My son has come across this too…I don’t think it has anything to do with your social skills (you seem pretty well-spoken), but rather I think it comes from the ignorance of others when it comes to homeschooling. It can often be hard for kids your age to understand situations that are different than theirs – if they’ve never been homeschooled, they can (not will, but can) tend to think that you sit at the kitchen table all day doing worksheets, and that’s it. Or they may think that your mom sequesters you…or that you’re not allowed to learn anything other than what your mom decides you can. All of these are most likely very untrue, but people don’t always look at truth – they often don’t look any further than their perception. You can choose to do differently.

They are going to talk about their day at school, since that’s what is happening in their lives. If you feel comfortable doing so, maybe you can chime in about your co op classes, or what’s going on with your sports team? This is what my son does (though he’s a few years younger than you, 5th grade) and he’s actually had a few friends decide that his school situation is better than theirs. Needless to say, their parents were a little taken aback to get asked to homeschool, lol!

If your ps friends start talking about hs like it’s unnatural, feel free to speak up and let them know how rude and hurtful that is. How would they feel if you started calling them robots, or commenting on how they’re locked in jail all day? I’m not saying you would (or should), but it’s the same type of ignorant stereotype. They’re probably speaking out of either immaturity or ignorance, but that doesn’t mean that they should keep it up. If they do…you may want to find new friends to hang out with.

Please know you’re not alone – there are many homeschooled teens on this board, and I’ve been very impressed with many of them. Unfortunately, when you go outside the box in any way (in this case, not following the status quo in attending ps), there will be people who ostracize you for whatever reason. While this is both unfair and difficult, please know there are others to stand beside you. And honestly, you probably have some opportunities that are way better than the kids who make fun of you…and down the road, your achievements and abilities in life will show it.

I really suggest you talk with your mom, as well as with your hs friends. Chances are, they’ve been through the same thing and can encourage and strengthen you. (And please know that many ps kids go through the same type of thing, though maybe in different ways…the difference is, they often don’t get the time to themselves to deal with it.)

Hope that helps!

Trust me, homeschooling is in no way a disease. I’m not homeschooled right now, but I was up until 4th grade. I would go back to being homeschooled in a heart beat if my mom gave me the chance!

I personally think It was just so much more fun being homeschooled and easier. I don’t mean easier as in ‘my mom did the work’ etc, but I mean because I was around my siblings and I felt so much more comfortable. Even now that I’m a Junior in highschool and have been going to “real” school for years now, I still don’t like it and I’m still not comfortable around alot of teens my age. I have friends, it’s not as if I’m completely isolated from everybody, but I still felt so much more comfortable at home with my family. It sounds corny, but it is true.

Plus, school isn’t all that special. Some teachers are rude, hate their jobs, completely favor students and plainly don’t care. Some of the other students can be huge jerks and the school lunch isn’t too appealing ;). But mostly, half of the time I feel like I’m learning nothing. Like the classes I’m in are for 5th graders or something. One more thing I liked about being homeschooled was that the homeschooling gym class I went to at the YMCA was a million times better then gym at school.

I understand where you are coming from. I went to public high school until 10th grade and had to get out due to medical reasons. I really do prefer home school but my friends who go to public school view it as dropping out. People who have never been home schooled don’t understand and that is the way it will always be. I plan to go to college next fall and home school has helped me continue my education with the problems I have. I will admit though sometimes I do feel alone because I don’t no anyone who is home schooled.

My friend was homeschooled her whole life before she came to public school with me. Before, she was pretty lonely I guess, because she’s not the most social person there is. She did have her older sister though, and they’re really close in age. If you’re lonley or something, I think that you should join as many extra curricular activities as possible. It’s really good that your on a sports team, and maybe you could get involved in other clubs or something. You can still have friends even if you’re in homeschool, you can still have a lot of friends. And if these so called friends of yours can’t respect that you’re homeschooled, then they might not be your friends.

What you are experiencing is normal. My daughter expresses some of the same feelings. Even though she doesn’t want to stop homeschooling, she does sometimes feel out of the loop when her friends talk about what happened at school. Don’t worry about it, and as far as those who talk about homeschooling like its a disease even though they know you are homeschooled, I would say they are being awfully insensitive and maybe aren’t true friends. If they are true friends, but just don’t know that they are making you uncomfortable, try saying something like “Hey, I really like homeschooling, I wish you wouldn’t put it down so much.” If they are true friends they will respect your wishes.

I’m 14 and one of nine siblings who are all (or were or will be) home educated so it is pretty hard to be lonely round here. Apart from a short stint at school in Primary 3, I’ve always been home educated. I started when I was about 2 by pestering my older siblings’ governess to ‘play school’ with me!

Round here, the other kids my age are either also home educated or they’re away at boarding school for much of the time and when they are at home, we tend to talk about what’s happening here in town and not what happens away at school. Indeed the ones that are at school are at different schools in different parts of the country anyway so “going to school” doesn’t give them much in common to talk about with each other, let alone with us.

My friends talk about how they wish they were homeschooled. And about stuff that happens at school. But apparently everyone in school knows more about stupid things then homeschoolers. On average homeschoolers are smarter then public schoolers. My younger sis is starting pre-algrebra and she is only going into 6th grade! But there are other homeschooled teens out there. I’m on of them.

I’m sure i have a few friends that were home schooled and they really never mentioned that but I’m sure i would feel that way if i was taught at home. Can you get involved in any extracurricular activities where you live maybe it would let you socialize more

I was homeschooled through the past nine grades and just recently moved to Vienna Austria with my family as missionaries….I totally get what you are saying!! It can get boring and the friends thing, yeah, so true.

Yep! I feel the same way sometimes. I have great friends, but my friends that go to “real” school tend to talk about school. Of course, I don’t know anything about their teachers, classes, etc.