10 Clues That You Might be a Homeschool Parent
Hopefully, if you’re a homeschool mom or dad, you’re well aware of that fact. Should you ever get confused, however, here are 10 clues that you might be a homeschool parent.
1. You make out with your kids’ principal or teacher on a regular basis.
2. Home ec class looks a lot like cooking dinner and cleaning house.
3. You have learning centers all over the house – the reading corner (aka “the living room”), the kitchen center (aka “the kitchen), and the dress-up box (aka “the closet”).*
4. You know the postman or the UPS guy on a first-name basis and, although he acts friendly, you secretly suspect that he doesn’t like you because, well, boxes of books are really heavy.
5. You just might be smarter than a 5th grader…but only because you’re currently teaching one.
6. You have a science experiment in your kitchen…and it’s not just the moldy leftovers in the back of the fridge.
7. You regularly send your kids to school in their PJs.
8. Your China hutch is filled with books and school supplies not China.
9. Your keep a bookshelf in your dining room. Oh, and a dry erase board and maps on the wall.
10. You can’t think of a much better gift than an Amazon gift card, unless someone is offering you a day at home alone or a full night of uninterrupted sleep.
What are some signs that you may be a homeschool parent?
*#3 in memory of Debbie Strayer. This post is linked to Top Ten Tuesday.
Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.
Your librarians know you by name, and no longer need to see your library card, after all they have your number memorized.
I seriously almost included that (along with something about a huge list of library fines for overdue books), but this one isn’t really true for us anymore. Since we started using Trail Guide, we have all the books we need for school and the kids prefer buying books at our local used book store. You know, so we don’t have to return them. 🙂
I agree, though, that this suggest is probably true for the vast majority of homeschooling parents.
I agree, I would much rather buy the books, but they are already sitting in stacks rather then shelves. It would probably help if we got rid of a few we already have. Pretty soon we could start our own library! lol
Definitely true of me! We don’t have overdue fines all that often because thankfully our library doesn’t fine the kids’ books at ALL (yes, yes yes!) But the librarians know us by name, for sure.
Wait… it’s not normal for the librarians to know you on a first name basis and have your card number memorized? But it’s still perfectly normal to check out 20 books at a time, right? And be back at least once a week, sometimes thrice?
Kris, Thanks for the laugh this morning! Number 1 is definitely my favorite :).
10.1 You can bring up the historical aspects of any current foreign policy and/or link a past historical events to current events.
10.2 You typically have no idea what shows are current favorites because you don’t have cable, but you do have subscriptions to both/either Amazon Prime and/or Netflix Instant video to watch documentaries/animal programs and “classic” TV like “Bonanza” or “Star Trek”.
10.3 You buy a house based on how many bookcases you can fit in it (or in my case, the fact that it had 8 built in library shelves).
10.4 Your kids get nothing but homework.
I found myself laughing at most of these because they are SOOOO TRUE! Though I struggle to get my boys to even put a shirt on for school…lol. Thanks for this, I needed the laugh today!
http://www.theodonnell7.blogspot.com
Great list!
Yes! We have a school closet in our dining room. It’s big and ugly and doesn’t aesthetically fit, but it fits our needs.
Recently started following your blog and love it! We are first timers about to embark in this journey (and freaking out!). Thanks for the laughs and all the awesome information.
Number 5 & 9 are my favorites. I would take the Amazon gift card over a day home alone or sleep!
#10! Can’t tell you how many times I answer those 3 things when someone asks, “what do you want for Christmas?”
First the email address is my wifes, the buying of books can become problematic after years of book buying in our house I had to rearrange some walls to incorporate a library….I guess that was a shop class that semester.
I’ll add this: your kid has pretend battles where half of his stuffed animals are Athenians and the other half are Spartans…yep, he’s been doing that!
Mine is 6 1/2 and has an xbox gamertag of ThemistoclesWon. Nope he’s not at all obsessed with warfare and better educated than many Military officers.
Haha! Learning along with the kids make you smart. Love making out with the principal!
You know every used book store in a 50 mile radius of your home and you NEVER miss a library book sale.
#8 gave me a brilliant idea!! 🙂
About a month ago, I cleared out the hutch and put all of the books we are using this year, folders, program guides etc. onto the hutch shelves. Thanks for the laugh.
You have more books in your house than you have bookcases and still want more. Any conversation where your child questions something results in some kind of report, paper or other activity to share with the family.
Yes! 🙂
You know all your teens’ friends, and their parents. The other parents know your values and rules, they tell you if an activity might be a problem for your families rules.
That made me smile. I love those kind of friends.
Loved this! Number 1 is my favorite 🙂
Sometimes you get to teach super heroes. My son LIVES in a costume. 🙂
Love it!
Love number 10!!! Amazon is a great place to shop for more books (that we not necessarily need).
THanks for sharing.
*You can’t sit down without moving a pile of books first!
*You have a prepared speech ready for people that ask you, “How does your child get socialized?”
Your daughter goes clothes shopping “For school” with grandma, and comes home with three sets of cute pajamas.
I had to read that one to my husband. Too funny! (Probably because it’s so accurate.)
Love #s 1, 4, 9, and 10. 🙂 Great post!
One of mine recently filled my bathtub with super absorbent polymer gel, which of course, would not drain. This, while a surprise, seems relatively normal. Kitchen table converts quickly to an art studio and/or experiment station. Kids start school at 9:30 – 10:00 and are finished before 3:00 pm and have no homework. Nobody teases your kids when they wear fuzzy bunny slippers to school in the winter. Impromptu field trips happen regularly. Oh, and math class sometimes happens at Walmart or the grocery store.
Well, I guess I must be a homeschooler 🙂 I especially like making out with my kid’s principal 😉 Thanks for the laugh!
LOL! I like #1. I definitely have all the signs. I enjoy reading your post, it’s really comforting to see that others share the same situations as me. Blessings!