As a homeschooling family, we find ourselves less affected by peer pressure on a daily basis than those who are involved in a public school environment. In fact, this is the reason many families choose to homeschool. But making this decision does not protect us from all forms of peer pressure. It still exists, and probably always will, as long as we are humans living on this earth.
First, there’s the pressure to constantly explain our choice to homeschool. Many of our friends and family will understand our reasoning and respect it, even if they don’t agree with it. But there will always be those who want to challenge in a more argumentative way, and that’s just a part of life we have to accept as part of the package.
Then there’s the pressure to make sure our children are at the same academic level as their neighborhood friends. We know it’s all right if Sally is on a lower reading level than Johnny—that’s part of why we chose to homeschool her, to help her get up to grade level—but we still want to feel like she can hold her own.
Then there’s the temptation to “show off.” When other parents are talking about how Jimmy made the honor roll and Tommy can say his ABC’s at the tender age of eleven months, we feel pressure to brag about our kids, too. We want others to understand that our children are just as capable of excelling.
It is, possibly, one of the hardest things a homeschooling parent must do, but we need to learn to turn away from the pressures of society and concentrate on making our own environment what we want it to be. It’s hard not to think about the scholarship Jane got, and to want the same for our child. But we homeschool because we want to teach our children in an environment that’s best for them, and Jane was taught in the environment that’s best for her. We don’t need to feel as though we must constantly defend ourselves, or to hold our children’s accomplishments up for praise. We have chosen a unique lifestyle, one that is sometimes solitary, and that can work in our favor as we learn to shut out the loud voices and concentrate instead on the sweet instincts that come as we listen to our children and appreciate who they are.
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