I was a Teenage Guitar Player

I hate to keep beating a dead horse, but I just want to say how thankful I am that I was homeschooled.

"Oh no," you're probably groaning, "more propaganda about the joys of homeschooling."
Not this time.

Some people do, however, complain that homeschooling your children will prohibit them from learning how to talk with strangers and other members of the human race. How did I overcome this "problem"?

I was a musician.

"Ohhh suuure, Mark. That will totally help," you sarcastically think.

But seriously. From a relatively young age, I was standing in front of crowds of people and talking with them and singing to them. In fact, being in front of rank strangers since I was twelve taught me how to deal with people in general.

There was always that one person who asked embarrassing questions like "When are you gonna get married and leave the band?" Yessir, loaded questions were sure a lot of fun.  Especially because a twelve year old is not necessarily the most tactful as far as humor goes. My answer was usually "Thursday."
Then there were real live musicians who recognized that I wasn't the best of guitarists at the time (and some things never change) who would try to coach me to be more musically mature and say things like "I wouldn't kick it off so fast if I were you," to which I would think "Thankfully, you're not me."
Ah yes, my immature youth. Little did I realize how much dealing with the public would teach me as far as life goes.

Nowadays, I'm a grown up. (Stop laughing, I am grown up.) I've learned to answer the questions more seriously. Observe,

"When are you gonna get married and leave the band?"
--Do I have to do all that in that order?
"Why must you play all your songs so fast?"
--I'm trying to stay slim.
"How come your singing is so terrible?"
--You didn't like my Bob Dylan impression?

Let's face it, sometimes, people know better than you. Deal with it. Accept you're wrong. (Owie.)
Sometimes, people don't have a clue what they're talking about. Thank them for caring enough to try and help you anyway.

The bottom line is, people are very unpredictable. As a homeschooled professional musician, I do not fear. I have had experience with them all.