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Homeschooling not what it seems

By: Jessee Jordan <jjordan@hilite.org>

I dare you. Walk into the hallway right now and ask the first person you see if they think that it would be more “fun” to be homeschooled. Chances are that they will say yes. That is a common assumption that kids who go to a public school have. I have to admit, I thought the same thing before I was homeschooled.

I was homeschooled during my fifth and seventh grade years. At first, I thought it was going to be easy. I mean I was in fifth grade—how hard could it have been? Wake up whenever I wanted; go to bed whenever I wanted; have lunch all day long.

I thought it was going to be the life. Every kid’s dream. The life.

I was wrong. Of course it had all of the obvious benefits, I could get a few extra hours of sleep, eat lunch, or grab a snack at all different hours of the day. Nevertheless, there was still the schoolwork that had to be done. I had a math book just like everyone else, a social studies book, and a little English workbook that I had to fill out like everyone else. I was even one of those oh-so-lucky kids who got to use the classic Hooked on Phonics. Now we are talking fun.

All of that was just in my first year of homeschooling. My second year was even better, I started this new online program for math. I had the joy of watching this lady (whom I had never met in person) on the computer. And you think your fifth grade math teacher was bad. I did not even know her name, but she certainly did wear some wacky clothes.

I must admit I laughed every time I saw them. She was not a good teacher either. I just never could get it—every time I raised my hand for a question, I was never called on.

All of my friends that I had gone to school with kept in touch at first, but after some time, we started talking less. I also spent a lot of time with my family.

Do not get me wrong, though, family time is great. But even the best family man could not stand that much time together.

I lived in Indianapolis at the time and I was not in an area where we had all of these great activities that exist in Carmel, such as the Carmel Dad’s Club.

My point is that while I would sure love to sleep in a few extra hours, I would not trade it for regular public school. I loved the experience homeschooling gave me, but if given the choice to go back and do it again, I would not have done it. Jessee Jordan is a sports reporter for the HiLite.

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