Ashley Figueroa is a senior communication studies major. Outside of school, she enjoys horseback riding and working on do-it-yourself projects. With her story, she hopes that other people learn to better understand what it is like to be a home-schooler.
I have a confession to make: I was home-schooled.
Please, hold your gasps long enough for me to explain why I’m not one of those weirdos you see on TV. Let me answer the easy questions first: no, I’m not Amish; no, I don’t have a dozen siblings; no, I couldn’t skip out on schoolwork; and no, I didn’t do homework in my pajamas … usually.
It’s surprising how little the general public knows about home schooling. I’ve spent half of my life answering questions from friends, professors and strangers, but I don’t mind because I feel I have benefited from the experience of being home schooled.
From kindergarten to fourth grade, I attended a private school. I loved going to school and some people might have even called me a teacher’s pet. I seemed like the least likely student to leave the school to get an alternative education, but when my mom offered the opportunity, I jumped at it.
That’s right, I wanted to be home-schooled. I’ll admit, it didn’t turn out to be what I expected it to be. Even though my “classroom” was down the hallway from my bedroom, I still had to wake up somewhat early and, worst of all, I didn’t get those teacher workdays off from school like everyone else.
Still, there were a lot of benefits to it. When I finished my schoolwork for the day — which was always much earlier than my friends got out of school — I could move on to a more fun activity. This allowed me to pick up quite a few hobbies, depending on what I was interested in that year. Also, I was able to focus on the subjects that I was best at. One homeschooling benefits was that I could do schoolwork wherever I wanted, whether it was at a park or lying in bed.
I didn’t really appreciate the benefits of home schooling versus traditional schooling until I was in high school. My non-home-schooled friends were getting involved in school sports, drama productions, yearbook and other cool activities. Of course, these could only be offered at traditional schools, right? Wrong.
The home-schooled community, especially in South Florida, is actually a large group and there are various support groups that allow home school kids to get involved in different ways. Through my support group, I was involved in yearbook, the homecoming committee, and the general event planning committee. If I had been a little more coordinated, I could’ve even joined one of the competitive, all-home-schooler sports teams, which ranged from soccer to volleyball and everything in between.
One of the most prominent arguments against home schooling is that it does not allow children to socialize. Although this may be the case for some, my experience was quite the opposite. In traditional school, I saw my friends five days a week at a place that I was required, by law, to go. In a situation like that, friendships form quickly because you have to be there anyway. However, when I was home-schooled, I had to learn how to go out of my way to make new friends. So instead of hindering my socialization skills, home schooling actually helped develop them.
Despite popular belief, my mom wasn’t always my teacher. In fact, by the time I was in high school, she rarely was my teacher, but this varies depending on which home-schooler you speak with. For me, traditional home schooling — where mom would crack open the textbooks at the dining room table — disappeared once I was in high school. There are actually some organizations and support groups that offer students weekly classes in almost every subject imaginable. These weekly classes, along with virtual school classes offered by the state, were the core of my high school education. I even had the chance to enroll at my local college and get a head start on my degree. I’d say I got an education similar to any other high school student’s, but a more tailored one.
Home schooling allowed me to view the world in a different way. Every opportunity had the possibility of becoming a lesson. For example, one of my fondest memories was learning about American history and then actually getting to experience it during a family vacation to Washington, D.C. The ability to tailor my curriculum to my interests allowed me to get a head start in my field of study. Also, having such a flexible schedule quickly taught me how to manage time, a skill that has proven to be very useful in my college career.
I often get asked, “If you could do it over again, would you want to be home-schooled?” The truth is, I really did enjoy it. Knowing how much I benefitted from the experience, I would do it all over again the same way.
