What does your child's pedi think about you homeschooling?

[sarathan]

Yesterday my ds had his 4-yr. checkup with his pedi. She asked me about preschool and kindergarten and I told her I'll be homeschooling him. I expected her to be completely supportive, but instead I got this feeling that she's not too thrilled about it. It wasn't anything specific she said, but it was just this vibe I got. I know it doesn't really matter what she thinks, but we've had her since he was born and had an excellent relationship with her up until this point.

Anyway, I'm just curious what all your pedis think about homeschooling??

TIA!

[lilyka]

My pediatrition knows it is none of his business

he knows we homeschool but only because he wanted to know if we needed him to write a medical exemption for my oldest daughters lack of vaccination. he was happy not to have to mess with the exemption.

[kymholly]

IME, I think it does make them feel as if they need to watch you more closely & question your kids more. Almost like they feel like they're the only "official" people watching out for your kid.

It really : me, but enough to try to hunt down a ped who will claim to not have a problem with it.

I figure it's kind of like bfing...most peds insist that it is best for babies, yada yada yada, but then every time that you go there they want to know how many ounces you're feeding your dc. (Do they think that I've got a high-tech digital scale @ home that I use to weigh dc before & after feedings???) And when you show up with a nursing toddler.... well, let's just say I've gotten more than one hairy eyeball! :

[sarathan]

Originally Posted by kymholly

IME, I think it does make them feel as if they need to watch you more closely & question your kids more. Almost like they feel like they're the only "official" people watching out for your kid

Exactly!! She asked me what we were doing, what his skills were, etc. : I'm sure she wouldn't have asked if he was in a public preschool. I can only imagine how bad it'll be when he's older.

[Lovenest]

My sons ped looked at me like I had lost my mind.
This was similar to her look without so much head shaking.



I just said as she started that how excited we were to be able to watch our son learn and that he is just loving being able to go to so many different places.
I just try to stay positive when people are like that, kill them with kindness.
Seems to work for me!

[cottonwood]

I think it does make them feel as if they need to watch you more closely & question your kids more. Almost like they feel like they're the only "official" people watching out for your kid.

This is exactly why we don't have a pediatrician. That's how they're trained to think. Well, also we don't do well-child checks and don't vaccinate, and pediatric dogma tends not to be in line with our other parenting choices either, so really there's no point anyway.

Our family doctor is really great with all of that, but even so I felt a little trepidation about telling her that we homeschool. Turns out I needn't have worried -- she's a homeschooler herself!

[phathui5]

Ours seems to view it as just another educational option. She did a vision test for ds last year, "since he won't be doing it in school," which was fine with me.

Though with how many other "alternative" choices she's been there for us making (birth centers, skipping newborn stuff like eye goop, extended nursing, cloth diapering, being vegan...) I guess she wasn't suprised when we started homeschooling.

[Mama Coltrane]

Am I the only one? Our family physician and his wife unschoool their 3 children and are really open and forthcoming with sharing that with everyone. So, needless to say, if that is the choice we make, he is all for it!
I live in a really small town on the border of VT/NH. I actually know another doctor family that homeschool nearby too.

[grahamsmom98]

We use a family practice physician. Ds has only been to the doc a few times (he's 8 1/2 years old). I am seeing the doc for my thyroid control.

The doc thinks it is GREAT that we are homeschooling. He does not ask ds any "educational" questions other than what is his favorite subject or general chit-chat type stuff. Same with the staff. They like the idea of a child advancing at their own individual pace and not having to conform to the crowd.

The whole office is very supportive of hs AND our non-vaxxing (they don't even do vaccinations in his practice, you have to ask for them and he'll write you an RX to be taken to the hospital, clinic or health department!).

He was very supportive of extended breastfeeding (he said, "It makes healthy children and healthy breasts!"), too.

This doctor is so wonderful (he'll even do house-calls, if needed!), we just LOVE him.

We are very fortunate!

[elizawill]

i only partially vax my children (by complete choice) and i homeschool....so you can imagine what a big hit i am with my pediatrician. i don't go unless i have too.

[chaos_pie]

I think he is befuddled.....He and I went to the same graduate school and have known each other for a long time. I think it just simply confuses him why I would homeschool. He keeps asking how long I am planning on homeschooling the kids (whatever).

[zeldamomma]

Mine seemed a little taken aback the first time it came up, but now she's fine with it. She asked if my dd was basically at grade level (wondering about learning problems, I think), and since she is, that was the end of the discussion, and she hasn't said a word about it since.

There are a fair number of homeschoolers around here, and only one pediatrician in town, so I'm guessing she deals with a lot of us!

ZM

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by zeldamomma

Mine seemed a little taken aback the first time it came up,

We've had the experience of people asking surprised, or being confused what to say next. To some people, it is just sort of "out there."

I get fewer odd comments as my kids get older, though, than I did when they were young. I think some people are worried about how young kids they will learn the things they are supposed to, but as kids get older it is more obvious that they are turning out just fine.

For the most part, professional offices like dealing with homeschoolers because our schedules are more flexible!

[zeldamomma]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move

We've had the experience of people asking surprised, or being confused what to say next. To some people, it is just sort of "out there."

Yeah. I eventually figured out that the response I got to announcing we were homeschooling was mostly because I went off the script of how they expected the conversation to go, and so they had to stop and think for a second.

ZM

[incorrigible]

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[Ruthla]

I've only been HSing since January, so I haven't even brought my kids in for a checkup since starting HSing. They're due for another checkup soon though.

Like EBF and cosleeping, I don't see how it's any of their business anyway. I certainly won't volunteer any information, but I won't lie if I'm asked. Although at this point, I imagine she'd ask DD directly, rather than asking me.

If I had to deal with any school vaccine exemptions, I would go the religious exemption route and not involve the ped with that at all. I'm not about to skip annual checkups because I feel I need the paper trail in case CPS gets called again.

[annettemarie]

We have a family doc rather than a ped, but I think it's just one more layer of hippie freakishness to her. She deals.

Our optometrist, however, fully approves.

[ABand3]

I take my kids to a pediatric nurse practioner in a family practice, and she actually asked me if I homeschooled before I did...she said she just got that vibe (in a good way). She seems to value our choices.

One of the other drs there, a FP, seemed a bit surprised, but not shocked or disapproving. I think pps are right about drs worrying there isn't any other 'professional' in the family's life, they are the only ones who might detect delays, medical issues, abuse, etc.

Other than that, I'd ask when they started covering educational choices in med school :

[dillonandmarasmom]

hmmm, dunno. Haven't been in quite a while. Not sure it would ever come up.

I imagine he would be okay with the choice, since his response to our not vaxing was pretty much, "Oh, sure, I understand your concerns."

[dharmamama]

I think she thinks that it's something that only unusual parents can pull off.

dm