I do think that if you’re going to make the decision to homeschool your child, you owe it to them to do the very best job. Sadly, there are kids out there whose parents were too lazy or uninterested in making sure they got a real education right at home, and this 20-year-old girl is among them.
Now, her mom homeschooled her until the age of 15, and then she was transferred to public school because her mom passed away.
“I’m not here to say that homeschooling is bad, or that parents who choose the route are bad – some of the smartest, kindest, most accomplished people I know were homeschooled,” she explained.
“But I fully believe the regulations need to be stricter. I think there needs to be requirements of some sort that are strictly enforced.”
“See, I grew up with an angry and depressed mother, and a father who didn’t care about my education as long as he didn’t have to have any part in it. My mom tried truly homeschooling when I was a little kid, but she slowly got sicker and sicker, without seeking any kind of mental health help, and by the time I was 11 or 12, she’d stopped teaching me completely.”
She didn’t get any socialization, as her mom was incredibly depressed and rarely left the house. She feels that her mom made her suffer in a social and academic sense, as she was failing to learn and not making friends.
At the age of 15, she was supposed to be in 10th grade, a sophomore in high school, but she didn’t know basic math, so she didn’t fit that standard.
When she was placed in public school at the age of 16, she struggled prior to graduating. Her lack of social skills meant she couldn’t fit in with the other kids.
The inadequacy of her at-home education meant she barely managed to pass a number of her classes, since she skipped out on the fundamentals of what they attempted to teach her.
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“And now, I’m forever angry and heartbroken, because even at 20, I feel different. I’m not smart, I have a hard time fitting in, my social skills are, well, improving, but they’re a mess,” she continued.
“I have a dream of becoming a nurse, but genuinely, I don’t know if that’s plausible. I’m kind of stupid. To add, I was ALSO never taught a lot of basic life skills. My mom was uncomfortable with certain topics ([the birds and the bees], for example), so I was never taught anything about that.”
“I know some states in America do have more enforced regulations. But in Florida, I can say that I was not the only kid I knew who was not taught very much. Some parents should. Not. Homeschool. And I wish every day that I hadn’t been.”
Well, I don’t think she lacks intelligence; she just didn’t have any learning opportunities. She should look into what programs her local community college offers, because I’m sure she can work her way up to her dream of nursing.
What advice do you have for her?
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
