Brother and sister argue at a family reunion due to their opposite opinions on whether to homeschool or not their children and which one is better: 'I just simply told her that home educating doesn't mean her kids are happier than everybody else's'.

María Cetra • Writer

Aug 18, 2026 1:00 PM EDT

Would you homeschool your children?

Homeschooling is a not-so-new form of teaching that is becoming more and more mainstream in the U.S. But it's also starting to be a trend among families all around the world. Some people find it great, as now their children can learn in a safe environment with the help of their parents and have more time to do other activities as well. Others hate it for many different reasons. Some people say it is isolating and can cause development issue to the child or develop an inability to socialize. Others say that only teachers are capable of teaching, and that if a child is homeschool they will never actually learn. Whether you agree with one of these postures or have a different one. We can't argue with the fact that every day more and more families resort to it.

In the story below, we encounter a personification of these two postures. On one side, we have a father who pays for private school for his child and thinks that it is the best option. The child loves going to school. It opens the world to different future paths, and they learn a lot. On the other side, we have a mother who believes that their children childhoods are better than anybody else's because they get to play more and learn through it. The problem with these two siblings started when the mother implied that the brother's children didn't have such a good childhood because they are obliged to attend school.

Now, this argument escalated a lot during this family reunion and transformed it into a family feud. Now these siblings aren't talking to each other as they both think the other person is in the wrong. I don't have a firm opinion about homeschooling, so let me ask you. With whom do you agree in this matter? Do you think that, leaving the homeschooling topic out of the way, the sister was a little too harsh on the brother's decisions? Who needs to apologize first? I just hope this family can leave this issue behind and get along better with each other.

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I live in England and school starts in September. My kids are 7 and 3, this year is my sons first year of nursery and my daughter is going to be in year 3. They are both super excited for school, my daughter absolutely loves school. She loves seeing all her friends everyday, she has great teachers, all her lessons are really fun, she also has great co-curricular activities at school (She goes to private school so she gets to go swimming, play golf, ballet, etc). Overall she just absolutely loves

*A table with books, toys, pencils and an apple.*

school but 99% of the time she is happy. Recently me and my wife just bought the kids school uniform for September, and I was mentioning this to my parents and siblings as we were at a family barbecue yesterday. So we all started talking about the topic of the kids going back to school. One of my siblings, my sister, home educates her 4 kids. Which is fine, it's none of my business how other people educate their kids. My sister unschools her kids, so a majority of their day is playing with toys,

museums, etc. When I was talking about my daughter being excited for school, my sister starts talking about how she is so glad that she doesn't have to send her kids to sit behind a desk for 8 hours a day. Which then turned into one of her famous rants about the fact that school is bad, she says that she is grateful she prioritises her kids happiness instead sending them to a place like school. She says that all kids would be so much happier if they had a similar childhood to her kids childhood.

because she was indirectly implying that the rest of us don't prioritise our own kids happiness. So I just simply told her that home educating doesn't mean her kids are happier than everybody else's kids, she just chooses to educate them differently than the rest of us. Now she is saying that I'm just jealous her kids have a "real childhood" whilst my kids are stuck in class all day. I've ignored her ever since that conversation, but now I'm apparently wrong for even responding to her rant

Two kids doing their homework at their kitchen table. Recreated scenario included to enhance reader understanding. — *Two kids doing their homework at their kitchen table.*
*_{Recreated scenario included to enhance reader understanding.}*

lihzee Do you really think you're an a h le here? It doesn't sound like you were particularly harsh.

Significant_Art_2254 I know I wasn't harsh in regards to what I said. But my question is if it was wrong for me to respond to my sister in the first place. Basically, I caused an argument

LilaBadeente You only were not harsh enough. Your sister needs to be told the uncomfortable truth that she is denying her children a proper education.

Talking Rose This is a rocking the boat issue. A place in which something is off kilter and everyone around you is technically devoted to trying to maintain the perceived normal reality of that off-kilterness. So when someone points out that it's off and wrong, that person is perceived as Rocking the Boat. Instead of the fact that all you're doing is refusing to balance it out and continue acting like it's normal. She's upset because you pointed out a flaw in her attitude and the way that she wa

acting and she didn't like the way that made her feel. Because you pointed out a flaw. That is on her emotional regulation and maturity to handle. Not the ah le

Objective-Pound2185 You were not any where near harsh enough. She is seriously disadvantaging her children.

USmugMotherFucka ΝΤΑ Which then turned into one of her famous rants about the fact that school is bad, she says that she is grateful she prioritises her kids happiness instead sending them to a place like school. She says that all kids would be so much happier if they had a similar childhood to her kids childhood. This rant happens a lot. With the rants happening a lot with no end in sight

Put a stop it, don't let her monologue anymore and just tell her to stfu Or be kind but with someone like this imo they need a shock to the bs system

lovable_cube Yupp, she will eventually stop ranting around OP. Maybe other family will notice and do the same. If she has no one to rant to it'll stay in whatever crunchy mom group and leave the rest of society alone.

SuccessfulAd4606 LOL your sister is an irresponsible idiot if her idea of home-schooling is "playing with toys, going to the park, playing outside in the garden, going to museums, etc." Have her teach her kids the phrase "do you want fries with that?" because that's a peek into their future.

Ateretkoalaqueen Back in the day, kids in the farm didn't go to school and had to work and they wished they could go to school. It's kind of unbelievable that we're going back to a time where even though it's easy access, (homeschool books can get it done) but she's gonna choose to just do nothing basically but have fun and they're not even learning farm skills or anything of substance! Edit: changes you're to she's

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Brother and sister argue at a family reunion due to their opposite opinions on whether to homeschool or not their children and which one is better: 'I just simply told her that home educating doesn't mean her kids are happier than everybody else's'.

Would you homeschool your children?

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