Homeschool

It’s no secret to me or any others like me, that “homeschooling” has negative connotations in our society. Although the law only demands that a child receives a sufficient education, society demands that we attend school.

As a home schooled student, I cant help but question this negativity associated with home schoolers. I attended public schools until fourth grade, and then a private school for fifth. The schools I went to were pale colored buildings, with squares of concrete for us to play on. I was one of thirty children, being taught by one angry woman. In this kind of environment, it was all too easy for one to simply ease into the back and take a nap, without being noticed. We began classes at 8:35 am, and ended at 3:03, with a break for lunch and recess at twelve.

Everyday we repeated this routine. It became an unspoken chant of all who participated: Math. Writing. Science. Lunch.

Recess. Reading. Pack up. Go home. After six years, you begin to feel imprisoned within the walls of the education system, and like others I yearned to find something outside of the routine.

What separated me from my peers then, and still does, is why I no longer felt waking up and going to school was something that i needed to do. My friends wanted to not have to deal with the mean teachers, the boring schoolwork, and the crappy lunch food. But i wanted something more. I wanted two crucial things that the public education system simply does not offer: to have responsibility and to be challenged. During my school years I was deemed normal by my peers and friends.

But now, after three years of having left the system, I have become a menace to educational society. No longer am I a normal girl in school, but a socially awkward underachieving introverted home schooler. Leaving school was a choice that I made because I was not satisfied with the learning experiences I was having there, but still there are things about public school, that i no longer have as a home schooler. I no longer have friends that i see on a daily basis, and therefore my social life is suffering. I also don’t have the kind of contact with students usually have with teachers, to go over homework and quizzes.

Though i miss these things, and i know more people than i can count who couldn’t live without these things, its a small price to pay to be able to learn at a higher level and at my own pace.I have definitely become more of an individual, and have been able to develop my own points of view than most kids i know. Right now, i know what i want to do with life, and being home schooled keeps me focused, and keeps a passion for education inside of me. How my story, and the story of thousands of home schoolers across the globe translate into negative stereotypes is a mystery to me, but lets get the record straight–There are a lot of merits when it comes to skipping class.