I had to post this. This was sent to me by another homeschool mom. I thought it was too funny not to post it here. So much of it is true.

> The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List
>
> From Secular Homeschooling Magazine, Issue #1
>
> 1 Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is ? and it is ? it's
> insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals, would
> we admit it?
>
> 2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the
> one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now.
> Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization
> means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and
> pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in
> fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the
> planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both
> concepts.
>
> 3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir
> practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H
> club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to
> socialize.
>
> 4 Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the
> same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.
>
> 5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either
> on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double.
>
> 6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know,
> know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling.
> You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is
> running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them
> every ghastly birth story you've ever heard. We all hate you, so please go
> away.
>
> 7 We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear
> they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential
> oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of
> homeschooling.
>
> 8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.
>
> 9 Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling for
> religious reasons.
>
> 10 We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of
> options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to
> annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the
> specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being
> homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own
> educational decisions.
>
> 11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my
> credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to
> successfully cook dinner for my family; I don't need a degree in teaching
> to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of
> chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left
> me with so little information in my memory banks that I can't teach the
> basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there's
> a reason I'm so reluctant to send my child to school.
>
> 12 If my kid's only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can
> possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand that
> you're calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to respond in
> kind.
>
> 13 Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in
> "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the
> amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the
> off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and
> holidays when it's crowded and icky.
>
> 14 Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in
> homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day,
> just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school" side of education
> ? and many of us prefer a more organic approach ? we can burn through a
> lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don't have to gear our
> lessons to the lowest common denominator.
>
> 15 Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid
> might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry
> was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don't get
> to go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one of them. I might still be
> bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.
>
> 16 Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you don't
> mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get some sleep
> now and then.
>
> 17 Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it's
> some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you're horrified. One of
> these days, I won't bother disagreeing with you any more.
>
> 18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you're
> allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can't,
> thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly do a worse job
> than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.
>
> 19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well
> as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my kid around
> academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.
>
> 20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet,
> boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because
> he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be
> as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of
> anything but childhood.
>
> 21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she's
> homeschooled.
>
> 22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool
> my kids.
>
> 23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my
> kids.
>
> 24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get
> because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about
> all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to
> school.
>
> 25 Here's a thought: If you can't say something nice about homeschooling,
> shut up!