Reddit mentions of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, Revised Edition

You are whatever you decide you are. And if that changes from one moment to the next, that's OK.

People have a hard time understanding anything they can't put in their comfortable little baskets and label accordingly. You'll never be 'just' American, but you'll never be 'just' Scottish, or anything else. Nothing wrong with only having one national identity, it's just not you. You're a TCK.

It sounds like you came back to the states recently and are dealing with college age kids primarily? (guessing based off your age) That's going to be part of it... College age kids anywhere are not known for their experience and understanding (I should know I used to be that age-I made some horrible, horrible decisions), and in the US it's even worse.

You have to understand that people often see things as black or white, especially when young. To a lot of people you can only be 'from' one country, and if you have a passport, that's it, that's your country. Is that right? No, but that's how they see things. Their nationality is part of their identity, and you not having that same foundation is frightening to their construct of self.

I'm going to guess you're not in a big city? (New York, LA, etc.) People in more metropolitan areas are less attached to places as an identity and more understanding, as they'll deal with a wide variety of people.

If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend http://www.amazon.com/Third-Culture-Kids-Growing-Revised/dp/1857885252 . Your library should be able to borrow it for you, if you don't want to buy it (if you're in college, I presume you're mostly broke).

Anyways, you're not alone, and you're not wrong. You can be completely Scot, and completely American, and sometimes either, or neither or both. You're a TCK.

Ah you're raising Third Culture Kids. As a TCK/CCK myself...I highly encourage you to read the following:

http://www.tckworld.com/useem/art1.html (articles 1 - 5)

and the following book:

http://www.amazon.com/Third-Culture-Kids-Growing-Revised/dp/1857885252/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292266586&sr=8-1

Trust me on this one.

This book pretty much described how I felt growing up and how that shaped me as a person. Therefore 3rdCultureKid, even though technically I'm an Adult TCK.

As someone who was homeschooled, I know a few slightly awkward people. ;) It happens. But then, there are plenty of awkward publicly schooled kids too, so there's that.

As far as having enough time, I can't really speak to that, as I don't know what they'll be doing. Though if it's anything like we were schooled, at some point Mom would just give us a weekly plan, reading materials, and exercise problems, and we generally managed our own time (with consequences if we didn't). We just did it on our own. It taught me time management and study habits.

It's not a sure thing, but I wouldn't be worried about it. If you're close with the parents, a conversation might help.

I spent some time looking for a book my mom read for third-culture kid stuff (she was a youth leader for the MKs here for a while), and I think this might be it. In case you're looking for a non-novel format.