Frequently Asked Questions

To get things started, I’d like to offer answers to some questions people frequently have for homeschoolers. Feel free to leave more questions through the comments feature, and we’ll try to answer them as well!

Q: Did you sleep in and do school in your pajamas?
A: I’m not sure why, but this has to be the most frequently asked of them all. The answer depends on the homeschooler, but as a general rule (and for me personally), it’s “no.” My parents wanted us out of bed, dressed, fed, and ready to start the day by a certain time. The exception, of course, was when we were sick. Even then, we often heard the dreaded mantra, “If you’re well enough to watch TV, you’re well enough to do your schoolwork.” Darn!

Q: Do you have any friends? Or, How do you make friends?
A: Though I suppose there are exceptions, most homeschoolers do have friends. We meet them in a variety of ways. For me, the list included church, my neighborhood, homeschool co-ops, sports teams, etc. I especially enjoyed my homeschooled friends, and would call them as soon as I finished my schoolwork to see if they had also finished theirs so we could go play. Alas, my public-schooled friends missed out on most of the day’s fun, not getting home until 2 or 3 in the afternoon and then having to do homework for a significant portion of the evening.

Q: Why were you homeschooled?
A: Again, it really depends on the homeschooler. For many, it’s religious reasons: schools are indoctrinating kids, and parents would rather do their own indoctrination. For others, it’s academic: schools aren’t doing so well, and why shouldn’t an educated parent teach his or her own kids? It may also be social reasons, or the violence in schools, or what have you. In my case, my mom just thought she could do as good a job as anyone else.

Q: What did you do about grades and tests?
A: Again, I speak only for my own family, but we didn’t have grades until we were in high school (and then only for the sake of transcripts). We did our work, Mom checked it or we checked it against the key, and then we fixed whatever was wrong (really fixed it, not just changing the answers). After all, when you turn in a project at work, no one says, “Mostly right. You get an 85. Now go do the next one.” They say, “This part of the project is wrong. Go fix it and bring it back.”