Homeschool Stereotypes

I bet this photo below already explains most of it.

via

Now there's a LOT of them:

    a. deprived of friends and socially awkward: NO, we are not (for most of us, anyways), for the last time! I might not get to see them in person every single day like you guys do, but we still have friends! We have a homeschooling community, we have classes together, we have activities together, 'field trips' together. Heck, we probably have 10x more field trips than regular school people! And we most probably also have friends in regular school.

    b. cooped up at home: NO (at least not for me). Now personally I am the kind who prefers to stay at home, stay in my comfort zone. However despite this I still go out of the house a lot-co-op classes, activities (lots) and gatherings with friends.

    c. not up to date with terms like 'ship': do I really have to explain this? We have friends, and we use social media. 

    d. no social media: okay, some parents may be stricter for this and try to control the social media their kids use, but I myself use them. 

    e. very good in studies and takes IGCSE/O levels at 12: please, we're human. There may be a couple who do that, but most of us are actually normal.

    f. super disciplined and organised, or super not: uh, depends from person to person. I use a blanket to cover all the regular students and say that they're not disciplined and organised, right?

    g. wear PJs to 'school': Nope. We actually change into our day clothes, believe it or not, because we are hygienic. And most of the time because we have morning 'lessons' at a friend's place, we have to change out of pjs.

    h. homeschools until university: not for me. But some do. 

    i. super family-oriented - your parents are teachers, siblings are only friends and you have a lot of siblings: really? I know we might spend more time with them compared to regular schoolers, but we still do stuff that they aren't part of, i.e. with friends (duh).

    j. either super religious or super not: seriously... can't we be normal? No?

    k. super healthy: might I remind you that we eat chips during co-op breaks? And my family being kinda healthy and me being vegetarian doesn't necessarily mean that we are all super healthy and only eat organic food. We just rather be sick less often and hopefully live longer. 

    l. either wake up super early or super late: what is it with stereotypes being very extreme? The time I wake up depends on whether I have any activities in the morning, whether I had a long and tiring day yesterday as well as other determining factors.

   m: over-protected, or neglected: really? Again, I'm not going to address this because I think this is ridiculous. A blanket statement. 

   n. we all have family bands and are all musically inclined: please, my siblings and I all play piano and are part of a choir, but the idea of a family band is kind of weird. And I have homeschooling friends who don't do music, but have other interests. 

   o. weird: depends what you mean by weird. If being weird means standing out and being different, then yes, maybe this stereotype is true for me. By breaking stereotypes above, I am being a stereotype. 

To a certain extent, I actually don't mind clarifying your doubts and answering your questions about homeschooling, such as 'how are your classes conducted? do your parents choose your curriculum?'. It's better to clear your doubts than to have assumptions. Please, for my sake and for other homeschoolers.