What sort of things have you heard about homeschoolers? Might it be one (or more) of these?
1.
They are hermits or something
2.
They only are able to socialize with siblings
3.
They don’t know how to dress
4.
They are just…weird
5.
They have no life whatsoever.
6.
They are Mormons or religious freaks
7.
They are total nerds

So one by one, these myths are about to be debunked by a homeschooler who is rather fed up with the stereotypes. I’m not going to say that these are not completely false, there may be a few homeschoolers who live up to these stereotypes, but that is a total minority.

Stereotype #1: Homeschoolers are sheltered or hermits because they never leave their house.
Oh, I leave my house. Let’s see, Mondays are mainly free, but my piano lesson on Tuesday, and oh, let me think, Drama class on Wednesday, then I usually go over to my friends’ house or they come over here, Thursday is our homeschool co-op, and hmm, on Friday I see my friends or go to my grandparent’s house. Swim class is on Saturday, and there is church on Sunday.
Hermit, you say?
As for sheltered, I’ve never had drugs or alcohol or anything bad like that, so I’m pretty sheltered. Although I wish I was more sheltered because of certain disasters called Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.
Stereotype #2: Homeschoolers are only able to socialize with siblings.
I’m a shy-ish person, so I’m not as comfortable around strangers, but I have plenty of good friends and so do most homeschoolers I know of. Okay, time to trot out the caps lock:
WE ARE CAPABLE OF SOCIALIZING! IS MY MESSAGE CLEAR?!
All right then, moving on.
Stereotype #3: Homeschoolers don’t know how to dress.
Okay, now you think we wear like skirts down to our ankles and dorky sweater vests? You are sadly mistaken. I don’t know a single homeschooler that wears extremely dorky clothes. We actually dress like you, except maybe better.
Dudes: You do not impress anyone by wearing jeans four sizes too big for you. Wear a belt, girls don’t want to see your underwear…and no skinny jeans either, you look like a girl. Do they sell normal jeans for guys?
Stereotype #4: Homeschoolers are weird.
Uh-huh. You public school stab yourselves in the leg with scissors (true story) and you’re calling us weird? Let’s revise this one, okay?
Stereotype #5: Homeschoolers don’t have a life.
Wow! You’re exactly right! We sit around all day memorizing Latin declensions and working on our quadratic equations.
Not. (See Stereotype #1)
We do fun things; you sit in a classroom all day and do your homework all night. You’re the ones that do schoolwork 24/7, you know that, right?
Stereotype #6: Homeschoolers are religious freaks.
OK, many homeschoolers are religious, but religion doesn’t consume our every thought. I’m a Christian, I go to church every Sunday, I pray and read the Bible, but that doesn’t make me a freak. Plenty of people do that, not just homeschoolers.
Stereotype #7: Homeschoolers are Nerds
Be observant, look around you. Nerds are everywhere, even in public schools. Not all homeschoolers have won the national spelling bee. Just because we’re on the smart side, doesn’t make us all nerds.
So, are homeschoolers still nerds that read the Bible and knit all day while wearing out great-grandma’s hand-me-downs to you? I should hope not, because we have a same amount of a life then you do, except maybe a little more.