I was homeschooled from the ages of 4 to 18. I was isolated and treated like an extra parent and teacher for my younger siblings. My work for the family business and around the house was underpaid or unpaid altogether. I learned more about Christian conservative politics than about core subjects like history, math, and...
“Totally unprepared am I, to face a world of men Timid and shy and scared am I, of things beyond my ken I need someone older and wiser, telling me what to do…” -The Sound of Music I was homeschooled from preschool to grade 12. My parents were my only teachers. They taught me that...
In Christian homeschool speech and debate, we were told that we were learning logic and critical thinking. What we learned was a kind of feigned intellectualism, one that behaves under the pretense that the most reasonable reaction to anything is no reaction at all. Almost without fail, the winning competitors were charismatic and attractive, smooth...
I have not been in contact with my family in several years, and my siblings have attended some charter school and community college. I can only speak to my personal experience, not to what has happened in my siblings’ education since cutting contact. My parents had a religious and political agenda in homeschooling my siblings...
I was severely unprepared for adulthood in every way. I had been indoctrinated to view the entire world through a religious lens. This meant that I thought the world was small. I lacked (and still lack) the professional and social skills needed to attain and maintain gainful employment. I also lack the skills needed to...
The prevailing myth surrounding homeschooling is that it is a superior form of education. The problem is that homeschooling is such a broad and vague categorization. A wide variety of experiences exist. Furthermore, it is difficult to objectively judge one’s own quality of education. I know because when I first “graduated,” I believed that...
