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!