In the Company of Strangers

Tomorrow Girl and I are heading out to a field trip. It's been a long time since we took one with a group and we're both experiencing a little nervousness over it. The joint we are visiting will be cool. The things we see and hear will be educational and entertaining. It’s not the place…it’s the people.

See, somewhere out there, a rule stands firm and strong:

Homeschooling Mommies don’t work outside the home, kiddies are supervised 24/7, and one seldom journey’s outside into (gasp) the world at large.

At least that’s the way the circle we moved with use to be.

But I work.

Sometimes I work more than I’d like to. Sometimes Girl is home (gasp) alone! Sometimes she makes dinner all by herself.

Somewhere between here and there we’ve changed a bit. I suppose we’ve always been on the fringe of “unacceptable”. I’m just rebellious that way…But I think we’ve done okay with the kiddies.

Boy is well adjusted and has been living at the camp for two years now. He’s grown up, matured, his hair is long, his attitude is slightly sarcastic (he gets that from ahem his father…) and he’s managed to deal with different people from different walks of life without batting an eye (rolling an eye…well, maybe). My point is that he’s not a social misfit and he hasn’t left the Lord either. Believe it or not, there are some who believed he’d fallen away.

Snicker

Girl has been allowed to see and do things that many of her friends would never be allowed to do. Things like working at a children’s camp in a different state (mommy prayed A LOT), going to dinner with a mixed group of friends, and having an online presence. She’s been known to wear pirate earrings…Her taste in music is eclectic and her fingernail polish is usually colorful in off the wall shades.

Friday, we’ll be facing the giants. There will be those who no longer speak to us. The curious will chat us up, trying to ply gossip material out of us. I’m certain there will be at least three snide, snickering, snotty comments about the way we are living.

So, we’re a bit anxious about it. My biggest fear is that I’ll say something stupid such as, “Really? Who the hell asked you?”

I’ve told you I should never leave the house without duct tape.

We love most of the people we are going to see. They’ve been good friends for years and years. They were there when tragedy struck, there to help get us through arts and crafts (which I despise), and they were a buoy during those early homeschool years.

But now…now we feel out of place

Out of touch

We feel like misfits

No one ever told me that the hardest part of homeschooling was fitting in…with other homeschoolers.

Ouch.