My niece came to visit for the first time last week.  Both her and my youngest are 9 years old and got to chatting about school.  Apparently  the converstaion really upset my daughter who promptly came to tell me about it with defiant tears just below the surface. It went something like this,

"Mommy, she said the all teachers are smarter than you!!!"

"Well, maybe they are. That doesn;t offend me, teachers go to college to learn things and probably do know more about certain things than I do, Equally I might know things they don't know."

"But you ARE smart!"

"Sure but it is true that lots of things i learn right along with you. i have no problem with that and you cant let that get to you either."

"But she says I dont go to school! I do school every day!"

I proceeded to try and explain that our niece had never heard of homeshooling, didnt know any homeschoolers, it was a totally forieng concept. I told my child that we can either get defensive, which does little to advance peoples understanding, OR use the opportunity to say "Hey, let me show you what I do..."  I tried very hard to take her seriously but I was smiling on the inside,  My little defender of the family off to protect me. 

It is a funny little story but a good representation of our reality. Lots of people dont "get" what we do. That is ok with me to a certain extent. I dont "get" what lots of people do either. But how we choose to react to those situations speak volumes about our lifestyle, our family and most importantly our faith.