Having actually said this before
and then having gone on to homeschool myself...
When I said it, I meant it as a compliment about the person's patience--admiration, even!--and a criticism of my own. I intended it as a comment on the way my personality would/wouldn't fit with my son's.
(It turned out I was wrong about that most of the time. We do fine personality-wise. I could use more patience, but even there I do better than I thought I would.)
My advice: take it as a sign of someone who wants to say something nice and who doesn't understand what homeschooling really is. You're probably dealing with someone who thinks--as I did--that homeschooling is 7 hours locked in a room alone with your children and a pile of workbooks. School at home, in other words.
And in fairness, I **COULDN'T** do that!
The thing is, of course, that that's not how most people homeschool. It certainly isn't the way it has to be if someone wants to do otherwise.
If you can help it, don't take it personally. You'll make yourself crazy.
My usual response is something like, "If you can parent, you can homeschool. It's easier than you think it is. You may not *want* to homeschool, and that's fine. But you could do it if you wanted to or needed to."
If they pursue it, I tell them more about homeschooling. If not, I drop it. I'm not out to "convert" anyone.
HTH!
