Doing Things Homeschoolers Shouldn't Do

I have a confession. This week is my spring break, and I'm not doing school or much of anything. Nope. Lots of my friends are leaving for various tournaments this week, but not me. Instead, I read Harry Potter for a few hours today. Yes, I admit it. The Series-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named is one of my absolute favorites. These books have been kind of shunned throughout much of the homeschool community. Sure, some of us read them, but not a ton. Once I heard of somebody who did a duo on The Sorcerer's Stone. (If you're not American, it's The Philosopher's Stone. If you're a Muggle, it's the first book.) My aunt was judging that round. She was a community judge and a fellow fan of Harry Potter, so she didn't object. She just thought it was weird. But surely, you must protest, homeschool-stereotype rebelness must extend beyond simply reading and giving speeches? And it's true. We also sometimes watch Harry Potter movies.

Two of my good friends introduced me to the term "HSA" and its counterpart, "non-HSA." Actually, it would be more accurate to say that they used the term around me again and again until I finally figured out what it meant. Here, I'll give you some examples. See if you can figure it out.

"That song talks about a guy and a girl wanting to hold hands. It's very non-HSA."
or
"This blog mentions books Mom said I can't read. Sooo not HSA."
or
"This movie is rated G. Nothing is scary. No one lies to their parents. No one ditches school. No one listens to modern music with lyrics and a beat, only music that was written for organs and hymnals. There isn't even a villain, so we have no danger of being indoctrinated with dualistic teachings. It's very HSA."

Any guesses? You might have figured it out, or you might even be familiar with the term from a previous encounter: HSA = HomeSchool Appropriate. It's a very handy abbrevation. Much humourousness has come out of it.

So what other stuff that is generally considered non-HSA do we enjoy? Well, we do occasionally watch PG-13 movies. I know, I know, I'll give you a second to throw your hand over your mouth in horror or faint in shock or whatever you do. Are you back? Ok, good. C'mon homeschoolers. Ever seen Pirates of the Caribbean? I'm gonna take that as a "probably." And don't tell me you've never watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I will not believe you haven't for a minute unless you're telling the truth. Highly unlikely. And, as you know, some of us even saw The Hunger Games, and, as is demonstrated by many, many emails I keep getting from an online-forum-like-thing for homeschool nerds who act like LDers, then engaged in heated discussions about it. We're just like that. We're rebels and we'll never ever be any different.

Let's see, what else? Oh yea. Homeschoolers aren't supposed to party. But we do. We totally do. Ever been swing dancing? What about English Country Line Dancing? Talk about a party right there. What about a research party? I went to a debate research party once. It was a bunch of kids on computers looking up stuff for this case we were considering. It was quite exciting. And if that doesn't sound like more fun that a person could possibly comprehend, let me tell you about this extemp research party my friends had last week. Actually, I won't. I wasn't actually there. I don't actually do extemp. But it was probably a pretty mind-blowing party. I mean, you know how extemp is: mind-blowing. They call us anti-social, but psssh. What do they know? We're so social, it's ridiculous. Why, just a minute ago, I said something to my sister. And my mom. Boom. I win.

We get a kick out breaking the unofficial rules someone else made up for us. We defy stereotypes and exceed expectations left and right. We're that cool.

You're homeschooled. Go do something crazy.