Never thought it would happen to me.

My friends decided to play "devil's advocate" today and proceed to tell me that I had no clue what I'm getting into and Little-A is going to be an unsocialized freak who will never be a functioning member of society....simply because I'm taking him out of school.  One of these friend's cited the few homeschooled kids he knew, as did another.  One friend said he had a background in teaching so he knew what he was talking about.

These friends are barely into their 20's and NONE of them have kids of their own. 

I listened to them in the beginning, because they are my friends.  I tried to have a conversation about it, to let them know that yes I do realize this is going to be difficult; yes I know my reasons for taking Little-A out of public school are primarily selfish; no, I never said either way of schooling is better...it's just different; and damnit, NO...homeschooled kids are NOT unsocialized lepers!  And for the record, I have more teaching experience than the previous mentioned friend.  

They didn't listen.  They kept changing their words to say the same thing.  I told them to stop, that while I respected their opinions, this was my decision and I wasn't going to accept any negativity about it and that the conversation was over.  It didn't stop.   I left.  I hope that my son never hears cruel words like that because if he does, he'll never come around to the joy we can experience on this journey.

I'd like to say that those will be the last tears I shed over this matter, but I'm a lot more realistic then that.