September 28th 2011

So, I had my birthday last weekend! It was a busy busy couple of days. I went out and got my permit (finally!) so I've been doing most of the driving. My family isn't very supportive....every time I ask to drive, Mom and my brother both look up and say "we're all going to die!”. I think I'm doing pretty well so far!

Saturday night I went out with my best friend, Hope, to this teen club we both like and saw some friends I haven't seen in awhile. After they closed, my friend Scout took us to breakfast at a Village Inn. It was pretty fun. We got home around 2:30am after Scout drove us around the local college campus to show us "Hottie Boulevard". 

I woke up around 6:00am with tonsils the size of volleyballs so I woke up Mom and got some Tylenol. Went back to sleep until around 10:00am at which point I woke up Hope so I could open my presents!! My Dad is away on business for awhile, so he sent me a card with iTunes in it, Mom got me some boots and the Team Eric tee I wanted, Hope got me hair stuff and make-up, lil brother got me some fuzzy posters, two relatives sent me amazon gift cards, and more relatives promised packages in the mail! All in all it was pretty great. Until I remembered that I had to call my Father and my big brother didn't call me or post on my Facebook wall.

After I played with the hair dye and new make-up, Hope and I went to see Bad Teacher at the theater. It was HILARIOUS! I love Cameron Diaz. After the movie, we took Hope home and went to meet my Grandparents for dinner. That was pretty fun. I know what you're thinking "ugh dinner with the Grandparents? FUN??" but my Grandparents are actually pretty cool. They ride a Trike, which is like a motorcycle but with three wheels! And they have matching gear, it's really adorkable!

Yesterday I had a board meeting. It was really crowded because our usual meeting room was rented out for a wedding reception or something. I'm on the Board of Directors for my Chapter of Camp Fire USA, and we meet once a month to discuss how we're doing on money and where it's going, how past events went, and how new events are progressing. There is a lot of talk about 5 and 10 year plans. It can be boring at times but it's going to look great on college applications.

Mom and I have been discussing college and stuff, and we think I'm going to go to this in-state college about an hour and a half from where we live now. I've been there before and they have a really beautiful campus. I have a friend who goes there now and she loves it! I can't wait to take a tour as a prospective freshman! That's all for now, folks!

Sep 23rd 2011

  Yesterday I had my first book club meeting of the year! I was very excited because it was India themed and our leader spent a lot of time making traditional Indian food! To be honest, it all tasted like different chili's. We just finished reading Life Of Pi, which is NOT math themed like I thought when I saw the title. It's a really good book about how strong the will to live really is and the importance of storytelling. My book club is all homeschoolers, so that's another place I get to hang out with my friends.
  Being homeschooled, I like to think I have little bit more variety in my life than someone else my age going to school everyday. We talked about the differences between routine and ritual yesterday and I think school is all routine! Now, I have a morning routine. But it generally doesn't last longer than 9:00am. After that, my day is free reign. Anything could happen. I might decide to go to the library or ask Mom for a driving lesson. I could go sit on the couch playing with my iPod or we might go meet my Grandma for lunch.
  Now, you might be saying "Well how can you join a marching band? Or go to prom? What about the traditional things that schools offer?". There are a lot more homeschool opportunities nowadays than there used to be. Some of my friends are in a homeschool band and they play at different football games. There's a homeschool football team and every year there's a homeschool Prom. There is almost nothing that schools offer that you can't find a homeschool group to join. And if on the off chance you can't find the homeschool group for the activity you want to do, start one!
    What kind of activities do you enjoy doing? Do you agree or disagree that homeschooling has just as many activities to offer? Why? Let me know! I really am curious!

So really, tell me about yourself.

I'm a 17 year old girl and I'm homeschooled. I don't wear long skirts with turtlenecks, I have plenty of friends, and I don't collect creepy china dolls.

For the most part, I'm a pretty normal girl! I feel like the stereotype of homeschooled students is that they don't fit into society.

Well, that depends on the society. To be honest, I don't fit in very well with the goths and the punks and metal heads. However, I have friends who participate in their school's AFJROTC program, I have a friend who competes in state piano competitions, and I have friends who compete nationally in dance competitions. I have friends in college and I have friends in junior high. You couldn't put my whole group of friends in any one classification but, somehow, we all fit in together just fine.

So, what is the stereotype, exactly? When you hear homeschooled, what image pops into your head? Well, if you know me, it's certainly not one of a nerdy girl in glasses and sweats who never leaves the house. Most of the time when people find out I'm homeschooled, they're surprised. Now I can understand a certain amount of surprised, because homeschooling isn't SUPER common. But usually, they're surprised because "I seem so normal!"(that's a quote from a woman I met a few years ago). Now, I do have have friends who go to school, but I also have homeschooled friends. And they all seem "normal" to me.

So that leads me to ask you, what is normal? Have you ever met any "stereotypical" homeschoolers? Can you honestly classify your whole group of friends into one group?