"You're so outgoing though. Were you really homeschooled for that long?"

A teacher said this to me during my senior year of high school.

After being homeschooled for seven of the most crucial years of my life, stereotypes follow me wherever I go. Whenever I tell my teachers or peers that I was homeschooled until I was thirteen years old, they always stare at me in disbelief. How could someone so outgoing be homeschooled for such a long time? Is there something wrong with me now that I'm eighteen years old? Do I know how to interact with people in the real world?

Homeschooling is definitely not for everybody. However, I can easily say that it is one of the best things to ever happen to me and my family. My brother, who is one year older than I am, started his educational career at a public preschool.

My mother was getting regular phone calls from his teacher warning her of behavioral issues occurring with my brother. My parents shortly learned that not only was my brother suffering from ADD, but he had a serious hearing disability as well that required countless doctor visits and surgeries. Because of this, my mother chose to homeschool both of us during our elementary school years.

Homeschooling did not close me off from the world and cause me to be socially inept. I regularly attended athletic camps and a weekly co-op, so I had lots of kids to play with growing up. After I finished my school work for the day, I would play with the kids in my neighborhood until it was dark. I lived a perfectly normal childhood without attending public school.

Homeschooling taught me independence. I learned at my own pace and was not forced to sit in a classroom for hours on end. If I understood a concept, I could move on. If I was struggling with something, I could take the time I needed to fully understand. I became an independent learner and thinker at a young age because I was homeschooled.

Homeschooling allowed me to develop a strong and meaningful relationship with my brother that many siblings do not experience. Although he wasn't my only friend, he was my only classmate. The time we spent together as children have led to a close friendship as adults. He fully recovered from his hearing disability and is now a musician in Nashville, Tennessee.

The stereotypes that come along with being homeschooled are often untrue and damaging. It's time we stop fearing homeschoolers and understand that many homeschoolers are normal children who deserve to be treated as such.

It's time we stop fearing homeschool as a form of education.