DH says "no" to homeschooling

[veganloraine]

my oldest ds is in grade one and having a lot of problems!! he's very sweet and very small and therefore a perfect target for bullying! there are two really disturbed boys in his class that torture him physically (punches to the head) or emotionally (telling tales of animal torture) and i want to get him out of there!! the principal and teacher are poo-pooing all of my concerns and actually stress that my son is fortunate to have these experiences. it's insanity. my dh actually agrees with teacher in that "the boy needs toughening up" (he's a very sensitive kid and cries a lot) but is agreeable to switching schools. there is a really good alternative school relatively nearby, but there's a waiting list and they don't take children after grade one. i think this ship has sailed :( soooo....my new game plan was to homeschool my son. my dh is really, really, really opposed to the idea. he says he'll become too sheltered, have no friends and ultimately has absolutely no confidence that i could be successful. as there is no grey area to homeschooling that i can see, does anyone have some really good suggestions on how to convince him to let me try?

[Christa]

Could you maybe do some sort of a homeschooling co-op with other families in the area? That might alleviate your dh's concerns about lack of socialization. I don't know if you have online charters in your area, but there are a lot of programs like that as well that provide you the curricula and you teach him. Maybe he'd be less concerned that he was learning what he needed if someone else was overseeing the curricula and he did yearly testing like kids in public schools.

[veganloraine]

Good news! And some bad news too! The bad news is we had yet another nightmarish day at school on Friday. The good news is that DH has had about enough now too and has agreed to let me try homeschooling the boys over the summer. If that goes well, then I can homeschool them next year. As for the rest of this year we are moving my little man to another school in the area.

We also went to the show this weekend and I got to pick the flick. That never happens. (I chose Juno and it was very, very good.)

[PikkuMyy]

I'm so glad to hear that! Studies show that homeschooled children have MORE social opportunities than their peers because parents make sure to include them in social/educational activities and often kids at school don't have time to socialize there in the same way. Your poor son! I look forward to hearing how it goes.

[veganloraine]

I can see homeschooling as only making our family stronger and closer. There are several homeschooling groups near us that regularly meet for outings. plus, our children are enrolled in soccer, ball hockey, dance and other social activies. Most of our playdates include children that aren't classmates. Jeepers.

So far the new school is much better than the old school. The new teacher even exclaimed, "Aiden, you're a vegan?!?" following by the hilarious "The other children will have NO idea what that is!". haha. so true. but I don't think he was introduced as "Aiden the Vegan" so no worries. The old teacher just rollllled her eyes at me when I told her the big news. Meany.