Fact or Fiction: Home Schooler Edition

Sparkler rebel_of_nowhere said wakwy inspired her to write this post. Enjoy! —SparkNotes editors

Over the years, I’ve had to deal with a lot of misconceptions about home schooling, like the belief that all home schoolers are pale white from lack of sunshine. Some rumors about us are true, and some aren’t:

You have no friends and meet no one: FICTION!

Being home schooled means you don’t have to deal with all the idiots, morons, and other jerks in high school on a daily basis, but that’s not to say we have no human interaction whatsoever. We have friends, often from our previous public schools, and making new friends is easy—we meet them through sports, extracurricular activities, mutual friends, or the neighborhood. We go to the movies, date, have guy/girl trouble, and deal with all the other stuff that is part of normal teenage life.

You sit at home with a book all day and receive no sunlight: Both fact and fiction

Yes, we do that sometimes, but you guys sit in school all day too, right? But unlike public high school, we get spontaneous field trips! If a subject is particularly interesting and I want to learn more about it, I can take the day off and go to a museum to see the art I’m reading about, or visit the battlefield where a war took place. Being able to go and visit whatever I'm studying is really awesome, and it means I do, in fact, get sun on my face.

Home schooling work is more difficult: Fact

There are many more activities and writing assignments, and the curriculum is generally more in-depth and thought-provoking. We are expected to perform at a higher level than most students, and our work is more challenging. Foreign language is generally required for four years instead of the standard three, as well.

Your parent is your teacher: Sometimes fact, sometimes fiction.

Your parent isn't necessarily your teacher. Some forms of home schooling are one-on-one, while others are totally independent. I prefer the independent way; I fill in my parents on my progress periodically, but basically I handle all my work, including grading, myself. I send in tests, midterms, and research reports to an actual teacher once a month, and she/he grades those. She/he also sends me my report card for each subject every month, and a final one at the end of the year.

You volunteer constantly: Sometimes fact, sometimes fiction

This is often true, but not always. Because of the flexibility of the studying hours in home schooling, we can leave "class" and do volunteer work easily. However, not all home schoolers are super into volunteering. On a similar note, having a job is much easier because you can fit in shifts throughout the day.

You do no sports: Fiction

You don’t have to belong to a high school to do sports. Many areas have county teams, and there are a lot of home schooler sports teams. We don’t just sit at home all day while our lungs shrink from lack of exercise. Lacrosse, horseback riding, running, and soccer are a few of the things I get to do even though I’m home schooled. In my county, home schooling groups meet very frequently. It’s quite common here, although I don’t know if it is everywhere.

Your curriculum is weird: Fiction

We study pretty much the same subjects as normal high schoolers do. We need to have a certain number of credits to graduate (though the number is generally higher than what public high schools require) and use the same A-F grading scale. We can take regular, honors, or AP courses, and receive college credit if we take extra courses at the local college.

You have more choice of subjects: Fact

This is true. Unlike public high schoolers, I get to choose from 9th-12th grade courses any year, so say, if one course is too easy, I can skip ahead a year. As long as I get the required credits per subject, I can be flexible about the order I do them in. Also, home schooling allows more choices than regular English 1, 2, for example. There’s more room for creativity in the course subjects.

Home schooling is totally separate from your area's public school: Fact

I am not registered in my county as one of their students, but I did have to get their approval so they knew I wasn’t just pulling a four-year Ferris Bueller. However, you can attend your local high schools’ classes, so you do get the fun of going to class with your friends! You can also take courses at the community college. Where I live, you can graduate with their graduating class as long as you attend the last six weeks of school there.

Your curriculum has a lot to do with religion: Sometimes fact, sometimes fiction

My curriculum is not religious at all. We study all religions equally and objectively. While it is true many are home schooled because they or their parents wanted religion to play a larger role in their education, this is definitely not true of all home schoolers. Some curricula are very focused on religion and others have nothing to do with it.

You look down on kids from public high schools: Fiction

I assure you, most of us don’t. To be completely honest, I have found that my home schooled friends are more mature than those from public school, but this is certainly not true of everyone. Most of us don't consider public school kids to be less smart, we just a) don’t appreciate being labeled as "antisocial, awkward home schoolers" and b) don’t like putting up with the nonsense that particularly goofy high schoolers tend to bring. Without having all the drama in our daily lives, we have a low tolerance for it, even if we do understand and empathize with it.

And the big question: Why are you home schooled?

Everyone has different reasons. Many home schoolers find that public school is not challenging enough, come from a military family that moves often, want more/less religion in their education, have health problems that make it difficult to go to regular school, or simply want to take their education into their own hands and pursue and focus on what they are interested in.

Have you ever considered home school?

Related Post: Questions Home  Schoolers Have to Answer Every Day

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