Indignant Ex-Homeschooler

So, today was the first day of my 8-week classes. Finally! I couldn't *wait* for school to start again. Economics, Speech, English - oh my!

In Speech class today we all had to get up and give, yes, you guessed it...speeches. Our professor had us partner up with someone new and after 10-15 minutes of getting to know each other, we were to introduce our new friend to the class. I turned to a brunette with florescent green eyeshadow extending to her eyebrows and beautiful curly hair flowing over her shoulders. Interesting gal. We actually hit it off rather well; she's 19, grew up on a ranch in Texas, wants to go into social work and protect abused kids, and is the oldest of four...like me. After chatting for a couple minutes, taking notes of each other's interests, goals and hobbies so we could report them to the class, she asked me, "so, where did you go to high-school?"

An array of thoughts rushed to mind.

• Should I tell her the truth?
• I could make up a school?
• What if she asked me something specific about my "school"?
• Aw, come on! The truth is cool.
• ARC'ers never get it though...do I really want to spend 8 weeks proving my normality?

Invisible deep breath. I smiled proudly, "I homeschooled through highschool." Her eyes brightened, "really?! That's so cool!"
Whoa. Sweet. Finally! She asked none of the usual stupid questions (did you wear your PJs all day? did you have any...friends? are there a million kids in your family? are you mormon? etc, etc, etc), but instead seemed intrigued about the whole process. We talked about taking college classes in high-school, the way I've been able to travel due to homeschooling's flexibility, and an assortment of other homeschooling perks. She looked at me and shook her head, "I love it! What a neat schooling opportunity...I would've loved to do that!" Cool. That was easy.

The time came to introduce our partner to the class, and after I had gone, she nervously stood up before the class, curls bouncing happily. "My parner today was Risa. She actually homeschooled through highschool, so she's really excited to be around normal people and get out of her house. I think it's really cool she's brave enough to jump right into college and socialization, don't you? *high pitched giggle*"

Oh.my.lord.

Really!?!

I could've strangled her.

Thus began my 8-week adventure in speech class.