“Homeschoolers are weird”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My experience with home schooled kids, both as a child and now was a scout leader, rec league coach, and parent is that they are used to everything being about them.

If they have a thought, they share it and they expect everyone to stop and listen to them.

If they want to do or say something, or changes an activity, they are very confused when they aren't permitted to do that.

They are generally respectful and polite. But they definitely think they are the main character, even when its their turn to the NPC.

They just don't "get" some of the social expectations of them, that other kids do.

And now, as an employer, I can almost always pinpoint when a resource was home-schooled.

This is so true! I homeschooled my kids for a year when they were in 6th and 4th grade the year before COVID. We had the opportunity to travel international intermittently and we wanted to take advantage of it. The months we were in the US I took my kids to several homeschool meet ups at during weekday mornings at museums, nature centers, farms, etc.

My kids were flabbergasted that the majority of homeschoolers and many if their parents were so lacking in being able to listen respectfully to a docent or other type of leader and wait their turn to speak. My kids would raise their hands when a question was asked or to volunteer. So many of the kids and even parents would start commenting out loud about how much they knew or how their child was an expert in that area. The docent would try to hush them but it was so hard to cut them off. Sometimes if the docent called on my kid and he answered a parent and/or homeschool kids would shout out that they knew that answer too and they should call in their child.

It was so disrespectful that I sometimes went up to the docents at the end of the presentation (that never got finished because of the interruptions) to say thanks for trying. The response was always that they preferred field trips over homeschool days because so many if the kids and parents were incapable of respectfully listening and waiting their turn to speak and/or participate.

My kids commented that it was so obvious so many of the homeschoolers had never been in school before and that so many of them were really weird.

[Anonymous]

My grandchildren were homeschooled. Their mother who was also their teacher is and was really weird, highly religious, paranoid, vegan, anti-modern medicine, plus more, but the kids are both adults now and turned out pretty great, neither has ever had trouble being respectful of a docent or getting along with other kids and adults.

[Anonymous]

Most of the parents that homeschool are not qualified to teach. I also think kids need the social aspect school provides.

[Anonymous]

Would you count a kid performer tutored on set homeschooled? (Just wondering)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you count a kid performer tutored on set homeschooled? (Just wondering)

Under Virginia law, anything other than full time attendance at a public or private school is “homeschooling.” I imagine other states have similar definitions. That definition captures every other conceivable education model, from online correspondence school to hiring private educators (e.g., and English governess or full time tutors) for just your own children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the parents that homeschool are not qualified to teach. I also think kids need the social aspect school provides.

Yes, they need the bullies, the cliques, the mental health issues….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience with home schooled kids, both as a child and now was a scout leader, rec league coach, and parent is that they are used to everything being about them.

If they have a thought, they share it and they expect everyone to stop and listen to them.

If they want to do or say something, or changes an activity, they are very confused when they aren't permitted to do that.

They are generally respectful and polite. But they definitely think they are the main character, even when its their turn to the NPC.

They just don't "get" some of the social expectations of them, that other kids do.

And now, as an employer, I can almost always pinpoint when a resource was home-schooled.

This is so true! I homeschooled my kids for a year when they were in 6th and 4th grade the year before COVID. We had the opportunity to travel international intermittently and we wanted to take advantage of it. The months we were in the US I took my kids to several homeschool meet ups at during weekday mornings at museums, nature centers, farms, etc.

My kids were flabbergasted that the majority of homeschoolers and many if their parents were so lacking in being able to listen respectfully to a docent or other type of leader and wait their turn to speak. My kids would raise their hands when a question was asked or to volunteer. So many of the kids and even parents would start commenting out loud about how much they knew or how their child was an expert in that area. The docent would try to hush them but it was so hard to cut them off. Sometimes if the docent called on my kid and he answered a parent and/or homeschool kids would shout out that they knew that answer too and they should call in their child.

It was so disrespectful that I sometimes went up to the docents at the end of the presentation (that never got finished because of the interruptions) to say thanks for trying. The response was always that they preferred field trips over homeschool days because so many if the kids and parents were incapable of respectfully listening and waiting their turn to speak and/or participate.

My kids commented that it was so obvious so many of the homeschoolers had never been in school before and that so many of them were really weird.

I was visiting the Almanzo Wilder homestead and in a guided tour with a homeschooled family. The middle school aged child had a shirt on that said "I'm homeschooled, don't ask me what grade I'm in." So the tour guide starts the tour by asking the guests where they are from. And then, mic drop, the tour guide (I hope unintentionally) asks the shirt-wearing kid what grade they are in. Then, as you might imagine, we get treated to a five minute discussion of homeschooling, pointing to the shirt, and the tour guide's attempt to save face.

It was actually kind of funny but to me the point is how much the homeschool ethos creates "Main Character Syndrome" where everyone has to know/be informed of the homeschooler's educational choice.

Side note, both Almanzo and Laura Ingalls Wilder attended public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the parents that homeschool are not qualified to teach. I also think kids need the social aspect school provides.

Myth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you count a kid performer tutored on set homeschooled? (Just wondering)

Technically yes, but most wouldn’t consider themselves homeschooled.

Same with a super wealthy work acquaintance who took his kids out of a top private school to sail around the world on a 150 foot yacht with tutors.

Was considered homeschooled for that year…but he would never describe his kids as homeschooled for that year.

[Anonymous]

Man this conversation just loves to pop up every few years. What is it that makes people feel so threatened on both sides? Doesn't everyone choose the schooling option that fits best for their kids and their families?

For the record, we fall in between both groups. My kids are technically homeschooled but you wouldn't 'peg' them as such, unless you asked them about their school subjects and what they're learning. They are accelerated and that's one of the reasons we homeschooled in the first place. They have classes with other kids three days a week, something outside the house with other kids every day of the week just about, and take classes with a cohort of former teachers. A former highschool science teacher teaches science, math expert on math, literature teacher for English, correspondence classes for writing, tutors for foreign languages (they study and speak more than one well). I know they aren't pegged as such because people have assumed they go to this school or that school.

Homeschooling can absolutely be done well, but it takes effort because you have to take care of your kids social needs and education alongside their learning. I also don't think parents can teach all subjects well, especially past late middle school. Having taken the class yourself does not mean you can teach it well. I got a 5 on the AP Calc exam, but I don't trust myself to teach well beyond algebra 1.

I love homeschooling and providing a tailored education, but I am also absolutely in favor of a system that protects kids from neglect. I feel bad for kids who lose out socially because their parents don't value social time.

[Anonymous]

Often homeschool families have a big thing that sets them apart from mainstream culture and makes them seem “weird” (huge family, extreme religious or political views etc). Of course not all home school kids fall into this category but this is what I think the stereotype comes from