How do you know a homeschooler when you see one? Are they a homeschooler because they wear long skirts? Are they a homeschooler because they have the most awful BO? Are they a homeschooler because they’re quite strange and stare at you. In this guide on how to spot a homeschooler, I’ll give you a few clues and let you into a few generalizations about homeschoolers!
I hope you enjoy reading this blog post. If you want to do my course on how to homeschool, click here.
Please note that this article is a rough transcript of the video below on how to spot a homeschooler.
There are affiliate links in this article.
Spot a Homeschooler if They’re Reading in Public
The first way to spot a homeschooler is that they love to read books. They’re often reading a book in public.
When you go to see what they’re reading, chances are it’s one in a series, such as Narnia, Lord of the Rings or, The Famous Five.
They’re Learning Latin
The second way is that they’re learning Latin. Latin was a subject that you learned 50 to 100 years ago and everybody learned it but these days a lot of homeschoolers learn Latin (e.g. through Memoria Press) and they do that because they realize it gives them amazing English skills but public school kids do not do that anymore and so that’s another way you can learn to spot a homeschooler.
No Idea About School Jargon
A home-educated student typically has no idea about school jargon.
So, phrases like “a free period” and “take one pass it down” mean nothing to them.
Holiday Clues
You can also learn how to spot a homeschooler if they’re going on a vacation in non-vacation time. They can go on holiday whenever they want because they don’t have to work around the school holidays.
This means their holidays are less busy!
No Fashion Sense
Another way to spot a homeschool (and I think this one is fair) is that they’re generally not quite as fashionable as your average school child. This might mean that they wear longer skirts and back ear tops than your average school child.
If you’re at school you’re usually learning lots of different memes or jokes which are in fashion at the time. As a homeschooler, you don’t get the opportunity to do that. And so you might stand out a little bit when your schoolchild friend says “Have you heard of this?” and you honestly have no idea what it means.
No Idea About Pop Culture
This one was true from the start of the article, they are not quite as up with pop culture as a lot of school children are and that’s because they don’t have these videos passed around as much, and a lot of the time they’re socializing with their parents. Their parents just aren’t probably going to be as up with pop culture as a public school child would be.
Barely Any Makeup
This one is also very accurate. Homeschool children don’t wear as much makeup.
You will rarely find a homeschooled child with loads of makeup on. There just isn’t that many boys to impress at home.
Fewer are Addicted to Social Media
You can also learn how to spot a homeschooler if you study their social media interaction. While some are quite active on social media, most of them are less active on social platforms (especially in the teenage years) when compared to their school peers.
They Know More About Plants and Animals
In general, homeschoolers tend to know more about nature than school children. This is because they spend more of their time outdoors and often have a lot more to do with pet animals or vegetable gardens.
Bible Geeks
Homeschoolers often know their Bible well. Even if the family isn’t Christian, it’s a really wise move to know the Bible, or at least have read through it once. And this is because a lot of the old classics that homeschoolers read have Bible references.
Musically Talented
Many homeschoolers are excellent at playing instruments and some also play the church band.
Perhaps this is because they have more time at home to practice, or their parents spend more time supervising this activity.
They Don’t Swear
You can also learn how to spot a homeschooler when you see one of them falling over backward when they hear a person swear.
Most homeschoolers don’t swear. Furthermore, because they’re not usually around people who swear, it can shock them when they hear swearing. (E.g. when they go to college or enter a trade one day).
They Don’t Know Their Grade
Another way to spot a homeschooler is they don’t know what grade they’re in and a lot of homeschoolers enjoy talking to adults and they can do it with ease and poise. They are polite and that is somewhat rare these days.
They Like Talking to Their Teachers
Because their teachers have always been their friends more than their strict authority figures, they love talking to their teachers. This means when they go to college, they’re more likely to talk to their professor and be the awkward student in the class asking all the questions!
Spot a Homeschooler, Spot Me!
So I wonder if you would have spotted me as a homeschooler? Well, I am one, and sometimes we don’t always fit into the brackets people put us in. But, I have to admit a lot of the things in this video were true for me and true for a lot of my homeschooling friends and were true of what I know of homeschoolers.
Conclusion on How to Spot a Homeschooler
So hope you’ve enjoyed this article/video on how to spot a homeschooler! I’ve enjoyed writing about it. Writing about the peculiarities a lot of homeschoolers had has made me remember my own homeschool experience which was extremely positive. I can’t say how much I enjoyed my homeschool experience and wish everyone would experience what I did. If you’re thinking about homeschooling your children, I encourage you to do it. If you’d like to hear more about my experiences, click here, or contact me and I can tell you more. God bless!
