Busting Homeschooling Myths #4

Myth: Only certain types of people homeschool their kids.

Truth: While not completely representative of the general population, the homeschooling community is diverse and becoming more so. You’ll find people of different religions and political beliefs, dual-parent households, single-parent households, grandparents schooling grandkids, stay-at-home parents, working-outside-the-home parents, people living in the city, people living in the country, families with lots of kids, families with one kid … do I need to continue?

The stereotypical homeschooling family generally looks like this: a Christian family comprised of an employed dad, a stay-at-home mom, and a passel of kids, living on their own homestead and grinding their own flour. If this describes your family, congratulations! You have the potential to be an awesome homeschooling family. If this does not describe your family, I have news for you. You have the potential to be an awesome homeschooling family, too.

My family checks off some of the boxes in the list of quintessential homeschooling family characteristics, but we’re also different in a lot of ways. Before we started homeschooling, I worried about fitting in with other homeschoolers, especially other homeschooling moms. I typically don’t like the types of events, books, or activities that attract other homeschooling moms. The longer we’ve been homeschooling, though, I’ve had the chance to befriend interesting men and women with diverse interests, and it’s helped me appreciate all the ways people can be awesome.

If you think you can’t homeschool because you don’t fit in with a certain type of persona, I invite you to think again. If you decide to join the homeschooling ranks, you’ll be helping to dispel this entrenched myth.