Thoughts From the Homeschooled Kids

Two Teen Boys Share Their Thoughts

Let’s start with the oldest. He is 16 and articulate writing is not his strength, but he is very passionate about homeschooling. He was homeschooled from the start but we put him in public high school in 9th grade. By the end of the first semester, it was obvious that not only would he not learn anything at the high school (he earned straight A’s and was bored to death) but also that he would lose his love for learning.

His spark, which was normally obnoxiously bright (like a disco ball that never shuts off), was fading. He was sad. Not due to any problems with peers or bullying. He found friends. But watching teenagers sniff cheez-it crumbs up their nose just was not the kind of intellectual discussion he had been expecting. So his thoughts on public school are not very forgiving. So here, lightly edited for grammar and clarity, are his own words.

Thoughts From the Noisy One

Homeschooling is much better than the public schools if done right, the public system is flawed at its core. Grades (he means here separating children into grade levels based on age, not getting work or tests scored) are not a good system, naturally, we all have strengths and weaknesses the grade system holds back our strengths and tries to push our weaknesses too fast. Say a 2nd grader is at a 3rd-grade math level but only a 1st-grade reading level, they will be stuck board in 2nd-grade math and confused in 2nd-grade reading, therefore, I think most people hate school. In a home school environment, the 2^nd grader would be able to push their math potential while still being able to work on their reading. It is for this reason that you hear about 10-year old’s who can do calculus or 12-year-old that are getting their college degree. Their strengths were pushed instead of ignored.

The schedule is very flexible. I am a performer I love to sing act and dance Because I am homeschooled, I can devote more time to these topics. For literature, I am reading all of Shakespeare’s plays this year, during lunch break I can sing, and I don’t have to sit still while I do my reading or math I can wallow on the floor and stretch if I have sore muscles. No one in public school gets these liberties they must remain seated properly read what the curriculum demands, and I don’t think they get to sing in the cafeteria. Because of all these freedoms, home school students can get very good at the things they like to vary fast compared to others.

If I was I public school I would have failed and been completely miserable. My reading was very fare behind until 3^rd or 4^th grade when my reading shot up to the high school level and I had a very advanced understanding of atoms and molecules a ridiculously young age because I was able to ask about these things so much that chemistry was my science for several years in a row. I thought I was going to be a chemist when I grow up but then we couldn’t find new material in anything other than textbooks, so I got very bored. Which brings us to the next problem, how we learn.

Some people learn best through auditory some through sight and some through actions these are called Auditory, Visual and Kinesthetic learners. Usually kinesthetic learning is not used I the classroom but I am a highly kinesthetic learner so I would not have been able to excel at science at a public school but because I was homeschooled I learned about molecules and atoms by playing with Colored Styrofoam balls while my grandpa or mom told me how the atoms connected together.

I spent my first semester of high school in public school and learned Barely anything while being told that high school was no walk in the park, and it would be hard. I only learned anything in biology and my electives. The math taught over the entire semester was covered in Life of Fred in 3 weeks, a much more reasonable pace. Not to mention the math teacher could not understand the wording of one of the problems she gave so the smart people in the class all got it “wrong” my dad is a mathematician and computer programmer so he knows something about the wording and agrees with my answer to the problem. I don’t remember the details of the problem but it was a word problem with multiple graphs and we had to circle the graph that depicted how many calories the guy burned in the story, he took a break and the teacher thought that somehow magically erased all the calories he had previously burned. The English class took away my love for reading with terrible graphic novels.

Thoughts From the Quiet One

Next, we have a 14-year-old boy. Like many boys his age, he doesn’t have a lot to say to us adults, although he can talk his brothers ear off with all the plotting and plans he has for stories, poems, and novels. Yes, he is my writer. But you aren’t going to believe it when I share all he had to say about homeschooling.

“It’s fine. Its schedule is flexible.”

Well, I guess he is saving his creativity for his sci-fi novel.

I am joining the Timberdoodle Blog Hop: The Kids Behind the Blogs.