HGTV star Erin Napier has publicly defended her choice to homeschool her two daughters, Helen, eight, and Mae, five, after facing criticism online. Napier, known for her role in the series "Home Town," shared images of her family's homeschooling setup on Instagram on Wednesday.
The images showed her husband, Ben Napier, engaged with their youngest daughter over a textbook about the Renaissance. Erin Napier described the experience on Instagram, highlighting her husband's role as a teacher and the engaging nature of their lessons, which she stated included history, Bible, math, and poetry.
While many of her 1.5 million followers offered support, some commenters questioned the decision, suggesting that the children needed to "experience the real world" and learn alongside peers. One commenter wrote that children need to "get along with others laughing learning with others!"
Napier responded directly to the criticism, asserting that her children do interact with others of various ages through activities such as sports, art classes, dance classes, field trips, and participating in filming for her show. She also noted that they work together on daily chores.
"Is everyone in the real world the exact same age, in one place together every day? No," Napier wrote in response. "Our kids interact with all ages every day in sports, art classes, dance classes, field trips, coming on set with us, and working together to do their chores every day. I know it's what is familiar to you, but it is absolutely not the only way."
She further elaborated on her views regarding social skills, contrasting her homeschooling approach with her own school experiences. "My social skills had to be learned sitting still in a room with people my age, many who had extremely limited or poor parenting at home, in my most formative and vulnerable years," she stated. "I thank God my parents were so influential on me!"
Napier also shared a personal anecdote to justify her decision to shield her children. "When they're little children, I absolutely should and will keep them away from children whose parents make bad decisions for them," she wrote. "I was exposed to porn on a school bus by a boy my age in fifth grade. That was the one and only time I rode the bus, because my parents cared enough to change it immediately. I am happy to be criticized if this is the (poor) argument you want to make."
The Napiers' show, "Home Town," which premiered in 2016, focuses on revitalizing historic properties in their home state of Mississippi. Erin Napier confirmed in August that filming for the eleventh season was underway, though an official release date has not yet been announced.