No it’s not an error or “weird” or anything, this is actually a WordPress feature. The way it works is if you’re using a theme that has a home.php file, it will show the Blog by default. Once you add any widget to any of the home widget areas then the home widgets will show. This is the way it’s supposed to be since not everyone needs to use the Home widgets, especially those that just need a blog.
Most of the Homepages have this activation feature in Genesis.