Home-schooling is not for everyone. I will be the first to agree with that statement - and it’s perfectly fine by me if some parents or guardians would rather their children be in a public or private school. After all, this is a world in which we are free to make decisions based on our own personal beliefs and convictions.
I was home-schooled for most of my K-12 years, but spent some time in public and private educational systems as well. Personally, I preferred home-schooling, as it allowed me to graduate two and a half years before my class. But, I gained much insight from the other educational institutions, and do not wish to slam or trash them in any way, shape, or form.
Home-schooling worked for me because I could work at my own pace. By the time I was in the fourth grade, I was reading college-level books. I was working in eleventh-grade English books. However, my math skills were on the average level: Thanks to home-schooling, I had all day to devote to improving them! (You see, they were - and still are - my weakest point academically. My goal was to bring that up and improve at least a little bit so that I wouldn’t struggle once I hit college. Because home-schooling allowed me to work at my own pace, I could forget English homework for a few days to focus on what really needed my attention.)
So, academically, being educated at home was wonderful for me.
What about my social life?
Look, I grew up in a town with a population of 500 people and 1500 cows (no joke) - there isn’t that much of a social life to be had in the first place. However, I had my church’s youth group, summer baseball, basketball, and neighbors to play with. I interacted with people that I would have been in class with had I been part of the local public school. I had the chance to interact with grown men and women (my mother and father’s friends), with younger children, and even senior citizens who stopped to ask me why I wasn’t in school. Because I wasn’t in a classroom with people my age all day, I learned how to talk with people of all ages, backgrounds, and intellectual levels. It was truly a wonderful lesson for me, one that has helped me even today (job interviews, church activities, et cetera).
Home-schooling offered me the freedom that the public education system could not. I found that I could create my own science projects on my own time. I could experiment with various chemicals in my kitchen. I could grow various fungi in my refrigerator. I could look up various experiments on the Internet and then try them - with my mother and father’s supervision, of course.
I could read as much as I wanted - often five to seven books a week. I could write essays, talk with my friends, improve my math skills, and learn how to program my computer - all in one day!
Many seem to think that home-schoolers are shy, isolated, back-woods creatures who inhabit the Black Lagoon in the sticks, just beyond the city limits. We’re not. We’re in your cities, we’re in your hometowns, and we are also being admitted into your colleges. We know how to make friends, talk to people, get the job we want, and fit in with the world in our own unique ways. We aren’t anti-social, ladies and gentlemen - that is the main argument against our way of education, but it’s just not true in most cases. We aren’t in your schools because our parents are fortunate enough to be able to have more involvement in our education. It’s not about brainwashing or indoctrination: It’s about a love of learning, and how our parents and educators (yes, we have teachers that aren’t related to us - just like the rest of you) want to be a bigger part of it.
So please, before you make up your mind about another human being’s choice to home-school, sit down and talk with them. Ask questions, and listen with an open mind. Generally, home-schoolers aren’t out to trash or verbally destroy other educational institutions - so please, try to give others that same courtesy.