Why do some people oppose homeschooling with such angry emotion?

They are ignorant and insecure, and somehow the choices of total strangers are threatening to them. They get validation from knowing that what they are doing is the norm and from knowing or thinking that everyone else around them is doing the same thing. When someone comes along who ISN'T doing or DIDN'T do the "normal" thing, somehow this is a threat to them, their worldview, and their ability to feel validated. You see this sort of thing all the time in other contexts too, like people who just can't understand why other people aren't religious/don't follow a particular religion, people who can't understand why other people don't want children, and the like.

As for the money issue, it comes from something about how the number of students in a school influences the amount of funding a school gets, so more homeschoolers = fewer kids in school = less funding. Or something like that.

(ETA: clearly, I'm talking about the people who argue against homeschooling without knowing anything about it, not the folks who choose not to homeschool for themselves or who know the reality of homeschooling but still disagree with it. I don't agree with those people, but I'm also pretty sure that they're not having a knee-jerk "omg someone is doing something different everybody panic!" reaction to homeschooling.)

I was homeschooled from 5th grade until graduation. While I am a supporter of homeschooling, I don't think that just anyone can do it. Honestly, my mother could not. 2 of my sisters and both of my brothers did not graduate and have not received GED's. 2 sisters did graduate and one of them has pursued nursing. Not great statistics. Homeschooling requires a huge commitment and a very organized person. I would highly recommend that anyone thinking about homeschooling their children get in touch with a local homeschooling support group and really talk to a lot of people who are doing it to make sure you are up to the task. Another thing to consider is extra-curricular activities such as sports and drama. Look into local teams and programs like the YMCA. That said, I think that you can give your children an amazing education at home. Don't let people tell you that kids need the socialization of public school. As long as you make sure your kids get some time with their friends, taking away the distraction of having so many peers around can really make a child focus on their education. Group sports, youth groups, neighborhood friends can all provide plenty of socializing.

The kids here have only been out of school a few days. The first day of summer break my husband ran into a mother who declared she couldn't wait for school to start again. Apparently it was because they were in a store acting up. She tried to get a reaction from my husband on her comments and my husband said "we homeschool so our children are with us the whole year". She looked at him and said "I'm sorry". He said "I'm not sorry, our kid is well educated".

Since school has let out the kids in our neighborhood have been let out to roam the neighborhoods. The school let them our early the last two days of school. By the second day the neighbors kid's were so annoying and harassing that I had to call the cops to get them off our property because they were unsupervised and viciously harassing our kids and us. So my kids have experienced all those top notch social skills that everyone is always slapping their gums about. I feel sorry for the teachers that had to go through a school year with those kids. If I knew them personally I would send them a good bottle of scotch.

The local schools do not get as much federal funding when kids are homeschooled. My thoughts on that are if my kids are not in their classroom why would the greedy district complain about it needing the money? Two kids homeschooling = two less credits from the feds= no need for more money. If you don't appreciate my tax dollars that are directly given to the school district then feel free to give it back.

I don't homeschool my kids. Even though I know the realities of it, I still don't think it's the best choice for my kids. However, I don't oppose other families' right to homeschool their kids and I am not so dogmatic that I think that school is the only way to educate a child. Many people I know feel as I do. It isn't the right choice for us. You wouldn't agree with my reasons, and that's OK, because opinions aren't right or wrong. See, I respect other parents' choice to homeschool and I don't believe that either choice is "right" or better all the time for every kid. I've met successful, outstanding citizens who were homeschooled and successful well educated schooled kids. I wish my sister-in-law who homeschools her children would respect my opinions as I do hers. I have cut her off, because she persists in insulting me for not homeschooling. She will also point out everything she feels is wrong with our choice in front of my kids. I won't subject my children to the comparisons any longer. If I don't do as she does, then I am not raising my kids, not providing the best for them. All h*ll will break loose if I don't repeat her homeschooling dogma and I defend my opinions. I am certainly not allowed to politely disagree with what would be best for MY kids. "Blech" If someone wants to see my opinion that it isn't best for my family as opposing homeschooling that's fine, but they're wrong. I don't oppose it. I support it. But I will also defend my opinions and my right to choose what's best for my family.

I have to agree with Aya here. I've ran into people in real life who are just as opinionated and uniformed as those who attack homeschooling here on YA. I have even ended a friendship because of a friend's closed minded uninformed opinion of homeschooling. I do think that YA has a higher percentage of those willing to voice their negative opinions of homeschooling but I disagree with Oscar's opinion that most of those outside of homeschooling don't have a strong opinion about it. I've had way too many negative reactions from those in the real world when they find find out that we homeschool. I also know several who have had DFACS called on them merely because they homeschool. There are many in my area who truly believe that the only way to become educated is to attend a public or private school.

Whatever people feel anger toward, it's caused by the same thing. Here's a quote from an article that says it better than I could:

Anger is a strong emotion of displeasure caused by some type of grievance that is either real or perceived to be real by a person. The cognitive behavior theory attributes anger to several factors such as past experiences, behavior learned from others, genetic predispositions, and a lack of problem-solving ability. To put it more simply, anger is caused by a combination of two factors: an irrational perception of reality ("It has to be done my way") and a low frustration point ("It's my way or no way"). Anger is an internal reaction that is perceived to have a external cause. Angry people almost always blame their reactions on some person or some event, but rarely do they realize that the reason they are angry is because of their irrational perception of the world.

The source:

http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Causes-Anger?&id=58...

So if the person angrily opposes homeschooling, they perceive some grievance about homeschooling or homeschoolers. Maybe if they're in education, they fear it's taking their authority, or money, since schools are paid by the student, not by taxes collected. Or maybe they fear that it threatens their parenting or decision making for their kids. They're insecure and fearful about what it might mean for their values and thinking about education. It's irrational to think someone else's choice threatens their success. They're responsible for that.

But there are just as many homeschooling parents and kids who are angry with the schools and people who don't homeschool as there are people who angrily oppose homeschooling. Why are they so angry? The same reason as people who choose school are angry. Because they perceive a wrong done to them by the schools, by relatives and other parents who don't homeschool. Are they wrong? no. A lot of times they have been wronged! But the anger serves no real purpose, other than to make them miserable. The irrational part comes in when they think that most people who don't homeschool are against them, when in reality, they just don't make the same choices. Someone can say they don't think homeschooling is the best form of education and not oppose it. Plenty of people believe in the freedom to choose without believing you're right about homeschooling. Homeschooler's can't legislate what's the right opinions. You just have to learn to agree to disagree.

Inevitably it's the most insecure people no matter what side of this they're on that are angry. My daughter is in med school; I could care less if a homeschooling parent implies that her kids are educated and mine aren't. Or if you compare my kids to the Israelites when they escaped slavery in Egypt (school). Or if they say that all schooled kids are impolite, criminals with loose morals. I know my daughter is very successful. I know I did an excellent job of raising her. My good friend who homeschooled her daughter who is now on a full scholarship to a major university is bugged by people who repeat misconceptions about homeschoolers, but she isn't an angry person. She doesn't need to insult schooled kids or their parents. That's why we get along well - I don't need to question homeschoolers, she doesn't need to declare her child's superiority and neither do I.

The answer that said it's a cycle is right. A person feels wronged, so they express anger, then the first person has a reason to feel wronged. I see that in Tori's answer. Her husband felt wronged by someone allowing her kids to be out of control and complaining about it, when he makes the effort to be sure they're in control and educated. So she she's sorry not for them being homeschooled, but for bringing the topic up and he responds by saying no need, his kids are educated. She takes that to mean hers aren't and she feels wronged. The circle of anger begins again.

The point ought to be we make our own choices and that only we have to answer to them. If people would stop arguing about this and just accept that parents know what is best for their kids and not for other kids, then we'd all be able to get along with out the toxic anger.

Some people are just angry. Aya's right that you see this anger over other people's choices in other areas as well. Just don't respond to anger with more anger. It's a vicious cycle.

I think I know the question on here that prompted you to ask this, so I'm going to answer with that in mind.

Outside of YA in the "real world", I don't think most people care. Very few people oppose it vehemently, though many wouldn't choose it for their children. If you were to poll most people who don't homeschool, I think they would have some misconceptions, but they wouldn't oppose it for other parents. People who don't homeschool don't go around talking about it much at all. Even parents of kids who are in school don't. It really isn't a big worry for most people. They worry the same everyday things everyone does; the bills, their jobs, their families. Try asking some casual aquaintances a question like, "Do you oppose other people's right to homeschool?" They're most likely going to say, "What? I haven't really thought about it. But I don't see why not" or better take a poll of random people asking the last time he had a discussion about homeschooling, and I'm pretty certain most people will tell you they can't remember even having one.

But if you asking why some people oppose home schooling here (like tonight's rant disguised as a question), it's the same as why people post inflammatory questions in religion, culture etc., because they can get a BIG reaction. Think of them as a toddler misbehaving for attention. It never seeks to amaze me that a rant will get 15 answers and a real question about homeschooling will get three. If you really want to see it stop, quit answering and report the rants. Answering them encourages them. It's what YA would like from their "community reporting". Of course you can't report a person for just being having a different opinion or for saying that they wouldn't homeschool for whatever reason, but you can (AND SHOULD) report trolling and rants. There's a big difference between holding a different opinion and trolling. If the regulars here would get together and agree to stop reacting, I'd make a bet those questions would taper off pretty quickly. Even people who don't homeschool recognize a troll for a troll so informing the public doesn't mean much.

Remember that the reaction you get can be affected how you address others. Sometimes homeschooling advocates build their case by putting down children who are schooled or their parents. If you tell a parent who chooses school, "My children are receiving a far superior education than they would if they went to your children's school. I would never consider placing them in that prison like atmosphere or with the ill mannered, immoral students who attend that school. I choose to actually raise my children.", you'll get an equally aggressive response. Of course I'm exaggerating a bit, but if you're honest, you know that does happen and not so infrequently and sometimes not just as a response to a negative comment about homeschooling. Nobody likes to be insulted for their choices. It is just as easy to say, "Homeschooling works well for our family. We prefer the environment. My children are quite successful." Anyone can relate to that. Everyone knows schools and society have issues. But they might not prefer what you do.

ETA: I'm making the same distinction that Aya is. I don't think that most people have a knee-jerk reaction to homeschooling when they say they wouldn't homeschool their kids. Someone can oppose it very strongly for their family and support others' freedoms to choose it. Because someone thinks it's not the best, doesn't conclude that they think are against the choice to homeschool. Though people here would disagree, they're entitled to their opinions. After all, most homeschooling families don't think school is the best, but they don't oppose schools. For those people who do oppose homeschooling for others, it's the same intolerance and stubborn ignorance that leads people to oppose any other individual freedom.

ETA: I don't mean to say most people don't have a strong opinion about it. Right or wrong, everyone is entitled to their opinions. This is like politics. Crazy liberals are entitled to their political opinions. Crazy conservatives are entitled to theirs, but most people fall somewhere between the extreems. It's our right as American citizens to have strong opinions. However, I don't think most people oppose others' rights to homeschool. Most people would oppose it for their own families, but that would support it's legality. You can't insist on "correct opinions" from others. You can insist on protecting your freedoms. There are plenty of people whose opinions I disagree with and I don't associate with them, but I don't oppose their right to express their opinions, whether I agree with them or not. If you insist that people never express why they wouldn't homeschool their children, then you oppose their freedom of educational style and speech. That is not the point of homeschooling. Silencing their opinions isn't the way to change the way people think. The point is that parents should be able to choose what is right for THEIR kids, whether you and I agree with their opinions or not.

Because they never got the chance to be homescholed because of there misinformed parents, so I think it's a sign of insecurity that they had to go through the crappier schooling where hatred was all that existed.

presonely homeschooling is what made me happy there is to much bulling at school