What home schooling did for me

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lmb
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What home schooling did for me

Postby lmb » Thu Sep 24, 2009 5:34 pm

As a parent have you ever asked your child how they like being home schooled? I'm sure you have, my mother always asked me and I said I loved it and would never like being sent to a public school. In fact, I loved it so much that I continued to be home schooled from kindergarten to my Sophomore year in high school. I would have continued it the rest of the way but my parents separated and my mother couldn't continue to teach me having to work at the same time.

I started my Junior year taking Freshman English, Math, History, and Science. I was out of place and felt stupid compared to the other kids. I hid from other Juniors because I didn't want them to know that I was taking mostly all Freshman classes except for electives. I never told anyone my age and that I was home schooled. I remembered one of my teachers commenting on dropouts and home schoolers, that they were all stupid and from large religious fanatic families. One week from Senior graduation, I had to drop out so I could take my GED so I could get into college that year. I choked back tears as I had to return everyone of my books to each of my teachers during class. My math teacher looked at me with disgust and said, "You are just giving up?". I didn't say anything, what was I to say?

I was immediately stressed out when I began college since I was home schooled throughout half of high school and hadn't ever gotten my drivers license. I had to take a 30 minute bus ride to school every day, and to the worst of all my fears, kids who knew me in high school were taking courses at my college. They were all surprised that I was in college, they all thought I joined the military. That's when it came to me, I can join the military and get away from the stain of being a dropout/home schooler, so I did.

I wasn't able to get away from the home school stink in the Navy. I was not allowed to get the high school guaranteed two advancements even though I had the required college credits all because I was home schooled. I am still in the military, struggling to get by, and paying my ever so helpful student loans.

I hope I have shown to you what home schooling does to a child. I never had a choice to be home schooled since I never knew what real school was like. I couldn't tell my mother that I wanted to go to school because it would have hurt her feelings, was she not a good enough teacher?

I expect this post to be either ignored, banned, or deleted because everyone of you truly believes you are doing your children a favor. Wont be the first time nobody has listened to me. Maybe I'm not educated enough.

Jill
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Re: What home schooling did for me

Postby Jill » Sat Sep 26, 2009 7:09 am

Jill

Infogirl
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Thanks for your story!

Postby Infogirl » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:41 pm

Hi there,
I'm new to this site as well. We haven't made a decision about what to do in our situation, so I came to this site to post a question and to read about what other people's experiences have been in the homeschooling world. I wanted to thank you for sharing your story, to thank you for bravely serving our country, and to say that I agree with Jill...you wrote a very articulate, heartfelt story and I think anyone who reads it would agree. :)

God's blessings to you!

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Theodore
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Postby Theodore » Mon Oct 05, 2009 11:37 am

Sounds to me like the problem was stigma and lack of confidence from public high school, not homeschooling per se. My brother was homeschooled all the way up through high school and got accepted at the Coast Guard Academy, which is one of the most rigorous academies in the nation and offers a full scholarship. And while I never got to do the full four-year college experience myself due to health problems, what courses I did manage to take on-site weren't a huge problem. I was one of the people who sat up in front, not one of the ones who hid in back (there were a few of those in each course). But then again, my problem has always been a bit too much ego, not the reverse.

It may sound trite, but if you show a lack of confidence in yourself, people will have a lack of confidence in you - whether or not you're actually competent. All you have to do is realize that if you can read, write, and do basic math reasonably well, you're probably above average in terms of high school or even college applicants. Anything else can be learned.

And as far as getting advancement in college goes, you probably should have taken as much CLEP/AP as possible to prove you covered the material you did at home. Short of that, there are accredited portfolio services, or you could take community college courses. If you still felt unsure of getting your full due, you could also have taken the GED, though that's a secondary approach and testing for all the major requirements for high school graduation in your state is probably going to impress people more.

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience, but you shouldn't blame homeschooling.


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