The Layers of Learning Podcast with Karen and Michelle is here to help you get your whole family learning together in your homeschool. We are the sisters behind Layers of Learning. We love getting together to chat about homeschooling and this podcast is just a series of our chats. We’re inviting you to listen in on our conversations.

We both have big families, but we teach almost all of our school subjects to everyone at once, and we want to help you find the joy in that too, so we talk a lot about family homeschooling. To see all of our episodes, visit our Layers of Learning Podcast Page. Join us as we explore how to have a happy, hands-on, family-style homeschool.

In Episode 24, How To Handle Homeschool Critics, Michelle and Karen talk about how to handle the criticism and stray comments that will inevitably come your way if you choose the less conventional educational option of homeschooling. Listen in for some strategies about how to handle everyone from the cashier at the grocery store who just asked your kid what grade they’re in to your own mom who is genuinely concerned about her grandkids and their education.

The truth is, you’ve chosen an unconventional course. A homeschool life isn’t mainstream and for that simple truth alone, you will be criticized for it. Your homeschool may be full of love and learning and wonder. Even if it’s everything you ever hoped it would be, you’ll meet people who don’t approve. That criticism becomes even harder if you’re already struggling or doubting yourself. No matter what you’re facing inside, if you homeschool, you’ll definitely need to grow a thick skin. This episode can help you approach the criticism with positivity and simple techniques that don’t lower you to the critics’ level. Use some of the same approaches that work in the realm of bullying and disarm your critics with kindness. Michelle and Karen will help you with some straightforward ways that don’t involve sass, negativity, or defensiveness. We hope you will hold on to the precious moments in your homeschool. Let those be the messages you replay over and over instead of the self-doubt and harsh opinions that we all too often entertain in our minds.

• How to deal with the stray comments of strangers
  
  
• What to say when people are genuinely curious about homeschooling
  
  
• How to turn negativity into positivity
  
  
• Ways to level the playing field between homeschool moms and teachers
  
  
• How to deal with critics online and on social media
  
  
• Mindsets for letting things roll off your back
  
  
• Things you can do to appease the concerns of people who genuinely care
  
  
• Boundaries you can create for toxic relationships
  
  
• Ways to protect yourself legally from those who would harass you because of your choice to homeschool
  

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