Are you Paid to Homeschool?

I woke up and decided to open up my lap top. This isn't a good thing because I have no distractions and this will just wake me up even more, thus cutting short my beauty sleep. I'll be crabby tomorrow. Anyway, I happened upon this article about homeschooling that I could've written myself, except for the part about having honor students. ;-) It reminded me of a conversation I had just yesterday.

Our refrigerator has been in disrepair for a while. Our ice maker doesn't work. It works sometimes and gives out just enough ice to make me forget to call the repair person for half the day but my kids finally threw down the gauntlet. They apparently NEED ice. My dear husband called because I only know how to call 1-800-4my-home and that's not where we purchased this particular refrigerator.

The nice refrigerator repairman came almost immediately to check out the situation. He's been here several times before. He diagnosed the problem and ordered a new ice maker for us which won't arrive for another three weeks if we are lucky, he says, because (company I won't name) is slow in sending out ice makers lately. (Where is this going???)

I followed him to the door to let him out when he turned and asked me, "You homeschool your kids, don't you?"

"Yes, we homeschool" I said, anticipating all the usual comments or questions....

"Does the government pay you to teach your kids?" he asked.

O.K, I've never been asked this question before! I really hoped my shock didn't show as I responded with an emphatic "No!"

"Then why do you do it? I mean, if you don't get PAID for it?" He was quite serious. This man has children of his own who were educated by the public school system. Here was a gentleman who seriously wanted to know what in the world did I get out of such a sacrifice. How can you explain to someone that there are some things in life that have greater benefits in spite of the sacrifices than money can buy. Secretly I wanted to ask him if he got paid by the government to conceive children to begin with.

I don't recall my answer exactly. Something about how I enjoy spending time with my children. They have one-on-one instruction, they can learn at their own pace, slower or faster. Children are all different with different learning styles and we can cater to those needs better at home.

He explained to me that his sister informed him recently of her decision to homeschool her own children. The extended family decided she had fallen off the deep end because the government will educate her children for free. He thought that perhaps the government was going to pay her to stay at home to teach her children, because that is the only benefit he could see in undertaking such and endeavor.

After seeing my family in action during his few visits to my home, perhaps to him there is only hopeless futility. I hoped that our family reflected more of a kind of cheerful, semi-chaotic endurance. Perhaps there is only hopeless futility in his own life. Since he is paid to bring me my ice maker it will make little difference to him.