No 'Real' School for Her
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I went to “real” school for the first time when I was 18 years old.
I was homeschooled -- kindergarten through 12th grade -- right up until when I enrolled at Asbury College in Wilmore three years ago.
All of my life -- I’m 21 -- whenever people found out I homeschooled, they had a million questions.

“Aren’t you bored?” “But how do you have friends?” “Don’t you feel like you’re missing out on a normal experience by not going to ‘real’ school?”

And my favorite, “But how did you learn social skills?”
That last question prompted a thought of my own: “Where are your social skills?”

I have answers to all these questions, but I would like to clear up my favorite one first.

I learned social skills the same way that everyone else did -- by spending time with people, forming relationships and sometimes being hurt by those relationships.

I experienced the day-to-day routines of life, which can occur outside of a classroom setting.
In fact, most of the time, they do.

But returning to those annoying questions -- I’m pretty certain I would have been bored sitting in a classroom for eight hours a day.
Instead, I was at home with my family and sometimes my friends in small co-ops.

I received almost undivided attention from my mom or friends’ moms as they taught me and my closest friends. It was a tight-knit educational community.

My parents always made sure I participated in activities near home in northern Virginia outside of Washington, D.C.
I went on field trips to Washington, D.C. I set off a volcano at the science fair.

I took music classes, which did nothing to improve my musical ability but were fun nonetheless. I rocked at the wheelbarrow race on field days.

As for the worries that my childhood must have just been terribly lonesome, I will set your mind at rest.
I formed friendships at church that I still hold today. I played recreational league soccer and basketball.

Sometimes I even caused a little trouble, like the night my friends and I broke into the neighborhood pool.
Homeschooling taught me self-confidence because I had to put myself out there to make friends.

I met my best friend when I walked up to her at church and flat-out asked her if she wanted to be friends. Turns out, she did.
Homeschooling taught me independence because I learned that it was okay to be alone sometimes.

I took part in almost all the things I would have experienced if I had gone to school, which leads right to my next point.

There is no “normal” experience, and there shouldn’t be.
Some kids attend public school. Some kids attend private school.
Some kids go off to boarding school. Some kids love school; some kids hate school. Kids are different.

My older sister Katie, now 23, despised homeschooling, and when she reached high school, my parents relented and sent her to a Catholic school.

She enjoyed herself for the first two years until trouble with friends led her to transfer to a Baptist school where she enjoyed herself for the last two years.

So in some ways she had a good experience, and in some ways, she had a bad experience, but overall, she is glad she attended high school.

When I got to high school, I attended the same Catholic school as my sister for all of a month before I couldn’t stand it anymore.
And I didn’t transfer to a Baptist school, either.
I went back to homeschooling where once in a while I got a little bored durin the day, with my sister off at school, but I enjoyed my freedom.

So in some ways, I had a good experience, and in some ways, I had a bad experience, but overall, I’m glad I homeschooled.
I guess some people worry that a homeschooler would struggle when asked to follow a schedule of classes at college or handle the college workload.

But I had no trouble at Asbury. After all, it was new and fun to me.
After this, my junior year, the novelty has worn off, but some say that’s -- the dreaded word -- normal.

Speaking for myself, I didn’t miss anything by not going to “real” school. In fact, I might have missed out if I had.

And I think my social skills are pretty good too.