MISEDUCATION

Photo Illustration by La'Tazia Kendricks| VOX Staff

By Ariana Kendricks
VOX Staff

So do you get to do school in your pajamas?” is usually one of the questions I get asked when my peers find out that I’m homeschooled. My answer to this question is “Yeah, I do.” It’s much easier to just dive into my schoolwork after breakfast without having to worry about what I look like.

I’ve been homeschooled for eight years, so I’ve heard the many misconceptions about homeschooling. For instance, people assume homeschooled kids don’t really do “school” or that we wouldn’t know what to do if we were around other people on a constant basis. These stereotypes are really what people have chosen to believe on little or no evidence. And I’m tired of people believing things about homeschool when they don’t know what it’s like.

The Reason I’m Homeschooled
My parents’ main reason for taking my sister and me out of public school was spiritual. My parents saw our spiritual growth and well-being as primarily their responsibility, not the school’s. They wanted to be the dominant influence in our lives. This may sound kind of strict and sheltering, but take this for an example: My parents always taught my sister and me to respect authority; that includes teachers. Well, if a teacher is telling me something contrary to what my parents have taught me, my parents have to fight against what my teacher is saying and still teach me to respect them. My parents didn’t want to fight the influences in school for their children. They wanted to teach us how to trust God with our lives and live for Him in this world.

I know what some of you might be thinking. Why didn’t your parents just send you to a Christian school? My father wanted to send my sister and me to a Christian school, but there just wasn’t that kind of money in our budget. Sadly, I think the way many Christians are today, a Christian school would have been too much like public school anyway.

A Day in My Life
Since the main reason for homeschooling my sister and me was spiritual, we try to put Christ first in our day. Before we hit the books each morning, my mom, my sister and I sit in our living room and spend a few hours reading and talking about God’s Word through devotionals. All kinds of issues about life come up: sex, self-image, beauty and relationships. We’ve had a lot of heated arguments too. But being open with each other has helped my sister and me better communicate with our mom and get guidance from one of the few people who knows what’s best for us.

After our devotions, my sister and I spend about eight hours doing schoolwork. Our school days vary in length according to what we have to do that day. If we have to run a quick errand, we can always take our work with us.

We work out of books called LifePacs. There are usually 10 work books per subject. When my sister and I were younger, many of our books were given to us by other homeschooled families whose children had outgrown them. Nowadays, either we’ll order our school books online or buy them at a homeschool bookstore

Usually before lunch, I study math, English and science. My sister only covers Math and English in the morning. We get a 45 minute break for lunch at 12:30 p.m. After that, my sister studies science, and I study for my SAT. Then we have P.E. Yes, we have P.E. We work out for about half an hour with an exercise video in our rooms. We even have weights! After P.E. we study history and geography before school is officially over at 6:00 p.m. The next hour is for my sister and me to work on school projects and our VOX articles. By 7:00 p.m. we can officially relax.

The Difference
“So do you miss going to public school?” is another question my peers ask me when they find out that I used to go to public school. I only went from kindergarten to first grade, but I remember those days, and I can definitely tell the difference from homeschooling.

For example, I get to learn at my own pace, but in public school I had to learn at the pace set by my teachers. I can finish my school books as quickly or as slowly as I want. This is also the challenging part of homeschool. You have to be disciplined in doing your work. Lack of discipline has put my sister and me behind in our grade levels. So we have to make it up by doing work from each grade everyday. In public school, we’d probably just be kept back.

Another difference is the school setting. We don’t do school in a classroom crammed with 30 other kids. We do school at our desks in our rooms with our own computers to assist us. We don’t have to fight with an entire class for our teacher’s time. We get individual attention from our teacher, our mom, when we need it. Plus, since we don’t get taught conventionally, we learn and study on our own, which is what college students and adults do in the real world.

One big difference that I enjoy is not having to deal with kids my own age every day. I’ve seen how cruel kids can be. I’ve been picked on about the darkness of my skin and how I look by kids who go to public school. I was also made fun of because I talked too much in public school. By being homeschooled, I was given the chance to outgrow that habit without being teased. Now, I’m more confident and see my speaking abilities as a talent rather than a drawback.

My friends who are still in public school tell me about all the pressure for kids to try to fit in. I don’t have to look or act a certain way to feel accepted. When I’m at home, I can be myself and concentrate on my schoolwork. That’s what school is for, education not socialization.

What About Socialization?
Sure, some people say that school is supposed to teach socialization. I don’t go to school, and I am a very social person. I’m not trying to brag, but many people compliment my sister and me on our manners. And you know what? People say it’s because of what my parents taught me.

Socialization comes from everyone, not just peers, though every kid needs at least a little of that. I get to socialize with other teens at VOX and through other outside activities like Elite Women of Excellence (E.W.O.E.). It is a Christian-based debutante program that allows me to hang out with other girls my age, most of whom attend public school.

Also for about three years, my sister and I attended a youth bible study group. We got to learn about God’s Word with fellow believers and friends. This was especially great because we were able to be around teens who share our faith. Unfortunately some of those teens were also the ones who teased me. When my family left this church for unrelated reasons, I was glad not to have to deal with the teasing anymore.

People Say I’m Sheltered
When people ask me about homeschooling, most of the time they ask me about things that aren’t even school-related. One girl asked me what I would do if a girl was trying to jump me. She asked me this question to prove that there might be some valuable skills that I might miss out on because I’m homeschooled. But what she actually implied is that going to public school could help me learn how to defend myself physically. Though this is a good skill to learn, it isn’t something schools should teach.
I believe people ask me questions like this because they think that I don’t know about these things. They think that I’m sheltered. But I’m not. I know most of the things that kids in conventional schools know. I know about the latest songs, dances, artists and lingo. Anything else I could learn from television, radio or all the kids I know who are in public school. It’s really not that hard.

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that I’m not the one who’s sheltered. School teaches you what kind of people you’ll have to deal with in the real world but not always how to deal with them. I feel that by being homeschooled, I’ve gotten to deal with a variety of people. When my dad was teaching us, we’d do school in our car. I’d be around people he worked with and the people who were out and about during my school hours. When it was my mom’s turn, if she needed to go somewhere, my sister and I would take our schoolwork with us. Usually we went to stores or to the laundry mat, and we’d have to deal with all kinds of people. Going downtown like every week, we’ve learned how to deal with people who have different backgrounds and issues than us. I’m only giving these examples because these are the kind of everyday encounters everyone has to have; and my sister and I have them.

It’s actually kind of funny. People tell us that they don’t think that we know how to socialize while we’re socializing with them. Most of the time they’re adults who don’t believe in homeschooling. No offense to them, but too often they’re telling our parents that they’re crazy for homeschooling us while their own kids are giving them problems. It might sound kind of harsh, but that’s what I’ve observed.
I’m not saying that homeschooling is better than public school. We share a lot of the same benefits. Homeschooling just doesn’t have as many distractions.

Ariana is a homeschooled sophomore. She likes to sketch, dance and act.