A post about homeschoolers

Before you read this, I must warn you, that it is rather long, and could be seen as boring. Again, remember the title of this is "Musings" and most of it is totally random. You have been warned.

They other day, I was confronted yet again, with what I and other homeschoolers have begun to call "The Question". More often that not, the question I, as a homeschooler, get most often is "Do you have any friends?" The funny thing is, the places I get asked this.

Most recently I was at a Youth Group, and surrounded by people and laughing and I start talking to the girl next to me, and she finds that I am homeschooled. First, she asks if I like being homeschooled, to which I reply that I love it. Secondly, she asked if I had any friends, and if so, how I had them. 

Now, I have been asked this only a few times with the person saying it with a malicious intent.  More often than not, they are actually wondering. I explained that Homeschoolers are not locked up in the house, and we do get out even though we may not be in a school with tons of people every day. I also said that I go to Church, and Youth Group.  I still find it odd how many people ask me this though.

Once and for all I am going to say that Yes, Homeschoolers do have friends. Granted, every once and a while there is that awkward one that hates people, or is just shy, but hey they exist everywhere. (I used to be one...)

Now, after stating all this, I must say that, sometimes, the temptation is to reply with something outlandish. The problem lies in that, if I do say something outlandish, they will most likely believe me.
 So I really cant answer "Do you have friends?" with "No, but I know some nice penguins." or something about unicorns and dragons. I could say "Do books count as friends" because I have wondered that sometimes...But I digress.

I have actually been told many things about homeschoolers. These things were stated as fact. Some of the things were rather rude like "Homeschoolers are stupid and have issues learning" In his defense, he did not know I was a homeschooler....Anyway Im not gonna talk about those kinds of things. Just the ones I have been asked/told most often.

Seeing as I have started this I may as well finish it.Here is some of the things I have been told.
Some common myths about homeschoolers.  

Homeschoolers have no friends: See above.
Homeschoolers never leave their house: It really depends on the homeschooler, but I feel like most of the homeschoolers I know get out fairly often. 
Homeschoolers just sit at home all day watching tv or something: First of all, we do not sit around watching tv "or something". I happen to have a 9 hour school day. Granted, some have shorter than that, but you get my point. (Ok a lot do because my mom is one of those work you child to death teachers.In a good way)
Homeschoolers dont do any extracurricular activities:  I am actually doing a Shakespeare class at the moment with a ton of other homeschoolers. (Thanks to an amazing Mrs. Oliver and my mother who are teaching this) And you would be surprised to know how many homeschooling groups there are that get together and do activities and sometimes field trips.
Homeschoolers are shy and anti-social: There are shy and anti-social people everywhere. I used to be a shy and kind of anti-social person, but that is only because my life revolved around books and fairy tales. I am going to add into this that people think homeschoolers have no social skills at all. Ok, just because I dont go to a party and stay up all night does not mean I have no social skills.
Homeschoolers are insane: No comment. (Mostly because My best friends and I are rather odd. But I think thats just us. One of them is in public school now and she is still kind of crazy....)

So yea, thats the end of my tirade. Sorry about that, I just got bored, and was thinking about all the odd questions I have gotten.

I will *Try* to have a more interesting and less tirade-ish blog post next time. Maybe something about leaves...Or dragons.

The one down side of fantasy novels...

So, I know I am not one for short blog posts, but I hope you will forgive me for this quick(ish) insight into my life.

You know you are reading far to much fantasy when you are outside in the dark, looking at starts and letting your imagination run wild, and then your dog barks, and the first thing you think is "Darn. The vampires found me. Or is it a werewolf??? Crud. That would be bad..." and then run back inside calling the dog to follow you...

This is why I need to find someone else who likes looking at stars, but does not think mythical creatures are out to get them!! 

Someone sane(ish) to remind me that I am not about to get attacked (By anything other than coyotes...) (Of which there seem to be a few around my place) And for some reason none of my family will come out with me. Could it have something to do with the fact I sometimes think mythical animals are out to get me?...Nah

See? This is why I need my best friend Darrian to sleep over. So we can look at the stars, and I will not be overcome with a fear that I am about to get eaten by a dragon or something.

Alright, I seriously have to go to bed now. One more thing though. I have been keeping a diary, and I have filled 4 pages in the first day, so I have a feeling this will inspire me to blog more. At least, I hope it does.