A good portion of my life was spent as a homeschooler and it wasn't until high school that I transitioned into a more traditional school setting. While it did have its drawbacks, it also had its upsides. Homeschooling is an experience that only other fellow homeschoolers could relate to, so here is a list of 25 things you know to be true if you were a homeschooler.
1. You might be a little awkward
Maybe you were one of those abnormal homeschoolers who was told, "You're a homeschooler? But you're so normal." But if you were like me, you were probably a bit awkward due to the basically non-existent social interaction you received daily.
2. No, you couldn't do whatever you wanted
It was always the worst to explain to kids your age that, no you couldn't do whatever you wanted. You still woke up in the morning, got dressed, and did schoolwork. No, you couldn't wear your pajamas every day, or sleep in until noon, or play video games all day. You still had to do school, it was just at home.
3. You can travel whenever!
You're not constricted to the normal schedule and you can take your schoolwork with you, so vacation can be whenever you want. This meant the best vacations! You never had to worry about crazy lines or traffic because you could go during the off season. I never truly appreciated this blessing until I started high school and we tried to take a trip during everyone else's vacation. There are kids everywhere! This also meant you got to make your friends in public school jealous, which you don't normally get to do as a homeschooler.
4. What are bullies?
Unless you had some really mean siblings, bullies weren't really ever a problem you had to deal with.
5. Field Tip day is the best day ever!
While field trips might have been a normal part of other kids lives, field trips were the most exciting thing to happen to you. It meant you got to see the outside world and get outside the house for a couple of hours! Whether it was the zoo, a museum, or even just the local library, field trips were what you lived for.
6. You're a pretty great friend
Since friends can be pretty rare, once you make one, you're the best friend ever. You're extremely loyal, and patient, and you keep those friendships for life. You probably still hang out with someone from your childhood today because you don't let bonds go easily. And while you might not have a ton of friends, you have the strongest friendships with a select few.
7. You're pretty good at entertaining yourself
School can get pretty boring and since you don't have anyone to distract you from it, you learn how to keep yourself entertained during that lesson on multiplying fractions.
8. No, not every homeschooler is like the Duggars
Maybe your parents homeschooled you for religious reasons, or maybe they didn't. Either way, there is nothing bad about it, but it's not fun telling people you used to homeschool knowing their mind goes straight to Duggar children sort of stereotype.
9. Desks? Cold metal chairs? Ha!
Your home was your school, which meant the couch was fair game. There is nothing better than curling up under a blanket on the cushy couch or chair and working on school.
10. You're pretty good at figuring out stuff on your own
If one of your parents can't figure out how to help you with your schoolwork, then it's up to you. You've learned to be pretty self-sufficient meaning now you can put anything together, whether it's that desk from Ikea or a traditional English trifle recipe.
11. You're close to your parents
Because you're always at home, you're always around your parents so you're probably extremely close to your parents and have a great bond with them.
12. You're too close to your parents
Unfortunately, you're close to your parents. It may have made it hard to venture out and let go, either for you or them.
13. You're a great self-motivator
Since you don't have teachers breathing down your neck, you learned to be a good self-motivator, getting your work done on time.
14. You might also be the best procrastinator
You also might be a huge procrastinator. You don't have teachers breathing down your back, so maybe you slack off occasionally and put off everything until the next day because you can.
15. You could set your own pace
You don't have to go faster or slower than you need. Because you could set your own pace, you were actually able to understand difficult concepts or breeze past something you already understand.
16. Your main source of knowledge about public school comes from the tv
You might not have a great impression of how public school actually works because you might get all of your information from the tv. It was a huge shock to realize that Disney channel shows didn't accurately show what school was like.
17. You're pretty smart
It's actually a proven fact that homeschoolers are smarter. If you google the Washington Post you can find an article where they found that homeschoolers generally test higher than those in the public schools.
18. You might not be socially suave
You never had to deal with drama or "mean girls" so when you encounter them in real life it might have taken you a while to figure out how the social scene works.
19. The food at home is the best
No cafeteria slop or bagged lunches. Your lunch was a delight because you had plenty of time to eat and you could make whatever you wanted.
20. Adults love you
You might have been able to talk to adults more easily than kids your own age. Adults might have also loved you because you were nothing like most kids, you might have been quiet and polite, making you the perfect child.
21. No school bus!
The bus is the worst. You never had to worry about getting up early or missing it and you never had to experience the horror that is the school bus.
22. Lots of breaks
You could take a break whenever you needed! You didn't ask to go to the bathroom, you just went! If you had a headache, or just needed to take a break, you could take a time out from your schoolwork whenever.
23. No worries about catching illnesses
You weren't around a ton of other kids all day which meant you never had to worry about catching the flu, cold, the latest case of pink eye or anything else that was going around.
24. You might not always know what's cool
So the cool people in school are your parents, which means you might not be caught up on what's going on in the world. You might not have always known what was trending or popular, so you might have had to go to your friend who was in public school and learn from them to avoid embarrassment.
25. No awkward dances or functions
You never had to worry about being asked out or asking someone out. No crazy middle school drama or worrying about slow dancing, which was probably one of the best things to skip over.
If you were a homeschooler, hopefully, you were able to relate to some of these! And if you weren't homeschooled, maybe you were better able to appreciate those homeschoolers you know. While I wasn't able to include all of the different homeschooling relatabilities, I hope you enjoyed these. Thanks for reading!
