The Concept of Popular in the Homeschool World

Today is Sam’s birthday party and we invite kids of all ages to come. Our parties are simple and cheap and unstructured and include family as well as friends as well as little and big kids.

There are a couple of 11-year-old girls who we are close to, who at one time or another practically lived at our house while their parents were going through some hard life things. Separately, they are fine. But when they get together at my house, they get very exclusive and whispery and don't want to hang out with my younger kids and talk about things like their cell phones and the dorks at their schools and the popular kids and how they can be popular.

I started thinking about the concept of POPULAR. I remember it well from school; don’t we all? I wasn’t popular but I wasn’t unpopular. I was like I am now, hanging out with everyone. Like Jesus. HAHAHAHA!

Remember the popular kids at school? The majority of them had parents who just didn't really give a crap what they did. They were given everything they asked for, often as the result of a divorce situation, and they had the best clothing, wore makeup earliest, had the worst attitudes, and so on. Of course there were those terrific ones who were popular because they were KIND to everyone, but that was rare.

And I thought about social events with our homeschool groups and how I just don’t see any popular and unpopular in there. My kids have never uttered those words and I hope they never do.

Because, really, who gives a crap? And it doesn’t matter one bit after high school anyway.