They Stick Out Like Sore Thumbs

I was having a conversation with someone who is in the early stages of considering homeschooling.  She knows that Public School is not a good place to educate children, but she also fears her own abilities, and the idea of doing something "different" than everyone else.  She has mentioned to several people that she is considering homeschooling, and of course has not gotten a whole lot of positive remarks.  One of the people happened to make a comment to her about how homeschoolers stick out like sore thumbs.  It seems as though they work with a young man who was homeschooled.  So I had to ask, "What makes him stick out?" Her response, " He is happy and pleasant to everyone all the time.  He talks to and treats everyone the same from the youngest to the oldest workers.  He is always willing to cheerfully help anyone anytime he is asked. He speaks several different languages."

So my question is, what is so terrible about any of these things?  A pleasant, educated, cheerful, friendly young man, oh the horror!

I think it is sad if these are the things that make him stand out first of all.  But, why would you view those reasons are reasons NOT to homeschool.  Is that not  the goal is we have for our children to grow up and be educated, positive, productive members of our society ?(I would also add for my own children to follow Christ in everything they do.)  I would hope that instead of saying he sticks out like a sore thumb, parents might be thinking, "How can I help my children to become more like that."

No obviously I am just using examples from a conversation I had and I do not personally know this young man, but I do know that especially now in this day and age, I want my children to stick out like sore thumbs. I want them to be different from what is considered normal. I want them to follow Christ, be educated, respectful, independent thinkers.  I want them to be able to socialize and relate to people of all different ages.   I want them to be safe from the effects of drugs, bullying, violence, and peer pressure that is the "norm" in the Public School system.  I want them to be able to learn the true history of the world from a creationist perspective.

It's ok children.  Stick out like sore thumbs.  And mamas instead of worrying your child will stick out, maybe we should worry about the ones that blend in too much.

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Jon 15:19 "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you."