What I learned being homeschooled

What I learned Being Homeschooled

Sitting comfortably on the top of my bunk bed.

Math book open.

Flaming Hot Cheetos to the right of me.

This was the life.

The homeschool life.

When I tell people I was homeschooled, they assume I’m super smart, am secretly really weird, or ask if I’m religious.

I usually tell them that I’m wicked smart, am super weird, and am a judgmental Christian.

And most people assume homeschoolers are awkward.

Was I awkward as a homeschooler? NO DOUBT.

But any teenager is awkward at some point in their life. My awkward life was simply longer than others.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve appreciated why my parents homeschooled me.

My parents weren’t doctors or lawyers who decided to homeschool six kids.

They were normal parents. Neither went to college. My dad worked while my mom was the stay-at-home parent.

But what separated them from most parents were their values. And how they were going to instill their values on their kids.

Now my siblings and I hold those values today.

I learned to be an independent thinker

My siblings and I argue a lot.

I admit, I usually throw fuel into the fire whenever there’s potential for an argument.

I’m just livening up the conversation.

But if there’s one thing we agree on, it’s our motivation and determination to succeed at something.

My parents' homeschooling strategy was for us to learn the material ourselves.

I learned new math problems myself by reading and studying it. The same for reading, writing, science, history & other subjects.

My parents didn’t know everything. Not every parent does.

But my parents did teach us to learn on our own and be our own teacher.

As I grew older, it made me an independent thinker.

I learned Christian Values

As Christians, my parents had conservative values based on Biblical beliefs.

My dad used to wake me and my siblings up at 6 am to read the Bible before he went to work.

And I hated waking up early.

I was half asleep when my dad was reading.

Yet his reading every morning did shape my understanding of what I believed.

My mom taught guiding conservative principles to me and my siblings daily.

This was more than learning education.

I was learning what to believe and why.

My parents gave us an understanding of why we go to church, giving us a greater understanding beyond just going to church on Sunday.

I learned conservative, Christian principles that guided me as I grew older.

I learned the value of hard work

When my parents homeschooled me and my siblings, we had to do a ton of school projects, chores, or house projects.

And I hated every one of them.

I experienced hard work. Or what I believed was hard work.

Sometimes I think my parents wanted to homeschool us because we could do extra work around the house.

If this was their plan, it absolutely worked.

Yes, some days I was doing math on my bed, eating Flaming Hot Cheetos.

Other days I was helping my mom with home projects or running errands.

I didn’t mind because it broke me out of my routine.

And I hate routine.

Whenever my dad was home, we took a break from schoolwork to help with house projects.

To this day I hate when someone asks me “can you help me with this project or work?” I immediately assume it’s going to be a day-long project that requires moving mountains.

Since my dad used to say this with big projects, I now get overwhelmed when anyone says it.

He still says it.

I hated work projects as a kid.

Being homeschooled felt like I was always doing work, maybe because I was home a lot.

Now that I’m older, I find myself doing projects. And I hate being idle.

I love thinking about what to do next.

I love all the values my parents taught me, although I didn’t love it when I was a kid.

Being homeschooled instilled in me these values that I’m thankful for today.

Public school or private school could have taught me some of these values.

But being homeschooled provide a greater focus on what I needed to learn — values.

My siblings and I didn’t turn out to be doctors or lawyers.

We could have if we wanted to.

That wasn’t my parents’ goal when they decided to homeschool us.

It’s also not our goal, at least not my goal.

My goal is to be independently minded with strong values that reflect how I live my life.

What I learned being homeschooled was originally published in C.R.Y on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.