Do you ever feel like an Alien?

[Mommamia]

Before homeschooling, I used to feel like I blended in with society....I was part of the "pack". I realized today that I now actually feel like an alien. When I walk into a room.....or the community pool....and share that we homeschool I get treated like I might actually be one. I also realized that I don't want to be part of the pack and I don't want to blend in. Though, it still feels odd.

 

Just thinking out loud.:001_huh:

[Guest]

Constantly, and in a number of different ways.

 

--because I homeschool

--because I am not a classical homeschooler, follow no commercial curriculum, but neither am I an unschooler

--because we were one family of two who were not Baptists in the nice co-op my daughter used to attend

--because my daughter is both gifted and dysgraphic, with fine motor and vision problems, so I don't feel we really fit in either gifted or special needs situations

--because of the above, I have become quite radical in my thinking about education; it's lonely out there!

--at home, because I'm the only neurotypical person living with two Asperger's people, which sometimes makes me feel invisible

 

I vary between thinking something is desperately wrong with me as a person, understanding that to some extent circumstances both cultural and personal have placed me where I am, and/or any combination. Whichever mode I'm currently operating under, I am The Other.

[Peela]

I am one of those people who has felt alien her whole life.

As a young child, I was actually alienated for being bright. I can distinctly remember getting teased in the playground for being "brainy". Then my 2nd grade teacher treated me badly because my parents took me overseas for 6 weeks. I was also very shy and introverted.

Then I was sent to a private Christian girls' school, and I could not relate to the other girls there. I was not Christian. I did not care about what brand shoes I wore or whether my socks had frills on them. I always felt on the outer because as a child I just wasnt interested in the same things as other kids.

By age 13, I was getting into alternative spirituality, yoga, meditation, and I used to get my friends to sit in areas where no one came (in the school grounds), and Om like monks. (Don't tell me there is no such thing as past lives. I knew no one who was into this stuff!).

As a young adult, I found people I could relate to and have done ever since- I do have many friends and aquaintances that I relate to- but we are not "mainstream" and I never have been.

 

I would not want it any other way- especially as I get older- but it was definitely a challenge when young.

 

I say celebrate your uniqueness. Who wants to be part of the mainstream anyway?

[IsabelC]

 

Yes, frequently! :tongue_smilie:

[bluemongoose]

I have always been an outsider due to how often my family moved when I was a child. I was always the new kid.

 

It only got worse when I had my first child and my DH and I agreed that I would stop working and stay at home with our family. I felt it was right and I wanted to do it, but the area we live in is very very different in this mindset. When I have to go to his work get-togethers, the other wives ask only one question..."what do you do?" Once I say I am a SAHM they immediately walk away. They all have careers that they decided to keep and let a nanny take care of the kids. They do not care if you are as educated as they are or not, or if you had a career once yourself , you are simply odd in their eyes.

 

So homeschooling doesn't make me feel much more like an alien, I already had that position amongst folks:).

Edited July 1, 2010 by bluemongoose

[Mom in High Heels]

Yes, but I feel like a SUPERIOR Alien. :lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

Just kidding. I do know what you mean though. All of my regular friends (who live near me) send their kids to ps and think we're strange for hsing. Sometimes I get tired of it. I do however take sort of a sick pleasure in hearing them gripe about how horrible the school is and throwing in a "and that's why I homeschool" every now and then. :001_cool:

[nono]

 

I say celebrate your uniqueness. Who wants to be part of the mainstream anyway?

 

Yes. That!

 

I homeschool because we're not mainstream. We're not aliens though, we're eccentric! :tongue_smilie:

[SailorMom]

Yeah - but I've learned to embrace it :D

I'm a deist, Libertarian, homeschooler - in the far South in a school district that is "wonderful - why would you homeschool?", and the VAST majority of homeschoolers here are Christian (of which I have the upmost respect for - my MIL is a Methodist pastor and all....). That worked out ok for a while, but as the dc got older, not so much.

[*********]

Before homeschooling, I used to feel like I blended in with society....I was part of the "pack". I realized today that I now actually feel like an alien. When I walk into a room.....or the community pool....and share that we homeschool I get treated like I might actually be one. I also realized that I don't want to be part of the pack and I don't want to blend in. Though, it still feels odd.

 

Just thinking out loud.:001_huh:

 

Well, yeah, I feel like that a lot. But not just 'cause I homeschool. But the Scriptures say we are to be in the world, but not of the world. So I guess I just figure that being different from the 'norm' is what I should be; if that makes sense, LOL.

 

I wear a headcovering, almost always wear a skirt or dress in public, I homeschool. we homechurch. We do street evangelism, which includes passing out tracts, witnessing, and open air preaching.

 

I used to have this quote in my siggy; it kinda sums up how I feel about people disapproving of who I am:

 

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven" Mat. 5:12, NKJV

[elegantlion]

My dh and I have always been outside the realm of normal. Homeschooling fit perfectly into our already existing lifestyle. :D

[Donna T.]

How long have you homeschooled? Just asking because I vaguely remember having those thoughts, thoughts of being different. But, I guess I've been doing this long enough now that it just seems to be very normal and everyday. Now, it's the institutional schoolers who seem like aliens to me. We live in the (Deep) South and homeschooling is really growing here. It just seems to be becoming very ordinary.

[ereks mom]

Yes, but I feel like a SUPERIOR Alien. :lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

Just kidding. I do know what you mean though. All of my regular friends (who live near me) send their kids to ps and think we're strange for hsing. Sometimes I get tired of it. I do however take sort of a sick pleasure in hearing them gripe about how horrible the school is and throwing in a "and that's why I homeschool" every now and then. :001_cool:

 

:D

[tampamommy]

We are a family of aliens here! And enjoying it immensely.

[Mommamia]

How long have you homeschooled? Just asking because I vaguely remember having those thoughts, thoughts of being different. But, I guess I've been doing this long enough now that it just seems to be very normal and everyday. .

 

I loved waking up to all this feedback.

 

I've been homeschooling for 4 yrs (my dc have always been homeschooled). I'm not sad about these feelings. It was just something that I realized yesterday. For some reason, while sitting at the community pool it hit me like a ton of bricks. Sometimes it feels like everything is moving really fast around me and I'm walking slowly. This quote really spoke to me.....

"Each man is afraid of his neighbor's disapproval-a thing which, to the general run of the human race, is more dreaded than wolves and death."-Mark Twain

 

I grew up in a very preppy, public school focused, peer dependent town. I'm still in a process of de-programming my brain from all of that.

[Heather in Neverland]

Actually, it is one of my favorite things about homeschooling! :D

 

Honestly, I don't fit in anywhere. I am a conservative christian and I home school BUT...

 

- I am one of those "awful" career-women you hear about. I have always worked full time with the exception of two years and I LOVE IT.

 

-Not only that but I worked in a public school district until last year so all my PS co-workers thought I was weird for homeschooling!

 

-I have two adopted children from two different countries and we get stares and rude questions everywhere we go (including at the restaurant tonight)

 

-I have a son who is both gifted and special needs who also has trouble fitting in anywhere.

 

I could go on and on..... But honestly, I LIKE not fitting in. Fitting in is so BORING.

 

Our motto: "You laugh because we are different. We laugh because you are all the same."

[mrsrevmeg]

 

It only got worse when I had my first child and my DH and I agreed that I would stop working and stay at home with our family. I felt it was right and I wanted to do it, but the area we live in is very very different in this mindset. When I have to go to his work get-togethers, the other wives ask only one question..."what do you do?" Once I say I am a SAHM they immediately walk away. They all have careers that they decided to keep and let a nanny take care of the kids. They do not care if you are as educated as they are or not, or if you had a career once yourself , you are simply odd in their eyes.

 

So homeschooling doesn't make me feel much more like an alien, I already had that position amongst folks:).

I had a woman from a church tell me once that she would get bored sitting around all day with nothing to do. :cursing: I really wanted to tell her that I wouldn't know what that is like seeing as how I do all the things she pays others to do. Another lady from a another church, told me that it is very important for a woman to work so that when she gets old, she has memories to look back on. :banghead: I have nothing against women working. Some people need the money, some people have other reasons. But don't tell me I should be working.

Don't even get me started on homeschooling comments I have had from people. I go to a church where several people are teachers or have non-teaching jobs in the school system. They somehow think it is a personal attack toward them that we homeschool.

[ChemMommy]

Yes, but I feel like a SUPERIOR Alien. :lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

 

 

 

:iagree:

[lllll]

..

[WTMCassandra]

Yep, definitely alien around here.