The True Story of Homeschooling

When someone mentions homeschooling, do you think of someone who is socially awkward or really nerdy? If so, you have the WRONG impression of homeschoolers.
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When someone mentions homeschooling, do you think of someone who is socially awkward or really nerdy? If so, you have the WRONG impression of homeschoolers. I myself was pulled out of school in the third grade because it was difficult to learn with 30 or more kids per class. The teachers are overwhelmed, and most students don't get the attention they need for a proper education.

With homeschooling, you can learn as slow or as fast as you want; you can also choose what you learn on top of the required topics. Not just the five or less options you get as extra classes in school. You get to pick what you learn, that's the beauty of it.

Another myth many people associate with homeschoolers is that they have no social life. Not true again. Sure, there some socially awkward people, but many of them are perfectly normal. Most homeschoolers take classes with other kids. I have met some of my best friends at classes like those. A bonus with homeschooling is you meet some really cool people, and you learn a lot from people who are different from you.

Someone who is in a school has a very restricting schedule -- you have X amount of sick days or snow days and holidays. A benefit of homeschooling is that you can work when you're sick or work during snow days and holidays. Now that may seem like a curse, but it's not. Those days that aren't wasted don't have to be made up at the end of the school year. You also have the freedom to take a vacation AT ANY TIME of the year. With the flexibility of being homeschooled, I can take a trip almost anytime. I have been all over with world with the freedom of a loose schedule.

In most school settings, you learn via textbook, but the most effective and exciting way is hands-on learning. It is difficult to do hands-on learning with many students, but for homeschoolers, it's perfect!

You must be wondering how is this allowed. Free breaks, learn what you want? Teaching yourself?

It is all true, but it requires a lot of restraint and discipline, and sometimes it hard, but there is one way to keep all homeschoolers buckled down and working: the threat of losing all their freedom. Once a year, all homeschoolers are required to meet with a teacher from the county they live in, and the teacher will review all the work they had done that year. You either pass or get a warning. If you get a warning, you have not done a sufficient amount of work, and they will expect to see a lot more the next year. If you don't pass the next year, they are required to send you back to school, and no one who has had the luxury of being homeschooled wants that. Homeschooling has its ups and its down, but it is an amazing experience altogether.

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