"When they go to school . . . "

The biggest times I've heard this kind of thing is at the doctor's office. Stuff like if I don't get DD's adenoids out she could miss a lot of school. School requires vaxes. Schools do like my DD's child care provider and get overzealous about thinking a kid has pinkeye and you'll find yourself in the doctor needing a note even when they just have a cold.

I just smugly shake my head at the folly of schools and the assumption that my DD will be going. Sorry, not going to make lifetime medical decisions based on prospects for perfect attendance at school.

Not to mention Early Intervention. DD will be getting evaluated for preschool soon. I MIGHT consider it for a couple of months this fall, since she'll be in daycare anyway, but I'm graduating in December and then she won't be in daycare and why would I want to institutionalize her learning at age 3 when I plan to homeschool beyond that? I have real doubts that other three year olds are superior models of language (she is in speech therapy) to the point that it would be better than being with me, her mother who talks to her all the time.

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Had to giggle at this. I hear ya! When DS was not quite two, we mentioned to DH's folks that we were planning to homeschool. They were supportive in the way that they aren't the type to butt in, but we could tell they were somewhat "concerned" about our choice. A month later at Christmas, they gave DS a rather large, bright yellow, plastic school bus to go with his Mega Blocks. Now, there are about a thousand different accessories that you can purchase to go with Megablocks and I did indeed feel that this might be a rather "pointed" gift. :

Fast forward, DS is 5 1/4 now and they have still said boo to us about it and have been very accepting with ears wide open as to the whys and wherefores of our decision. So whether or not they "meant" to do it or not, it seems moot at this point. I do plan to ask them sometime in the way off future though... just for kicks, and well, to satisfy my curiosity.

The best,
Em

It *is* annoying, but I don't think it's always malicious. My extended family is very supportive of our choice to homeschool, but until we actually started, they would often forget and say things like, "when she starts kindergarten..." I would patiently keep reminding them and they would

It took my niece and nephew the longest. They go to school, so it's so much a part of their lives that they can hardly talk about being, say, 8 years old without equating it to grade level. They usually remember we homeschool now, but sometimes they still say things to dd like, "You'll learn about that in 2nd grade." DD just looks at them blankly until they remember.

Recently, my 9 y.o. nephew and my 5 y.o. dd went with my mom to a museum exhibit about ancient Egypt because they were both studying it -- he at school, she at home. My mom said they had a wonderful time together. They both enjoyed talking about what they knew and interacting with the exibits together. They both knew much of the same information about Egypt, but there was also an engineering exhibit there, and my builder-at-heart nephew was able to show dd lots of stuff she didn't know. I think it's great that my kids and their cousins can have interactions like that, even across the age gap which is so much of a dividing line in schools.

OK, sorry for the diversion! It's semi-relevent though -- I think our kids are the generation that will bring homeschooling into the mainstream and show people who *already* in the mainstream that there is more than one way to learn and be a kid.