Learning a Foreign Language with Creepy Clowns!

Sprechen sie Deutsch?

The reason I ask is because our third question comes from browneyeddog.  This user wants to know if foreign languages are routinely taught in homeschool curriculums.  Yes, but at least in the top Catholic programs, your choices are pretty limited.  Most only offer Latin, but that is starting to change a little.  For example, I was told I could use Rosetta Stone to learn German instead of Latin.  My parents told me that they would allow me to either take Latin or German.  I really wanted to learn German because its part of my heritage and I knew some people who were from Germany that I thought I could have a conversation with.  It ended up being discouraging when I failed to understand most of what they were saying.

Let's talk about Rosetta Stone for a minute since I brought it up.  I used a version that had an unhealthy obsession with clowns.  They never seemed to run out of sentences and questions involving clowns!  For example, when in my life am I going to need to know how to say in another language that a clown is putting on a shirt or taking off his pants?  This only created slightly awkward situations when people would ask me what I was learning.  But I digress..

So yes, I know a little German.  However, I haven't practiced using it since I graduated, so I've probably forgotten almost everything.

If you have a question that you want answered, just comment below, and I'll answer your question in an upcoming post.

Homeschoolers and Bad Spelling?

The next question I wish to address is from Pete, a loyal and dedicated reader of this amazing blog.  He commented on my previous blog post: "i hav a sugestun 4 th nexst qestion do homescoolrs hav bad speling."

I'm glad he brought this question up, because I think there is a general misconception about homeschoolers and spelling.  Outsiders think that homeschoolers are in fact human and can be prone to spelling and punctuation errors.  This is just false.  If you have ever received a text message from a homeschooler, you know what I mean.  Homeschoolers type out EVERYTHING using correct spelling and punctuation.  However, they only use a few abbreviations just to make it seem like they are normal (lol and brb).  The main reason homeschoolers type always with correct punctuation is because they simply cannot bring themselves to deliberately making grammatical errors.

By the way (abbreviated btw), in case you haven't noticed, the question I have addressed is full of grammatical errors.  So I will correct it here to make everyone happy.  It should read, "I have a suggestion for the next question.  Do homeschoolers have bad spelling?"  There, I finally corrected it!  Don't you feel better already seeing the correct spelling and punctuation?

I suppose one never loses their obsession with grammar after being home-schooled...

Is There a World Outside the Home?

For those of you who do not already know, I have been home-schooled for most of my life (second grade through high-school).  Thus the title of my blog, "Home-schooled to College."  I have heard the usual questions throughout my life about home-schooling, and never had the benefit of social media to explain  how other home-school kids coped with their life of school at home.  Now that I have some limited experience in the outside world with college and work, I feel a slight connection with the outside world and would like to use my knowledge to help homeschoolers understand what "outsiders" are really asking and help interested "outsiders" understand more about the secret life of a homeschooler.

Now that I have that out of the way, let's tackle our first question.  Our first question comes from The General Population or outsiders: "Do you have any...you know...friends, and do you get to hang out with them often?"  When people ask this question they usually show a genuine interest in understanding how socializing with friends works when you only study at home.  What they really think is basically this: "How can you spend all day at home doing school work?  Where would you meet people?  Though it must be pretty cool to spend all day in your pajamas, I don't understand how you can have many or any friends this way.  By the way, your communication skills are much better than I expected."

Homeschoolers tend to get a little defensive over this question, however, this question is asked so much we could write flashcards (homeschoolers never run out of these) with our responses right on them so we always have a concise answer.  The responses can include anything from a home-school gym class, pro-life meeting, religious meeting/prayer group, church events, and small home-school family gatherings.  If we are able to rattle off at least five responses, watch for a slight head nod and a look of accomplishment.  Never then follow up with a homeschooler on what he or she learned, unless you are an English professor.  Consider it game over at that point.

If you have a suggestion for the next question, let me know and I will be happy to answer it!