It's Getting Easier(Harder)

I love the new set up we have going in our bonus room upstairs. Or the "schoolroom" as I call it now. I love that I have set Blue Elephant an actual predictable schedule for school. Pledge and Prayer first, followed by letters/phonics followed by reading followed by.... yeah, you get the idea. Everytime we sit down, we follow the schedule. Except where I slide reading time around with math time and then swap out social studies for a puzzle (of the U.S. map)... Okay, so it's not a "strictly adhered to" schedule, but it IS working. And as a parent, and a home-educator, "it works" is the method I am striving for.
Blue Elephant seems to be responding well to the new locale, as well as the new additions to our school day. I now give him a journal topic everyday. (Thank you to my also homeschooling sister with a 3rd grader for this idea.) He LOVES the journal part of things. I may just have an author/illustrator on my hands. (After he becomes a successful zoologist, of course!)
So thats the part that is getting "easier".
And then theres the "hard" part.
I know that this is my first year of being a defined homeschool teacher, and that as the years go by, i will toughen up (right??) but it has been difficult to adjust to the reactions of people when they learn that we homeschool.
Everything from "Oh."....awkward silence... to "Wow! I could NEVER do that!" (As if being there for your children's learning process is akin to eating worms. This is education, people, not Fear Factor.)
From "How, you know, how long are you going to, you know, DO that?" to "Does your son enjoy it?"
The answers are "Oh, about as long as I will stick with being a parent"... oops, that doesnt have a "reverse" option... and "No! He is miserable! A lump, a mass in a chair never speaking, never learning, never growing! And its GREAT!"
Can you see just a tid bit of sarcasm running through this post?
Sorry about that.
It's just hard being so... well, so "misunderstood" [read:judged] for having made a personal decision with my child's best interest at heart.
I am certain that education options are not the only way I differ in my parenting methods than other people. There are probably a million ways that my methods differ from other parents, because I am, at the heart of it, a weird parent. No really, if you were my child, you would think so, too, as I know both my elephants must already feel this way about me.
But back to the topic...
Homeschool is a personal decision, like any other personal decision, it has to work into the fabric of the family to which it is applied or it is pointless to pursue.
It works beautifully in the fabric of our herd. Our days are spent in togetherness, and discovery.
BE is being challenged, and learning, and remains curious to learn MORE- a sure sign that he is not burnt out on homeschool.
But I am getting a little ragged around the edges with homeschool, or rather, just the area of the opinions surrounding homeschool.
I'm not saying you have to do it, in fact, I don't reccomend you try it.
If you were to group homeschool and flying pigs in the same category [rediculous things] then it goes without saying that you would be miserable attempting the homeschool option.
But, before the next time you comment upon learning that I (or any other homeschool parents) have chosen this life, please just realise that we put alot of time and thought into it BEFORE we made the decision.
Homeschooling itself, thats the easy part.
Dealing with the backlash for choosing to homeschool?
Thats the hard part.