I was homeschooled and I'm not a loser. In fact, I'm a generally outgoing, socially well-adjusted, happy, knowledgeable and unawkward person.

I graduated homeschool high school and am currently doing a bangin' job rockin' the university life and livin' it up and not (generally) being too much a freak or a weirdo.

I mean, I do make cheese and listen to Gregorian Chant/Trap mashups, but, like, everyone's got their quirks.

It's been gaining traction and exposure in the US for a while, but there are still a lot of conceptions about homeschoolers that just AREN'T true, or at least not universally true. It's not for everyone, sure, and I don't judge people who aren't into the idea, but overall, my experience with it has been awesome and I wouldn't change it for nothin'. In fact, I'll probably homeschool my own kids one day.

So thanks Mom for being awesome and teaching me yourself, 'cause you're brilliant and amazing, and also I owe you my existence, so happy Mother's Day. I hope you enjoy the shout out in this article!

Here's a list of ten things I found about my time in homeschool:

1. It's a tailored learning experience.

As much as the teachers in a public school would like to, they can't give completely personalized, individual attention to every student in their classes. This is through no fault of their own, but the public school system DOES limit the flexibility of curriculum through its standardized, across-the-board inhibitions.

On the other hand, no one knows you as well as your own parents.

To completely inappropriately quote Norman Bates, “A boy's best friend is his mother.” And my mom does know me.

With her guidance as a teacher, I learned how to play 4 instruments, wrote a novel by 17, have been able to cook my entire life, began basic algebra at around age 8, and read (and enjoyed) Hamlet and Moby Dick at age 13. Granted, I did then and still to this day suck at science, and for some reason geography, but, like, my interests and talents were definitely well-honed and fostered.

Which leads me to my second point...

2. It encourages responsibility and self-sufficiency that echo the university life to follow.

After a certain point in homeschooling, sometime in high school, you begin to teach yourself, and your parents become more moderators than anything else.

Mom would literally just give me a novel to read and told me to give her a paper to grade within two weeks, or would assign me a chapter of a history textbook than test me on it, or would hand me a math worksheet and take it back at the end of the day for grading. I learned to Google things very quickly. And consequently, when I got to college, I was totally prepared and didn't flounder at all.

In fact, my freshman year was such a natural scaling from my experience, that I was a little disappointed it wasn't more difficult and involved. Mom taught me how to teach myself, which is what higher academic education is all about.

3. I wasn't sheltered, inept and socially idiotic.

I'm hip to the lingo. I got what the kids are jivin' with. I can haz.

But seriously, we're not all weird goatpeople who live on farms in the mountains and marry our vegetable gardens and believe that having a penis is a sin or something. I mean, yeah, I like growing potatoes--that's super fun and I'm super Irish--and I definitely don't have a problem playing Cards Against Humanity and watching Game of Thrones either.

In fact, I'm not really sure where that overly-sheltered, utterly uncool and repressed stereotype came from, because in my (totally unbiased) experience, homeschoolers have been some of the most outgoing and fun-loving people I've ever met.

Seriously, everyone of my friends in co-op was a hip hipster boho artsy-fartsy multi-colored trendy hair and bright distinct clothing sorta cat, and all reveled in obscure movies and music and, y'know, engaging in culture. In fact we were all kinda obnoxious and pretentious about it, but, like, so are public schoolers, and we certainly weren't overly unaware or—God forbid—INNOCENT!?!?!?!

Even in my college, which is a Christian college and has an abnormally high concentration of homeschoolers, they tend to be among the less awkward and most go-getter people around. I've actually been at house parties where I was less repressed and uncomfortable in my skin than the public schoolers, and I'd be the only sober person there too.

And yeah, I've been to house parties, because my mom trusted me enough and fostered my personal responsibilities enough to trust me not to be too stupid.

4. I could do schoolwork in my freakin' boxers.

With a bowl of cereal.

Sitting on the couch.

'Nuff said.

In all, homeschooling is definitely not for everyone, and there are some downsides, but most of them aren't inherent, are potentially worse in public schooling situations and certainly aren't most of the same downsides that biased and ignorant outside observers THINK that they are. I promise, we're not dumb, and we are cool, and we even can get jiggy to rap music and R-rated movies and know how to spell our names and stuff.

Basically, homeschoolers are people like everyone else, and people in general are awesome and complex and unstereotypeable.