Memory Monday: Firstborn Homeschooler

For this one, I have to go back to a very disturbing phase of my life. It rests on the theory of the firstborn homeschooler.

The firstborn homeschool theory: A phenomenon where the firstborn of any homeschooled family takes the longest to develop a sense of style. Once they start to catch on, their siblings tend to follow suit, and crisis is eventually averted. 

Of course there are exceptions to this theory, but I definitely was not one of them. Eleven through twelve was my all time low, and unfortunately I just couldn't find any pictures from that period. Oh well.

Things started to get a little better at thirteen, but there was a pivotal moment that will forever stick out in my mind as one of the ugliest things I've ever worn. In my life. Like... ever.

My uncle was getting married. It was a formal event, and I needed a nice dress to wear. At this point, my mom was also going through a phase: the matchy-matchy phase. She told me that I had to find a dress that would at least coordinate with what my sisters were wearing. I really don't know why. I didn't even think much of it at that point, I just went with it.

The dress hunt began a couple weeks before the wedding was supposed to take place. My sisters all had these matching cream-colored dresses that were... well, cute on them because they were younger. Being the oldest, I was also the guinea pig. My mom wasn't ok with certain styles back then that she's totally fine with now.

The time was drawing near, and I was getting dangerously close to the wedding with no luck. After dragging myself from store to store and having dress after dress rejected, I limply fell into an obscure dress store at the mall. There was a dress hanging up that matched my sisters, my mom was cool with it, and it actually fit me. For these reasons I tiredly surrendered and bought the dress.

There was only one problem.
It was hideous. 

What you are about to see is very disturbing. If you are faint of heart and/or have a weak stomach, I suggest you look away from your screen.

I'm not really too hard to spot in these pictures. I'm workin' it. My dress looks like Frosty the Snowman and a prom from 1976 had a baby. My Nancy Drew haircut and super white girl dance moves didn't really work in my favor, either.

Although I was extremely awkward and looked like I was cosplaying as an 80 year old woman, it was one of the coolest weddings I've ever been to, and I did have a great time that night. Maybe that's one thing I do miss from my awkward years: I looked awkward, but I didn't feel like it. Now I feel awkward, but I don't look like it (at least not as much). :P

I didn't crawl out of this vortex of terrible clothing choices until I was 14, and then my judgement kept bobbing and weaving as my sense of style developed slowly throughout the years. Now I'd say that I look fairly normal, but there are probably some people who would beg to differ.

Red pants are cool. 

I grajeeated!

Ladies and gentlemen, we will look back on this day when we're successful adults as the first day of the rest of our lives.

Because today we stand on the threshold. Look around you!
Our future begins TODAY.

Is that every graduation cliche in the book? I feel like I might have missed one. ;)

Last Thursday was the day that I had a little green and white tassel in my peripheral vision. I walked slowly and awkwardly to my seat with a line of other graduates. I walked up the steps to receive my diploma. My parents got to say a few things about me. I moved my tassel to the right as they announced the homeschooling class of 2012.

It was sort of surreal sitting in the front pew, playing with my tassel and listening to the speeches. Looking in the mirror at my flat hat and suffocatingly hot gown and no longer wondering what I'd look like as a "grown up." And yet I don't really feel too different.

Earlier that day I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was awesome, and I'm glad I went through with the ceremony. It gave me a sense of finality in finishing high school (although I have some things to catch up on before the fall... *sigh*). I felt mostly relieved. I finally made it through classical literature and world history. I clawed my way out of Geometry. It felt pretty darn good.

We also got tons of pictures!!!

Mah family. :') lol

My Uncle Nathan and Grandma Beutler.

The Kaufmans. :D 

The crazy afterparty. (I made them take the lampshades off their heads for the picture. ;) haha 

Group Shot! 

Someone asked me what I'm going to do now that I've finished high school.
I just told them "SLEEP." XD

I'm gonna sleep off all the extra stress, then I'm going to PCC. What classes will I take? ..... Idunno.

i's homeskeweled

nope, none a dat fancy book-lernin for me.

s'ok though, i knowed the alfabet, i's can reed, do rithmetick, and i's the goodest speller in dese here parts. not to brag or nuffin. :)

(Ouch. That sentence was actually painful to write. I think I winced every time I didn't capitalize...) :P

When I tell people I'm homeschooled I get one of a few different reactions.

"Wow, that's awesome! I wish I was homeschooled..." (Or if they're an adult, I get "That's great! I wish I could homeschool my kids...")

"Yikes, that sucks... I'm so sorry."

Or they just nod their head read slow, smile cautiously and say, "Oh, that's nice..." :P

I think homeschooling, like pretty much everything, has its stereotypes. When we don't know a lot about something, we're bound to either play guessing games on how it really is, or take another misinformed person's word on it.

... Or we watch a lot of TV.

For a while, I got really annoyed at how homeschoolers are portrayed on TV (Ok, I still do, sometimes...), But now I'm able to laugh about it more. It's ridiculous how ridiculous they make us look. :P

So for those who aren't sure, homeschoolers aren't like this

... Nor are we like this

(Although, in 2009 we scored 37 percent higher than public schoolers on standardized achievement tests... ;)

And for gosh sake, we're nothing like this

Basically, we're like public schoolers in a lot of ways. Why? Because mostly these things aren't a homeschooler/public schooler thing... they're a human being thing.

We're all different. There's a wide diversity of homeschoolers out there. Some of them are strict, public-school-at-home homeschoolers, others are un-schoolers, others are somewhere in-between.

We aren't all anti-social. Actually, some of the most talkative people I know are homeschooled. It's not a homeschool thing; it greatly depends on an individual's personality. Some people are introverts, some people are extroverts, and you're going to find that just about anywhere. So come up and say 'hi,' it's ok. I'm not going to bite, and I know you don't.

We have "cliques." Well... in a sense. I think that people just naturally have tendencies to hang out with other like-minded people, so you get groups. We have the "techies", the "brainiacs", the "athletes", the "girlie-girls"... but I think the only difference here, is that these "cliques" aren't exclusive. That I've seen and experienced, homeschoolers seem to be more apt to welcome people into their groups, and we're not restricted to that group... we can bounce around and talk to everyone. :) People also aren't reduced to a mere title, and can be themselves more.

We live everywhere. Sure, if you ever somehow got stranded in a barren dessert outside humanity, I'm sure there'd be a homeschool family there that could help you out. ;)

But we don't just live in the middle of nowhere. Ironically enough, I live right by a high school.

We aren't child prodigies. Although homeschoolers seem to be a little more focused on academics than public schoolers are, that doesn't mean we're all going to win a nobel prize. And on the flip side, we're not idiots, either; I can count to ten and tie my shoelaces just fine, thank you. ;) Truth is... we have our weak subjects, and our strong subjects. I do pretty well with English, Writing, Spelling and Grammar; I'm not too keen on Math, Science, and History. Everyone I know, homeschool or public school, is the same way.

Anyway... there's my little rant. :) Probably majority of you who read this are homeschooled anyway. But hey, you can probably relate!