When you tell people that you are homeschooled, there are some very common myths that come to mind. As someone who is homeschooled, I want to disprove these myths. Most of these aren't true for homeschooled students, but some are. So this is a list of common homeschool myths.
1. Homeschoolers are awkward and unsocial
This is probably the most common myth about homeschooled children. Just because you don't go to a public or private school, that doesn't mean you aren't social. There are so many different groups and activities for homeschoolers. Homeschoolers can be very social. We can be shy, but all you have to do is say hello and get to know us.
2. We are weird
Everyone is weird in some way. Homeschooling does not make us weird. So, we do things a little different, but that just makes us human. Do you really want to see everyone do the same things?
3. Mom teaches the children and does the housework, and dad works
Homeschool families are unique, there is not a single one that is completely identical to another. Some families have dad teach and mom goes to work, there are single parents that homeschool or grandparents may homeschool their grandchildren. Kids can be taught in so many different ways by different people.
4. You are extremely religious or a hippie
This can be true for some families. There are families that homeschool for religious reasons. There are also families that homeschool because they may not agree with what their children would be taught in a conventional school or they might not like the rules for the county that they live in. People chose to homeschool their children for different reasons. Why they chose to homeschool, is for whoever made the decision to homeschool to know.
5. That homeschool parents must be very patient
Everyone gets frustrated, including parents that homeschool.
6. No real "teaching" happens and the kids won't get into college
Some of the smartest people come from a family that homeschools. I still haven't figured out why people believe that you don't actually learn anything if you are homeschooled. Just because we are homeschooled doesn't mean we don't learn anything.
7. Whoever is teaching isn't qualified to homeschool
When you tell this to a parent that homeschools, you are belittling the parent. You might as well have told the parent that they are too stupid to teach their child. When a parent makes the decision to homeschool their child, they are doing what they think is best for that child. This is extremely rude to say to a parent that homeschools. However, every state has different requirements for homeschooling that have to be met.
8. We stay home all day
So, this one is kind of weird. There are some days that we are home all day, but then we have days that we aren't home for most of the day. It's not called HOMEschool for nothing.
9. That parents are helicopter parents or are sheltering their children
I think that all parents are helicopter parents or try to shelter their children to some degree. In some ways, parents try to protect kids from something that could potentially be dangerous or is something that they don't really need to be getting involved with.
10. Not a lot of people homeschool
This could not be more wrong. In the state of Virginia alone with both homeschool and religious exemption combined there are over 40,000 students that don't go to a public or private school. There are more homeschoolers around you than you realize.
11. Homeschoolers won't be prepared for life
Homeschoolers can actually be more prepared for life. We learn how to cook, sew, and do life skills that students in conventional schools don't learn how to do. So, the students that won't for life, are probably the ones that go to a conventional school.
There are probably more homeschool myths that exist, but these are just a few. Homeschooled students can do everything that students that attend a conventional school can do, we just do them a little bit differently.
