We've been homeschooling for awhile. If my math is right, and if I count preschool, it's been 9 years. That means I've been fielding homeschool questions, comments, compliments, and complaints for almost a decade. 

One comment I repeatedly hear is, "You must be really patient." As if the patience fairy swooped down and sprinkled some of her pixie patience dust on me in the middle of the night–the night before I started educating my children at home. Really, folks. It did not happen. 

And a question I'm frequently asked is, "What grade is he in?" Followed by a quick, "How do you know he's learning what other 5th graders are learning?" 

Let's be clear about something {and I speak it sweetly and with patience}: I don't want him to be learning what all the other 5th graders are learning.

Why not?

Because he's an individual. 

My son is unique. He has his own gifts, talents, and struggles. He has strengths and weaknesses differing from any other 5th grader I know. We are striving for a custom education based on his individuality. 

Because he has specific interests.

One of my favorite cartoon characters, Calvin, sums it up when he claims, "I go to school, but I never learn what I want to know." What happens to children who never get to learn what they want to learn? Eventually, they lose their curiosity. 

What my child needs to know goes beyond the typical course of study for a fifth grader. What he needs to know, and what he will remember, is what he wants to know. 

Because I want him to be self-educated.

He asks questions. He knows how to find answers. And these answers spur him onward to more questions.  I want to continue this not-so-vicious cycle because I agree heartily with Charlotte Mason's claim: self-education is the only real education there is. 

Because I want him to be a critical and creative thinker. 

I want my son to be able to produce his own ideas, to be a problem-solver, critical thinker, and creative genius. These things are more easily achieved when my son is allowed to develop his own what-I-must-learn list. 

So, are my children learning what they need to know?

Yes. They are. I make sure they have a foundation education, and they are quite capable of doing the rest, without any help from state standards. 

Do you have a homeschool critic in your life?
Read other blog posts written by homeschooling moms
about how to answer the critics.