Why do people who do not homeschool feel it necessary to answer homeschool questions?

They answer out of ignorance.

If they are truely teachers it ruffles their feathers. They go to school for all those years and aren't being payed very well.... and then you can stay home and do a better job than they can..... OUCH..... that's gotta hurt.

Remember those that can do those that CAN'T teach

You should start planning now. Instead of looking for random worksheets online, which might not even be accurate, find yourself a good, prepared homeschool curriculum. We use games in homeschooling. Some of the games are described in the curriculum, and the kids either make them or gather the things needed to play. You can order lots of educational games from the companies that sell curriculum. I motivate the kids by using the most interesting curriculum I can find, and by telling them they can do something they like after we finish school. I put up shelves where I need them, and I have 2 tables in the dining room. We have a cabinet to put some things in. You have to work with what you have. For Bible study, we might use a prepared Bible devotional for kids, read Bible stories, and our curriculum also have Bible lessons in it. I find field trip opportunities that match with what we are studying. Ex: While the teens are studying ancient history, we will go to the King Tut exhibit and omni-theater at the Science Museum of Minnesota. When studying the Mississippi River, we go on a padleboat ride on the Mississippi River. Use Learning Language Arts Through Literature. We don't do peer mediation, or counciling in homeschooling. God and parents are the guides for homeschooled children, not peers. The children get council through the Bible and parents. Siblings are also helpful in some instances. Safety is part of health class. No, 4H is not free. Listening to classical music is usually part of a homeschool curriculum. Also hymns. I will give you some websites for you to look at curriculum.

I have the desire to look it this from a psychological point of view.

Why *would* a person feel the need to bash something they really don't know about? I don't go around doing it, so what makes it so interesting to the person who does it? What inner need is being met?

It really boils down to a need of the ego. I would say it really boils down to a need to be right, which is tied with self-importance. This need to feel right is so they don't feel wrong and their egos feel okay. You can read more about that here: http://www.thebodyworker.com/psych_need_to_be_righ... I think a LOT of people who come in here with their negativity fall in this category. Look at how many people outright judge the parents who choose to homeschool. Judging others is a way to make *ourselves* feel better. When you feel no need to judge others, you're probably pretty secure within yourself.

Of course, then there's also perseverative thinking: the inability to shift your thinking to focus on something else and/or consider other possibilities. We see plenty of that.

Then there's the wider category of egocentric thinking: "this is how I am, so others must feel the same way". This is actually the product of a lack of developmental maturity or the result of protecting the ego. This type of thinking is also tied to, "I've met one person (ten people) who's like this so all others who do the same as that person must be like that person." It's part inability to see people as individuals and part prejudism which serves to (erroneously) protect the individual.

Looking briefly at the two naysayers who have thus far responded, one has a VERY apparent sense of self-importance while the other one, by not only appealing to personal experience as an educator, also crossed the line by judging people he has never met to show more about himself than about those who homeschool.

Ha, good question......you know, I am a homeschool mom, and I don't go answering questions in, say the automotive section. Because, while yes, I know a BIT about cars, I am NOT a mechanic, and have never even tried to be one. Of course, to make it more applicable to YOUR question, non/anti homeschoolers answering questions here as if they have some valid logic or authority is about the equivalent of me not only knowing NOTHING about auto mechanics, but me also being "anti-auto maintenance"......not only do I not have a clue, but my mind wouldn't even be open to GETTING a clue!

I say, ignore the idiots.

Many people just want to get more points and since they are probably people who "know" everything about anything (or think they know) they answer. If I answer it's because I have worked with home-school parents and students for the last 12 years during my career as a Christian school teacher.

I feel your pain. I get those same people bashing me about believing that there is such a thing called ADHD...I live with 3 boys that have it and I chose to medicate...

They just don't understand where we are coming from and our beliefs that sometimes Home schooling works best rather than public school or private school. I don't personally home school my kids, (they don't want to listen to me anymore than they have to) but I have several close friends that do and their kids are excelling and have even moved past my kids in school and testing.

I wish you the best of luck on this journey.

The teachers here remind me of the age old saying: "People who can, do. People who can't, teach". It's only countries like France who have particularly rigorous and tough teacher training for anyone who wishes to teach in a government school. Now if any teacher who actually holds the french aggregare qualification wants to come in here and voice an opinion about the quality of their teaching ability or the benefits (or not), in their opinion, of home education vs school....

It hasn't escaped my attention either that the teachers who do feel some sort of need to come in here solely to criticise home educators all seem to be from the American system. I've also noticed that not one of these teachers is prepared to enter into any sort of informed discussion on the merits of mass education vs individual education.

School is all about societal control. My belief is that people can feel very threatened by people who choose to live outside of that control and who who have the confidence to eschew the group attitudes and beliefs in favour of their own.

Think about it: Man is essentially a "social animal" so homeschoolers are a lot like sheep who eschew the flock instinct - the instinct that says it's better to chuck yourself off a cliff than to risk becoming the only sheep who doesn't! To me, the naysayers are like the sheep who has chucked itself over the cliff face "because that is what we do in our society and that is what we expect of each other" and halfway down hears another sheep calling out: "Actually I don't care that this is what we, the group, are supposed to do. I won't be throwing myself off this cliff because I'm an individual; I know I can stand outside of the group mentality and survive perfectly well without it. I can think for myself...and I'm choosing to deliberately reject the group mentality, your group mentality, the group mentality that is so important to the rest of you!" and then sees that "rogue sheep" choose to turn away from the cliff edge and deliberately walk away from the rest of its flockmates as they plunge ever downwards towards oblivion!

No wonder the rest of them harbour ill thoughts towards that one still grazing sheep who has dared to reject the all-important group mentality; and by association rejected them and everything they believe in and hold dear and hold to be true!

Because there are many people in this world who fail to realize that everyone is different. Everyone has their own opinion. Some people just don't want to accept that not everyone is like them. A little acceptance could go along way to changing this world.

I answer lots of questions, just for fun.

The majority of answers you get will be of that nature. Look for consensus rather than authority. Have a nice week.

If only some people would keep this quote in mind:

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." -- Mark Twain