached convincing a reluctant spouse or skeptical relatives, you'll see two books recommended over and over - Dumbing Us Down: The hidden curriculum of compulsory education, by John Taylor Gatto (former NY State and NY City Teacher of the Year), and Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense, by David Guterson, who homeschooled his children with his wife while he was still a public school teacher - those books are your friends.

Lillian