Of eggs and lucky charms

Every so often, someone ends up asking "So. Why did you decide to homeschool."

It could be a fellow homeschooler trying to figure out if we're on the same path. It could be a distant relative wondering just how far down the road of freakiness I'm planning to go. Or it could be someone else with a totally different motive. Anyhow, I got around to thinking I should have an answer for the question. Here's what I came up with.

Simple answer: Because. We did.

Unfortunately that doesn't usually work. People think I'm overtired or crabby or anti-social and don't want to talk about it. But really, for me, at this point, that's the simple answer.

I know. You're waiting for the more involved answer. Something heady. Something really amazing.

Here's my best shot:

There are homeschoolers who will answer because God told me to. There are homeschoolers who will say I'm tired of the government interfering in everything. There are even a few homeschoolers who will say my children are far too genius to bother themselves with public school nonsense. But for me, (and I think a whole bunch of us), we really aren't that sure. Or maybe we started with a specific reason, got into it, and broadened our reasons. Or changed them completely. Or maybe we don't even know why. We just wanted to. It worked for our family, and that was enough. To some people, it was as simple as having made the decision to have eggs for breakfast. It was an option that looked good. So I chose it.

I realize I will get blasted and slammed for that. As if I didn't put any thought into my children's educational future. (I obviously did. Ask my gem of a husband.)What I mean to say is I didn't stand in the breakfast nook freaking out about whether to have lucky charms, toast, oatmeal, or eggs. I like eggs. For a whole bunch of reasons which probably aren't important to anyone but me. So I chose eggs. If you like lucky charms better, good for you! I am not going to try and convince you that you should have chosen eggs. Let's face it. Lucky Charms are tasty - especially on top of ice cream. But I chose eggs. I find them tasty.

Perhaps we can make a deal? If you promise not to tell me that I'm killing my kids by choosing eggs with their supposed high cholesterol, I promise that I won't bug you about the sugar content in Lucky Charms. :)