From seventh grade until about a month ago when I graduated, I had the opportunity to be homeschooled. In those five long years of the homeschool experience I’ve heard more than my fair share of ridiculous stereotypes and assumptions. So, since I’m now a proud homeschool graduate, I’ve decided to share with all of you the top myths and stereotypes about homeschoolers that I’ve happened to encounter along the way and have listed here for you, the top 10 things homeschoolers are tired of hearing.

1. You were/are homeschooled? But you’re sociable!

This is probably the most common stereotype I’ve heard. For some reason people tend to think that when you’re homeschooled you never leave your house. To that I typically laugh out loud. Since being homeschooled, I leave the house more than I ever did than when I went to a private school. While kids in public schools are cooped up in school for eight plus hours a day five days a week, we homeschoolers are finishing our schoolwork before noon and getting out in the world while everyone else is in school. We’re going to the store, we’re going to the movies before the crowd amasses (by far the best part of being homeschooled), we’re going outside and learning about things in the big old real world. Also, we have homeschool groups that put on events like field trips, dances (gasp), and co-op classes where moms with teaching degrees teach classes like science or public speaking. We even have a graduation ceremony each year that’s planned by the parents and graduates.

2. Shouldn’t you be in school?/No school today?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this line, whether it be from people just being flat out rude or cashiers making conversation while checking us out at Walmart. When you go to the store with your two younger brothers and your mom in the middle of the day, people tend to wonder why you’re not in school. Whenever people ask these things and look at us like we’re from another planet, my first reaction is to ask them if it’s any of their business, however, my mom usually politely tells them that we’re homeschooled so we don’t go to school. When you don’t have to wait for the 20 other kids in your class to do their work every day or understand the material, don’t have to take unnecessary classes just to fill your schedule, and don’t have time between classes, you tend to finish school way earlier than anyone in school. But seriously, people, it really isn’t any of your business.

3. Do you have prom in your basement?

Um, no that would be stupid. When I was a freshman, Disney aired an episode of "Good Luck Charlie" where the brother was dating a girl who was homeschooled and she took him to prom, in her basement. What. Were. They. Thinking? This one angered me so much that I wrote a three page letter to Disney and the creator of the show about how their show was so misleading. Not only do most homeschool groups have some sort of prom (my former group called it a formal), but we typically have multiple dances during the school year. We have a middle school Christmas Dance, a Winter Semiformal, a Spring Formal, and usually a swing dance or two in there as well. Most homeschoolers belong to a group of homeschoolers that put on a prom/formal when everyone else is going to prom.

4. Will you be homeschooled for college?

Are you kidding me? Seriously, please tell me you’re kidding me. You’re not? Well then, here it goes. It’s impossible to be homeschooled in college. Got it? Jeesh. This is probably the dumbest question I’ve ever heard; I’d love to find a parent who’d be willing to teach 400 level business or physics classes to their kids in their living room. Seriously, people, use your head with this one.

5. Homeschoolers aren’t as smart as public schoolers.

That’s funny. Just like in public/private schools, there are kids who excel and there are kids who struggle and there are kids who are average. The Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science did a study on kids aged 5-10 and found that homeschooled children typically perform better than their public schooled counterparts in math and reading. Oftentimes, homeschoolers are ahead of their peers that are in school because of their ability to have either one-on-one learning or a smaller student to teacher ratio than a public/private school student has. Your educational experience is unique and you don’t have to take eighth grade English if you’re way above it. I happened to be a student who excelled in my private school setting and the majority of the time I was not learning to my full potential in a classroom setting with 15 other kids who weren’t on the same learning level as I was. So when my parents pulled me out of school, we were able to tailor my education to my needs. I took high school literature and history with mostly juniors and seniors my eighth grade year and took chemistry and American Sign Language as well that year and excelled at all of it. My junior and senior year of high school, I took college classes and accumulated 24 college credits, nearly an entire year, and kept a 3.55 GPA while graduating with a 3.89 GPA in high school.

6. Homeschoolers are sheltered/know nothing about pop culture or what's going on in the world.

If anything, I’m less sheltered from being homeschooled than I was when I went to school. It only took a few hours to get my school work done every day. When everyone else my age was in school with the same 20 people all day, I was out at the store, the coffee shop, the bookstore socializing with people of all different backgrounds. And to be totally honest, you can’t be raised in a hockey rink for your entire high school career and be sheltered, but that’s just me. I listen to Taylor Swift, watch "Grey’s Anatomy," and have Pinterest boards for my future dorm room and even my wedding (oops?), if that’s not the definition of a basic white girl then I don’t know what is. If being in an environment that doesn’t involve the middle school dance getting shut down by cops because seventh graders are smoking weed in the bathroom is sheltered then I’m glad I was “sheltered.” And as far as current events, while everyone is at school, somewhat sheltered from the outside world, we're at home with access to the Internet and TV stations with the latest breaking news and our parents are there with us to explain what's going on.

7. You and your siblings must get along great!

Ha! When you spend the majority of your time with your siblings, you’re going to argue, a lot. Think about that annoying kid that sat behind/in front of/beside you in that one class, you spent 45 minutes a day next to that annoying kid and you just want to smack them because they won’t stop tapping their eraser, tapping their fingers on their desk, humming, singing, or whatever annoying thing they decide sounds fun. When you’re homeschooled, that kid is your little brother who likes to talk out loud when he does his math problems or likes to ask you his math problems because you totally don’t have to do your own schoolwork and you really want to do fifth grade math yet again or he decided to yell his question about his work to Mom who’s in the other room and you get to be with him all day. Siblings are great, sure, we’re closer because we spend so much time together, but we definitely get on each other’s nerves because we’re together so much and we know how to annoy each other.

8. Aren’t you worried you won’t be prepared for college?

What high school senior isn’t? If anything, my homeschool experience has prepared me more for college than any public or private school could have done for me. I learned how to be self-motivated because I was homeschooled, I learned how to be independent, I learned how to study. Even as a high schooler, I was one of the top students in all of my college classes, especially my English class, because I knew how to be independent and how to study. If I wasn’t homeschooled, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to earn college credit along with my high school classes, which has prepared me for college in a huge way. Want to know a secret? Colleges love homeschoolers; they love us because we know these things and we’re typically more prepared academically than our peers who are not.

9. You play [insert sport here]? But you’re homeschooled!

In my area, there are volleyball teams for girls of all ages from a 5th and 6th grade combined team all the way up to a varsity team for the older girls. The teams play small Christian schools and other homeschool groups. They also have boys basketball teams for all ages as well. And, of course, there are always “club” sports such as hockey or Little League type baseball. I played hockey, along with my brother, and my other brother figure skated and there was no requirement to be involved with a local school district. Our local private school even opened up some of their middle school sports teams to homeschoolers as well. And with public high schools in Michigan, if you take a certain amount of classes with the school you can be involved with athletics.

10. Do you do school in your pajamas?

Uh, duh, of course we do! If you had the opportunity to lie around and do your school work on your bed or in a beanbag chair while lounging in your favorite pair of Snoopy pajama bottoms and oversized t-shirt, wouldn’t you gladly take it? I thought so.

There are many, many more things about homeschoolers that I’ve heard, but these are just my top 10. Were you homeschooled? Do you have a particular stereotype, assumption, or ridiculous question you’ve been asked? Comment below!

All photos courtesy of John and Peggy Costello.