My Schooling Experiences by Angelica

I would like to share with all of you my experience and my personal opinion about Home Schooling. Through Elementary and Middle School I was introduced to both Public and Private Schools, my experiences are different with both. Private School, was a great experience for me, and I learned so much, I also gained great friends that I still talk with today. Private School was great for me academically and I had great teachers that always gave us support and guidance. But my parents no longer had the economic means to keep me in this school, since it was getting more and more expensive. That’s when I entered the public school world.

It was completely different from private school, the environment and kids were different, and even the teachers were different. The first thing I noticed was that all the kids had a certain style, and they all looked and dressed the same. They all wanted to talk and walk the same. Even coming from a private school where everyone wore the same uniforms, I found that this new school lacked individuality. In my classes my teachers would never teach really, students usually just passed notes back and forth to each other, and talk and just hang out basically. I can’t even remember when we ever opened our books. It’s like I entered into a different world completely, and it didn’t even seem like a school to me, it was more like a hangout spot for friends to chit chat, skip school, smoke, and whatever else they felt like doing. I saw a lot of violence and this happens every day of the school year. I saw kids push teachers to the ground, and kids use profanity against the adults, and throw heavy objects at their heads, it was a zoo. I also noticed that these kids didn’t have their parents around at all, and when our school would have any kind of parent teacher conferences or meetings I saw very few parents attend.

Overall my experience at this school was bad, and my grades declined dramatically, I couldn’t concentrate during class, because of all the screaming. I came home with terrible migraines. It’s like I just stepped out of a war zone. That’s when I made the decision that I needed home schooling. I asked my mom, and my mom said "HOME SCHOOLING?!?" she had no idea how to start, it was very new for both of us. But of coarse my mom agreed, and she really just wants what’s best for me and my education. It was frustrating to start home schooling in the beginning, and my mom and I both took some time to figure it all out, but we made it. I began taking my coarses with other home schoolers, and I was surprised at what I saw.

From all of the things I heard about Home schoolers, I was expecting to see quiet kids who didn’t really have a social life, but that’s not the case at all. These kids were so outgoing to the extent that I was really just overwhelmed to see how kind and respectable this kids were especially to the adults. These kids were very different and weren’t afraid to just be themselves around anyone. They all had a social life, in fact they all had big groups of friends, and they all talked on the phone, had study groups, hung out, all the normal things a regular teen would do. That’s when I started to look at myself, and I realized I had changed during this home schooling process.

I really did change and I was more open to more things. It’s like my mind instantly was aware of everything that was going on. I also have to say I matured so much from where I had been before. Home Schooling has been a great learning experience for me, and I’m still learning something new every day. I have the freedom to do my responsibilities and actually go out into the real world and see new things and experiencing them, this taught me how life really worked, and that we all had responsibilities and I started to learn what life was like to be an adult. I got to look at life at so many different perspectives, it was really exciting for me.

I got to do so many things, I volunteered in my community and I started to become involved ,I just wanted to help others. I also give so much thanks to having my mom’s support, because without her I don’t know how I would have made it.It makes me sad to see how many parents aren’t involved with their children’s education. Whether it be public or private school, it's always important for parents to be involved, and let their voice be heard! I want to raise awareness to parents, if you just get involved you can make things really great and also giving support is very important too. I see many kids still even today who are struggling in school like I was, and so many kids who just gave up on themselves, because they didn’t have an adult figure there to help get them on the right track.

I wanted to share my story with others, because it’s important to realize that home schooling really is just a normal and great learning adventure, and it can be a different experience for each person, trying it is knowing it.

If you have any Schooling Experiences We would love to hear your stories. Or just leave a comment below about this article.

TIP: If your a student who would like to take courses online, and you live in the state of Florida, you can check out FLVS Here: http://www.flvs.net

Article By Angelica
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