Yup, I'm homeschooled.
And proud of it.
I don't mind when people ask silly questions as long as they're just curious, but some people either try to trip me up or seem to think they know everything about homeschooling even though they only heard of it five minutes ago.
For you homeschoolers out there, what are some of the questions you get asked? I often get asked funny questions, partly because I belong to such a big family and partly because I'm homeschooled. Here are a few of the normal ones... plus a selection of the silliest. A lot of these are asked quite genuinely, but they just come across funny.
"You are.... what??"
(No, I'm not a what!!)
"Where do you live?"
(I think most people assume that we only homeschool because they assume we live way out in the sticks. Actually, we are based surprisingly close to civilisation.)
"How do you, like, you know, get socialized?"
(A common variation: "Do you have any friends?")
"What do you do all day?"
(Well, we don't sit and watch television all day, if that's what you are thinking!!)
"Do you have desks... and do you have chairs... and do you like, you know, pull them in and out?"
(Yes, I did actually get asked that once. Unbelievable, but true.)
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
(Are you serious?)
"Are you really smart?"
(Possibly!)
"What does your Dad do for a job? Really? What does your Mum do?"
(I can understand the Dad bit, but Mum is a full time Mum and our teacher!! Do you seriously think she has time for a full time job on top of that?!?)
"Wow, what a big family. Are you Catholics?"
(Nope.)
"Nine of you! How many twins?"
(Occasionally when I am in a silly mood I answer "None" but then proceed to tell them about our quadruplets... don't worry, I do explain I'm kidding eventually.)
"Your Mum must be amazing."
(Yes, she is!!!)
"Are you well behaved?"
(A common variation: "Do you fight with your brothers and sisters?")
"What sort of vehicle do you drive?"
(Daddy occasionally tells them that we drive a bus :) It's not far from the truth!)
"Why aren't you at school at the moment?"
(If the occasion permitted, I often wish I could answer respectfully "Why aren't you at work?")
"Do you ever get out of the house?"
(Asked when we are out and about :) lol)
And the most often asked one: (asked with real envy and admiration in the tone of voice)
"Do you get to do your schoolwork in your pyjamas?"
Lol! I loved this post! So funny, and totally relatable. We've had a lot of these questions too, but others you had were really silly- like the desks. :)
ReplyDeleteBTW, do you guys celebrate Thanksgiving?
I'm glad you enjoyed the post Rebekah!
DeleteWe are not Americans living in America, we are New Zealanders living in New Zealand. I love the story of the pilgrims and the Indians and the first Thanksgiving, but us Kiwis don't normally celebrate it!! We know the story because of some of our American homeschooling resources. If I was an American I would love to celebrate it, but we don't really do it over here.
Hi Bonnie,
DeleteYes, I didn't forget you were New Zealanders :) I was just wondering if you guys also adopted the celebration, or if you have a similar version of it in autumn. I know that in Europe some countries have a holiday like a harvest celebration which Christians use as a "thanksgiving" day. So that's why I was asking! :)
I see what you mean now. :)
DeleteI love the idea of Thanksgiving though. We had tea with some Americans the other day and they were talking about different holidays between the countries. Another (Kiwi) friend who was there commented that it is tragic that we have picked up Halloween from America (the bad holiday!) but we haven't picked up Thanksgiving (the good one)!!
Ha, ha! You had us all laughing!
ReplyDeletePeople seem to automatically assume that we don't go to school because it's too far away or something... We got published in a Japanese Kindergarten Newsletter under that 'false' can't-go-to-school-because-they-live-in-the-whop-whops identity... :)
Normal folks seem to assume that we live a starved from friends, deprived from society, lazy life. *raised eyebrow*
Yes we do get asked if we're Catholic and sometimes you hear some poor mother raving on and on about how our Mum must be so amazing and SOOOO busy and how can she survive with all the laundry(partly my job), cooking (mostly my sister), milking goats (my sister's job) and vacuuming to be done... Bla, bla, bla. Often it calls for private giggling because it's absurd for them to assume that she has to do all the work and us children laze around and not help.
It's funny how many people think that homeschooling is just school at home. You know, chained-to-the-desk, half-an-hour lunchtime, raise-your-hand-when-talking-to-the-teacher type school!
DeleteI guess a lot of Mums know that they have to do all that themselves (because their kids are at school all day so how can they help?) so they assume that that is just something a Mum does.
I honestly do not believe it is possible for a Mum to teach school full time as well as doing all the normal housework full time as well as everything else a Mum has to do. That's why we help. :)
I'm glad you enjoyed my post, too, Sayna! It was fun writing it. :)
I find it very humorous when people exclaim over the size of my family when there are only half of us there. Strange looks between us are exchanged and then we would admit that we're only half of the family!
ReplyDeleteI know! I remember a time when we were at a shop buying something and there were only four of us children there. The clerks behind the counter told Mum we had a 'nice, big family' whereupon they were really surprised when we told them that there were five more!
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