We all know the stereotype. People who are homeschooled have no friends, are socially awkward, and aren’t outgoing. They’re abnormally smart, but don’t understand the dynamics of homework and test taking, and definitely couldn’t survive in the real world.
Sound about right?
Let me tell you what real home schooling actually is, from someone who was the classic homeschooler.
First, however, I want to go over one of my favorite past-times: Telling people I was homeschooled until my first day of high school, because 10-out-of-10 times, I’ll get the same round of questions or statements, in no particular order – I’ve not only figured out the lineup of questions, but I’ve scripted nearly the perfect response to each.
“How did you have friends?”
Well, I played seven sports growing up. I was a part of multiple community youth programs, and I have five siblings, so their friends were always my friends. You know, like anyone else.
“But you’re so outgoing!”
Yeah, I always have been. Just kind of who I am, you know?
“Did you just work in your pajamas all day?”
I suppose I could’ve, but considering we had a real teacher/tutor come in every single day to teach us, it would be pretty embarrassing to be in your pajamas all day. Plus, my parents wanted us to get ready for our day, so that afterwards, we would be able to do what we wanted.
“Why are you taking the same classes as me then? Shouldn’t you have skipped a grade or two when you were homeschooled?”
You see, even though I had the opportunities to go further in depth into the material I was learning, we tried not to rush my education. That’s partially the reason why I usually did school during the summer. I went really deep into everything I learned, so that I didn’t miss anything. So, no, I didn’t skip grades, but I know every single piece of material we ever went over like the back of my hand.
“I mean, if I was homeschooled, I just wouldn’t have done any work!”
Yes, you would have. I know my parents did homeschooling correctly, so I promise, you would've done work. I had a teacher, "classmates" (my siblings), and a workload. It was still school, it just happened to be in my kitchen.
But, let me go back to explaining why the homeschool stereotype is so false. When I entered high school as a freshman, I was very often confused for a junior. Although this was in part due to the fact that I looked older, it was largely because I acted like a it as well. I, contrary to common belief, wasn’t socially awkward like home-schoolers are suppose to be.
In fact, I wasn’t socially awkward like freshmen in high school were suppose to be either. In reality, we don’t learn to socialize from our peers. If we did, we would never actually grow up. As children, we look up to adults to help us learn social cues, rights from wrongs, and how to be a generally good, social person. Because I was homeschooled and my parents owned their business from home, I had their constant guidance. This is where my social etiquette comes from. I had the opportunities to travel, go to restaurants, and attend business meetings from a very young age. Now, of course, it’s possible for these things to happen to a child attending a public school, but I experienced this type of etiquette every single day of my life. It wasn’t a rare occasion for me to hangout with my parents during business meetings. These were the kind of adult interactions that made up my childhood, which allowed me to mature much quicker than my peers.
So, through my parents, I learned to socialize, and then during school, I never had to deal with bullies, never had to try to fit in, and never had a verbally abusive teacher (although rare, it does happen). At my most vulnerable age, I never had to change to fit the social setting and try to mold myself into something I wasn’t. I was loved for who I was— my sport teams had no popular crowd, and I had a lot of amazing friends from all different backgrounds. I was confident, I had a lot of pride, and I felt like anything could challenge me and I would succeed. And because I had that foundation throughout my childhood, I still feel that way to this day.
Besides all of that, my education was just like anyone else's. Okay, no, you’re right. I didn’t have homework (gasp!). I was able to work from eight in the morning until about two in the afternoon, and then not have any homework. Which left time for what, you might ask? It could have ranged from sports, to family time, to relaxing, to going out to the movies. I enjoyed my days after school ended. When I reached high school, having homework wasn’t that much of an adjustment. I worked from home every single day for the past eight years, so why should homework be any different? It really wasn’t. I didn’t fall behind— I was on the same boat as all my peers as we all adjusted to high school.
Just like anything else, you’ll always be able to find an example of why homeschooling isn’t right. But just like being educated in a public school, there is a right way to go about it, and there is a wrong way to go about it. Some methods work better for others, some methods don’t work at all. But let me set one thing straight: Homeschoolers aren’t these socially awkward geniuses who hide in their bedrooms. We have a very different experience than a lot of other people, and that just makes us pretty unique. I promise, we’re not as weird or as freaky as everyone thinks we are.
