Homeschool Perceptions -- Or Misconceptions

I was in the grocery store last week (at 9:30 am on a weekday) and had my 14 year old daughter with me. Since we didn't take Labor Day off, we took a day last week instead. While checking out, the cashier (a very nice young man) began exchanging "pleasantries" with me. He then looked at my daughter and said, "She looks like she should be in school." I told him that she was homeschooled. I steeled myself for the impending comments. He then began talking about how "ripped" public school was. He then said something like, "I always thought it would be cool to be homeschooled so you could school whenever you wanted to - if you wanted to." I just smiled to myself and thought, "Yet another wrong homeschool perception."

But isn't that what a lot of people think about homeschool? That we homeschoolers have no need of a schedule. That all we do is a few "subjects" a day and the rest is just playtime. I know this young man didn't mean anything by his comment. He just represents the majority of the public who has no knowledge of what homeschool is. They don't see the mounds of organizers and schedulers. They don't see the attendance forms (YES, I DO TAKE ATTENDANCE). They don't see the file in the Department of Non-Public Instruction. They don't see the transcripts. They don't see the end of the year testing. They don't see the countless hours of planning and pouring over curriculum catalogs. I don't blame them. I used to get offended by such comments. Not anymore. I just see them as uninformed - or misinformed.

As we walked out of the store that day, I put my arm around my daughter as she was pushing the cart to our car. I thought to myself, "Yeah, there are a lot of misconceptions about homeschooling. That's o.k. I wouldn't trade this moment for the world."