As a one year homeschooler, I am new to all the stereotypes, and things people ask about it. These questions get asked a lot and homeschoolers don’t take them personally sometimes people are generally curious, so if you’ve ever said any of these things, don’t worry just try to avoid it next time!
18 things homeschoolers are tired of hearing
- You don’t go to real school
- Shouldn’t you be in school?
- Do you have to take tests and write essays?
- But what Grade are you in?
- Do you like being homeschooled?
- Homeschoolers don’t learn as much as regular schoolers.
- Why are homeschoolers so weird?
- I could never spend so much time with my parent, we would kill each other!
- Are you going back to regular school?
- What do you do all the day?
- I couldn’t be homeschooled, I need a social life!
- You don’t have homework, you are so lucky!
- How do you learn things?
- Do you wear your pyjamas all day?
- Shouldn’t you be worried about getting back to school?
- How do you socialize?
- You won’t have a good chance of getting into university
I never knew how repetitive and annoying they can get though! Every homeschooler does things a little differently, but from my experience these are the most common questions and comments that homeschoolers are tired of hearing.
1. You don’t go to real school.
It’s weird that people don’t consider homeschooling to be a proper and equal alternative to public, private or catholique school. Homeschooling is real school it is just different. They learn just as much if not more than if they were in public school. It’s hard to get why people don’t understand that. In fact 2.5 million kids are homeschooled in the U.S. with a growing rate of 2-8% each year! Hopefully one day with its growing population our culture will see homeschooling as equal and no one will say this.
2. Shouldn’t you be in school? Is it a day off?
I get this in stores or just coming from people who I walk by in the forest when I’m walking the dog! It’s so random but people are just curious I guess. Normally I just end up explaining to them that I am homeschooled, but sometimes they make a face, so it can get annoying. When that happens I try to explain how homeschooling is normal and I learn a lot by doing it, but it normally does not click in their mind.
3. Do you have to take tests and write essays?
Ok well it is hard to answer this one for all the homeschoolers out there because everyone does things differently but yes, I do take tests and write essays. Homeschoolers have to find some way to learn english and literature, and it’s kind of hard to do without writing. I take tests for math and sometimes science, and I’m guessing that homeschoolers who do courses online also have to do tests.
4. But what Grade are you in?
Homeschoolers don’t always know what grade they are in. This is because when you are homeschooled you don’t get put in one class or grade for the whole year, you do things how you want to. One day you might be doing something that 2nd graders do and another day you might be doing something 8th graders do. It also depends on the kids interests because if they want to learn more about a certain subject in science, they can and then they might be going through grade 5 science to grade 9 science.
5. Do you like being homeschooled?
This question I got asked a lot this passed year but maybe that is just normal. Homeschooling has its high and low points but overall I would say yes I do like homeschooling better than conventional schooling because I get more flexibility with my schedule. The answers might be different depending on who they’re coming from and how long the person has been homeschooling. If I had never gone to conventional school maybe I wouldn’t like homeschooling because it doesn’t feel exciting as I’ve been doing it my whole life.
6. Homeschoolers don’t learn as much as regular schoolers.
Ok, this one is just opposite from reality. Homeschoolers do learn just as much as “regular” schoolers. I could go on about how much homeschoolers learn and how successful they are but I will keep it short. It has been proven that homeschoolers overall have a higher success rate and higher 4 year graduation rate in university and college. There have been many studies also proving that homeschooled kids do better than their peers in public school. Read my post “Are homeschoolers more successful?“.
7. Why are homeschoolers so weird?
They seem so weird because they aren’t always worried about what others think of them so they go on and do their own thing. Although a lot are, not all of them are into all the pop culture. But even at public school there are some weird people and I was one of them. I have never been interested in pop culture and I grew up watching others obsess over it. Homeschoolers may act different also because they learn how to talk to adults, so they normally are more mature than conventional schoolers.
8. I could never spend so much time with my parent, we would kill each other!
Okay, come on. You wouldn’t actually kill each other. You get used to spending so much time with a parent. Some homeschoolers love spending time with their parents and they may even see their parents as friends. Plus it’s not like you are with the parent 24/7. Homeschooled kids have more independence and they spend a lot of time with their homeschool groups.
9. Are you going back to regular school?
Again homeschooling is regular school. This question may be asked mainly towards older teens, when people are generally wondering whether your homeschooler is going to go into high school to graduate. This is hard for me to hear though because people ask me it and I don’t know what to say. I do plan to go back, but I really like homeschooling and things might change.
10. What do you do all the day?
I get asked this question all the time. What do we do during the day? School. That’s the simple answer, what else would I be doing! Homeschoolers do the same thing as conventional schoolers during the day. It’s not like they’re playing video games or sleeping all day. Just because they stay home doesn’t mean they are lazy. In fact homeschoolers go on a lot of field trips. Homeschoolers schedules may have more variety and flexibility but that doesn’t mean they get to do whatever they want all the time.
11. I couldn’t be homeschooled, I need a social life!
The homeschooling community is huge now, it is very hard not to have a social life as a homeschooler especially if you are part of a homeschool group in your area. Where I live there are homeschooling activities going on all the time. Homeschoolers can even be on regular sports teams like soccer and baseball. It really is not that different than being in public school because even though you don’t see your friends everyday
12. You don’t have homework, you are so lucky!
All of my work is homework, I am home and I do work, what else would you call that? It is just like being in public school just homeschoolers stay home. On a typical school day for me I end up doing work after school hours too because I want to get things done. So I do extra homework.
13. How do you learn things?
How do public schoolers learn things? Homeschoolers learn in many different ways but those ways are somewhat similar to conventional schoolers. They learn through listening, reading, writing, playing, going out, experiencing things, going on field trips ect. The learning opportunities are endless. They tend to learn from a more hands on approach and can go more in depth in certain subjects.
14. Do you wear your pyjamas all day?
I can if I feel like it but I can also get dressed if I feel like it. Since homeschoolers don’t always have to go out of course they would wear pyjamas all day, wouldn’t you? Some parents are more strict and make their kids get properly dressed but most homeschoolers get to spend some days in their pyjamas.
15. Shouldn’t you be worried about getting back to school?
Again for the millionth time, homeschooling IS school and no I am not WORRIED about getting back to school. Homeschoolers wouldn’t homeschool if they were worried about getting back into school. Maybe more towards the older ages, but still. I guess some parents may worry about sending their kids back to school, but not the homeschoolers I know.
16. How do you socialize?
I kind of explained this earlier, but homeschoolers socialize the same way any other kid does! They do after school and even during school activities. They have the chance to be in a community just for homeschoolers and do things there, and also they can join teams with conventional schoolers.
17. You won’t have a good chance of getting into university.
“If you’re homeschooled you won’t have a good chance of getting into university.” This one annoys me most probably, and I hear it a lot. Let me make this clear, you do not need to get a high school diploma to go to university! There are enough statistics to prove that homeschoolers get into university just as often as conventional schoolers. Universities like Harvard, Yale and Stanford go out of their way to accept homeschoolers because they know how well they do.
18. So, How do you Like your Teacher?
Sure this question is fun at first, but boy does it get old fast. I’ve been asked this question by the same person multiple times and it can kind of get tiring. How do I like my teacher? How are you supposed to answer that when your teacher is your parent. Sure it’s a joke but sometimes people actually want to know and it is generally a hard question to answer.
So that was my list of comments and questions that I or other homeschoolers are tired of hearing. If you have any others let me know in the comments.
Instead of being rude and reacting rudely when you find out someone is homeschooled be supportive. Homeschoolers like to hear supportive comments not rude. They want to hear things like, “That’s so cool, you’re homeschooled!”. Be positive, it’s just like encouraging anyone in what they’re doing.
Things Homeschoolers Won’t Tell you
Homeschooling doesn’t necessarily mean doing school at home. Homeschoolers are not copying everything that happens at school. The reason a lot of people decide to homeschool is because they don’t like the way kids are taught at school. Parents aren’t making schedules and worksheets for their kids all the time. They do different things and change up their daily plans all the time because they have flexibility.
If a homeschooler is getting frustrated with a subject they can just stop for the day, whereas in public school you have a set schedule and can’t get out of things. Another thing is that homeschooled parents don’t think they are better than you. Just because they are giving their kids specialized learning that doesn’t mean they are a better parent and they definitely don’t think that.
Sometimes when people meet a homeschooler they think that they are religious. It is a very common misconception because back in the 70s – 90s the homeschooling population was mainly parents teaching their kids for religious reasons. But now, not every homeschooler is religious. It is quite common to homeschool for other reasons now. Non-homeschoolers have an image in their minds about how homeschoolers are all super religious, but it is not true.
Another thing homeschoolers won’t tell you is that they have bad days too. It isn’t perfect being a homeschooler for parents and kids. It can be hard being with your parent or kid all day so obviously all the days aren’t the best. Homeschooling can be expensive sometimes too. It’s hard when you need to buy your kids books, or subscriptions for online learning sites, or pay for field trips. There is a lot to think about when deciding to homeschool and this is one that you don’t hear about often.