Once Upon A Time, I Was Homeschooled

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Do you have any questions for me in regards to my experience being homeschooled? Ask away!
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I went to preschool and kindergarten like most children do. But between 1st and 7th grade, I was homeschooled. My house was my classroom. My sister was my one and only classmate. And my mother was my teacher. As well as my mother. Which you can imagine could lead to all sorts of different complications.

Generally speaking, home schooling brought us all together. We became very close with one another. All this said, I never really had a break from my family. We never had personal space. Which wasn’t exactly healthy. In addition to this, my life perspective was limited by my family. So when I entered into public school, there was a bit of a culture shock waiting for me. While I excelled academically - home schooling did well to prepare me to enter accelerated, honors classes - socially this new world felt different. I wasn’t quite sure how to interact with my peers, my teachers, or where I fit in. And this took a significant level of adjustment.

This is not to say that I did not spend time out of the house while I was being homeschooled. My parents made sure that we were involved in extracurriculars and that we were getting exercise. This is how I ended up in dance classes with my sister. This was where my whole journey as a dancer began. It was also this time that I had the privilege of not dealing with all the bullshit the external world could spew at me for being a male dancer. Was I in the public school system during these critical, early years that I was dancing, I don’t know if I would have kept it up.

What was a typical home schooling day like? My mother would assign readings and other work in our text books. Make sure the assigned work got done. And check our work or have us check our own work using the teacher’s guide once we had finished. At night, I’d leave the home and attend dance classes with my sister.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Within this “schedule”, there was always an enormous amount of flexibility. My TV viewing was restricted for most of my childhood, so my main source of entertainment was found in books. If I was in the middle of reading a book and didn’t want to stop, my mother would be more than happy to adapt the home schooling plans for the day to accommodate this. In other circumstances, if I was really struggling with understanding a certain concept, which happened would often happen in math, my mother could pause everything and give me the individual attention I needed. If she couldn’t understand it herself, she’d teach herself and then teach me. When all else failed, we’d consult my college educated father when he arrived home from work.

We were never confined to traditional schooling hours. Our start and end times were never set in stone. Some week days, we’d visit a museum or an amusement park as a field trip. We could spend the weekend catching up on any school work that was missed.

Despite all the flexibility, there was always structure. I know of other homeschooling parents and children in situations that didn’t quite work out. Parents who were too flexible... push overs, who gave their children too much free reign. Free reign that translated into lots of free time with little learning. When the children returned to public school, they had a lot of catching up to do. Thankfully, this was not our experience. My mother built a solid foundation that ensured we were learning.

It’s difficult for me to isolate the impact homeschooling had on me, my life, and the relationships I have today with my family members. For 6 years, we spent almost every waking moment with each other. Family life and school life were intertwined into one. Towards the end of sixth grade, we needed a change... and I appreciated the personal space and shift in perspective my transition into public school offered. But not without hesitation. At first, public school felt big and scary. But I found my way. And grew to understand myself better because of it.