First day of school

Today's the first day of school here in Miami. This is an interesting day for us, as we have one child in the public school system and two that we homeschool. This can be a tricky fence to stradle. While in our homeschool groups I'll often hear comments about "those immoral public school kids and parents" and at our oldest son's school events and among those friends, I'll hear talk of those "uber-conservative, rigidly-religious, self-righteous homeschoolers."

The interesting thing is that, like most stereotypes, these thoughts and ideas are so inaccurate. All homeschoolers are not ultra-conservative, culturally irrelevant, socially inept people who want to control their kids' lives. AND all public school families are not immoral, unintelligent, conformists who don't care about their kids. OK, so not all homeschoolers or public school parents/teachers feel this extreme about the opposite. I've been extreme to make a point, but seriously, there's probably more in common than not. Trust me, I live in both circles. For the most part, we all have the same goal and purpose...to raise up the next generation to be the best they can be.

The cool thing about living in the U.S.A. is that as a parent, YOU get to decide what's best for your children. And believe it or not, that might be different for each child in the same family. And it might even be different for the same child at different times in their life. Instead of judging each other, we should be working together. Can't we all just get along?