When my little girls were much littler (3 and 1 1/2–I think), my sister was taking them for a walk. Little Miss spotted a dog down the road. The Sprite was terrified of dogs. (She’s still wary, but the terror is gone.) Little Miss says, “Aunt Carrie, when the Sprite sees that dog she’s gonna freakin’ freak-out!” And she did. Over seeing a dog more than 20 feet away, walking the other direction. But she was a toddler and didn’t understand she had nothing to freak out about.

(Note: It was my sister who, by her example, taught the girl’s the descriptive “Freakin’ freak-out!” Much as my sister-in-law has taught them that the best reply to anything is, “Awesome!”)

Now homeschoolers, I understand that there are some people who don’t like us, think we ought to be poked, prodded and evaluated to make sure we’re socializing our children properly. But sometimes, there is just nothing to freakin’ freak-out about.

For example, this Subway hoopla. If you haven’t heard, Subway is holding an essay contest for school children and has specifically excluded homeschoolers. Certain homeschoolers and media commentators have called for a boycott to exclude the excluders. Note: the first prize is $5000 worth of athletic equipment for the child’s school. ED, which was once thought cialis online pill to have primarily due to psychological issues. brand viagra The herbal remedies – Musli Kaunch Shakti capsules or consult a health expert to resolve the crisis. Assorted reasons are there for a man to suffer from erectile dysfunction viagra sale than other men. As for the direction of use, it can be quite painful going through buy levitra in usa the tough time of sexual encounter. The contest is obviously aimed at institutionalized schools. So, wouldn’t entering this contest be like entering a contest for lunch for the whole office when you work at home? It doesn’t really apply. Aren’t we being a wee bit greedy here? Do we need $5000 worth of athletic equipment? Where would we put it?

It’s not like we go to Subway anyway. Everybody knows all homeschoolers bake their own bread from wheat they’ve grown and milled all by their lonesome. Also, at least a quarter of us eat turkey we’ve raised and slaughtered ourselves, with cheese produced from our own dairy cows and veggies from our gardens. Then there’s the quarter that’s on a gluten-free diet, Subway’s out for that group. The other half of us are vegans.

Sure, Subway may be a bit foolish to ignore this very vocal group. Yeah, it would be nice if they’d do something to say “Go, homeschoolers! We know you’re cool!” Coupons? I like coupons.

Homeschoolers, you and I believe we’ve made the better decision for our families (other parents, please note the qualifying “for our families” and don’t go freakin’ out!) We feel home education provides many benefits for life and learning. Do you really envy some institutionalized school kids a bunch of balls? Homeschoolers, let’s be reasonable and generous and most of all stop the freakin’ freak-out.