Unconventional education

An orphan, I've been brought up by my grand-parents. You could say they were 'avant-garde'. They didn't send me to school, they had no faith in establishments. Instead, they home-schooled me.
Believe me, I would have rather gone to school. They were hard task masters. But they taught me everything I needed to succeed and live the good life. Except I haven't been paying attention all the time.
As police cars screech to a halt, sirens blazing, I crouch behind a chimney on the roof of the elegant mansion, cursing myself for having missed these infrared beams.