Growing Up Homeschooled
AUGUST 3, 2023
I was homeschooled right after I finished second grade. I remember my parents sitting me and my sisters down in the living room and asking how we would feel if we were homeschooled. I said it was fine because I didn’t know much about it. I thought going to public school was fine, but as soon as I was homeschooled, I had no desire to go back.
What I do remember about being in a public school was that I was a shy second grader who would wear my hair close to my face. I didn’t talk much at all, and I would get in trouble at school occasionally for laughing during class with another classmate. I remember feeling anxious when I would give speeches, and I would do whatever I could to avoid attention.
I was homeschooled from third grade until I graduated. Being homeschooled was a lot of fun. My mom still wanted us to stick to normal school hours so we didn’t do school in pajamas or get snow days. We still had to be up early to get our schoolwork done. Recess we would run around our backyard and play games together for about thirty minutes.
My day started around 6 A.M. when I would read my Bible and pray in my prayer journal. Some mornings for breakfast my sisters and I would help my mom make homemade granola.
I would do my chores and try to do whatever school my mom had planned out in her school planner. She would have the whole year planned out, and I would open her planner and get done whatever needed to be done for that day. I always wanted to get something done before our family devotions.
Every morning, my mom would read a chapter of the Bible and a devotional. She would also have a verse of the week we needed to memorize. We would choose that one verse to draw a picture of what we thought it meant. I enjoyed it because we could be creative and draw pictures.
A common question I got asked a lot was if I had any friends. My mom was in a homeschool group so we had field trip days with kids I never saw again. I also joined a homeschool choir, took guitar lessons, and was involved in church activities. I went to a photography internship as well. When I was sixteen, I had my first job at a church, and at seventeen I got my first job in the real world. It was a little bit of culture shock. After high school I met most of my friends I have now through college campus church ministries or work.
I have fond memories of Christmas break when my sisters and I would help my mom bake. Our last day of school we would watch about the Declaration of Independence. I grew up loving history and vocabulary.
In my free time I would read books, write romance stories, take pictures with my little camera, look at blogs of big homeschool families or photographers, and watch shows like the Waltons or 19 Kids and Counting. I didn’t get social media until I graduated high school when I was seventeen. I had a share phone with my sisters until I was nineteen years old. I didn’t know what prom and homecoming was like. I wasn’t allowed to listen to non-Christian music, and my first time being able to watch high school musical was when I was twenty-one. I didn’t go on my first date until I was nineteen, and the only reason I could was because I went without letting my parents know. I didn’t have my first kiss until my twentieth birthday. To some people it may sound crazy, but to me it was normal.
Once I was in high school, I did most of my schoolwork on my own. I was very motivated to graduate early that I remember working ahead in my school. This meant sometimes doing school after supper or until 8 P.M. some nights. Sometimes I even did school on the weekends. It was worth it to graduate early and start my photography business while I worked retail full-time.
I still had a homeschool graduation ceremony and got a high school diploma. I never went to prom or homecoming. I knew plenty of other homeschoolers who went to a homeschoolers’ prom or homecoming, but I never wanted to go by myself. I still had to do real school every day. Obviously, we didn’t want the government to come after us if we never learned anything. Lol
For the most part, I loved being homeschooled. If I had kids, I know I would homeschool them, but I know I would be a lot less strict with them than my parents were. I loved growing up in a Christian home and not having to deal with a lot of pressure from others until I was in the workplace. I loved the schedule of it and being able to learn in a way that made the most sense to me. The only thing I would do differently is having less strict rules and curfews. It made it difficult for me to make new friends when I didn’t know things that were popular for other kids my age (like about certain celebrities or new movies) and my upbringing was very different. Over all, it was a great experience.