To the parents of WTM forums from a public highschooler:

[Guest Fibonacci]

Hello. I apologize if this is an inappropriate topic for this forum, however, I wished to say this so much that I registered here!

 

I believe what you do is truly wonderful. I am amazed viewing the devotion to and love of learning demonstrated in many of the sons and daughters here, as well as the amount of intelligence many seem to possess.

 

When I was in elementary/primary school, I implored my mother often to home school me. The classes were at such a slow pace; I was constantly bored. I had no friends because I could not relate with them, mainly regarding maturity and interests, I suppose. I was also not ignorant as to how I was only spoken to when pestered by others to cheat off of me. I daydreamed about staying home and not wasting such time, but spending it learning all day long.

 

It was met with an unkind response...needless to say, I gave up on everything before junior high school had even begun, resigning myself to average classes and exerting no effort, pretending to be unintelligent. I suppressed my curiosity and love of learning. I was taught to believe I was abnormal; I did not dress properly, smile enough, was an embarrassment to my family because of my apparent social ineptitude; I was weird as I acted far too "old" for my age, and serious.

 

My mother was not a bad one...simply not quite able to understand. She harbored the expectations of my being a 'genius' but would not offer me help, and I floundered, feeling incompetent and lost.

 

Now I am finishing tenth grade at an average rate, still deeply regretting how I may have easily been in college at this point...how I could have accepted the opportunities supplied at a young age due to my nationwide testing scores, though much of it is my fault as well, perhaps.

 

Ah, I am sorry for boring you! It was my desire to convey my awe at what the parents here do for their children, and tremendous beneficial impact it likely has on them. I would be glad to have experienced such a thing. :)

[lulubelle]

It isn't too late for you. Maybe it won't be your parents, but you can self educate yourself at this point. My husband had a similar experience, but in high school, where he went had no calculus, a teacher had the sense to hand him a book and he worked through the whole thing and ended up with a high pass on the AP exam. There is much you can do for yourself. Your junior year will say it all for you, if you desire to go to college. My husband regrets he did not read enough great literature when he was young. Read, write, and seek success for yourself. Also, try to get an internship somewhere that will help you with your interests. Good luck.

[WishboneDawn]

Don't dwell on what didn't happen. Homeschool yourself. Do what you need to at school but pursue subjects and interests on your own terms after school. There's a high school and self-education board here you could dip into.

 

Remember, where you're at now is a point some of us (*ahem*) passed two decades ago. We've sat back and wondered what if and soem of us had battle similar to yours and lost. But the thing is it's never really a battle you can lose. At 16, 19, 25, 35, old as dirt (*ahem* again) you can still sit back and realize that this education thing is absolutely in your control and if you're eager to learn there's nothing that can really stop you from picking up a grammar workbook or sitting down with a history book or talking up the neighbour who's a physics buff.

 

Yes, at your age you have certain responsibilities you can't duck like school (although frankly, I'm in the same boat with kids and a house to run) but you have time outside that when you can explore on your own.

 

The biggest part of being a homeschooler is realizing you have control over your own learning, not all the rest of the trappings. It took me a long to to figure that out. :)

 

Welcome!!!

[Halftime Hope]

We have several high school students here who are directing or largely directing their own education, with varying degrees of support from their parents, not b/c their parents don't care about them, but because sometimes life gets in the way, and the parents have little ability to help students with their education.

 

Please know that the education-centered community here will encourage you and support you in whatever you choose to do for yourself. You are finishing 10th grade--how *very* lucky you are! You have two full years and this summer to spend your discretionary time working on your self-education: welcome to this wonderful world!

 

Self-education is what many of us are doing bit by bit, shoehorned into our day between our jobs, responsibilities, families, and the moment we collapse into bed in utter exhaustion. You have youthful energy and a quick, plastic mind as wonderful advantages--use those gifts to their fullest.

 

And Fibonacci, don't write off the resources available to you through your school. Find mentors who can help you negotiate the next two years, figure out what are the key skills you must master and tasks you must complete, write references for you, brainstorm college choices, and help you see areas of strength and areas that need patient, consistent work that will lead to improvement.

 

Finally, Fibonacci, may I encourage you in two areas? 1) Self-study for the SAT/ACT will pay off handsomely even though it feel like drudgery when you have to self-motivate. Where else can you get a "summer job" that will pay off to the tune of $169/hour? (YMMV on that one, more or less, but the college boards in past years have listed the merit scholarship offers kids have received--learning to "play the game" (literally) pays off handsomely.) 2) For your own well-being as a person, find a way to give back to others around you. You may go into it doing it because some stranger (me) told you it was a worthwhile endeavor, but it will teach you lessons you never dreamed of, and it will shape your heart both for the people around you now and for those who will become the world to you as an adult. I promise you will be a better person and enjoy life more as a result. If the first two or three things you try don't mean much to you, keep trying--you will find something that makes your heart sing. Give; don't just take.

 

Fibonacci, thanks for indulging me. You are at the perfect time in life to choose something rare, precious, and mindful for yourself, homeschooling or not. Aside from meeting your obligations to your family, which should come first, don't let anyone or anything of fleeting value deter or distract you from what is......rare, precious, and mindful. The world lies before you! :)

 

Valerie

Edited June 3, 2011 by Valerie(TX)

[BlsdMama]

It isn't too late for you.

 

Read A Thomas Jefferson Education. My daughter is in the ninth grade. She has designed her own curriculum, pushes herself, and is a self learner. Don't let the past depress you... Let it INSPIRE you.

 

Carry on Mr. Bowditch!

 

(Okay, perhaps I did learn a few little somethings from the book.)

[WishboneDawn]

Another great bookis the Teenage Liberation Handbook. More at the unschooling end of things but we all need a little unschooling in our lives. :)

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I agree with the others. It's not too late for you. So, you are different from others around you- it may seem like a problem now, but most of the people who have made significant contributions to society have all been considered "weird" or "different". As I told my former students, if the average person lives to be 80 years old, then high school is only 1/20 of your life. It is insignificant in the broader scope of your life. Your whole childhood is only 1/4 of your life, you have 3/4 of your life left to make your own decisions and fill your brain with whatever information you desire.

 

I did not have any encouragement from my parents in my studies, either, but I figured out a way to get myself into grad school after college and am currently learning things I never knew right along with my kids as we homeschool.

 

My best advice to you is BE YOURSELF. You will eventually find people who will accept you for who you are.

[Ginevra]

It isn't too late for you. Maybe it won't be your parents, but you can self educate yourself at this point. My husband had a similar experience, but in high school, where he went had no calculus, a teacher had the sense to hand him a book and he worked through the whole thing and ended up with a high pass on the AP exam. There is much you can do for yourself. Your junior year will say it all for you, if you desire to go to college. My husband regrets he did not read enough great literature when he was young. Read, write, and seek success for yourself. Also, try to get an internship somewhere that will help you with your interests. Good luck.

 

:iagree: I would say you're incredibly lucky to realize these things so early in life. I would have done well to have been homeschooled, but I wasn't. My school experience was not good and I didn't get remotely the education I was capable of. But I am getting it now, as an adult. I am going to college part-time, where I am waaaayyyy older than most of my classmates. I had to take two remedial math courses, which I had feared for years and years beforehand. Now I can't imagine why I let that stop me for so long! I love going to college and am so happy I am repairing what I messed up when I was a teen. I don't care if I'm decades late on it; I'm doing it now and that is what is so satisfying. Read Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It opened my eyes and I realized that I could shape my own life, no matter what didn't happen earlier in my life.

[Hunter's Moon]

I'm a high schooler here who is self-educating.

 

I was lucky enough to have parents who trusted me on this huge decision and allowed me to become "homeschooled" but I can see how I could have continued on in PS as well.

 

The most important thing I've learned (from this board) is self-education is a life long journey. Sure, any classes I do now I count towards my credits for high school. But, there are some things I do that could count, but I don't.

 

I'm currently using Yale Open Courseware's Introduction to the Old Testament and enjoying it immensely.

 

A lot of things from PS need to be redone and rebuilt. My grammar is not up to par and neither are my writing skills. And while I'd love to catch up for college, I probably won't and I have my whole life to self-educate. Really, no rush ;)

 

My parents make no curriculum decisions. They listen to me while I'm researching, they listen to me vent when a curriculum doesn't work, they listen to me vent about my workload and grading and scheduling, but they don't step in. It gets on my nerves sometimes, but I know they care. It just isn't easy for them. Education was never really their thing. My mother was raised to get through high school and then get a job as a secretary because college was for the boys. My father didn't even finish high school. I had to learn (and am still learning) not to take their decisions about my education personally.

 

They didn't know about homeschooling. We learned about it in middle school but they decided it was too much work and I attended PS until the end of 10th grade. Looking back, my father says he'd never send me to PS had he known about homeschooling before. I cried daily until 2nd grade because I hated school. I now know I will homeschool my children, if the circumstances allow because that option is "available" to me now.

 

All this to say, self-education is a beautiful, amazing, life changing (and life-long) experience. The work I do for classes aren't just for a credit anymore. They're to enrich me and my life.

 

I wish you luck and if you ever want to talk, feel free to PM :001_smile:

[Beth S]

You may be able to convince your parents to let you attend your local community college as a dual-credit student. This can give you a taste for future careers and more challenges academically.

 

You are ready to be responsible for your future, so I would highly encourage you to plan for it! Hanging out here can be a big boost.

[Journey]

OP....I'm sorry that you're in the position you are in now, it must be lonely and upsetting but I hope I can shed some light on your situation. I'm wondering if your mom never thought she was "smart" enough to homeschool you. I homeschooled both of my daughters for about 8 years. One one child is incredibly bright, much more so than I and when she got to the 9th grade, I knew that I could no longer teach her because I didn't know the material very well and I did not want to hold her back in her love of learning, so first she went to private school (she had been homeschooled for so long and our high school is so big and she didn't know anyone, so she went to private for one year before starting in the high school here. Anyway, don't blame your mom too much. She could have alot going on that you may not know about and again, she may have felt that with your obvious intelligence, she wouldn't be able to do it.

[MeaganS]

That was me 7 years ago. It is one of the main reasons I'm planning on homeschooling my kids. Luckily for me, my parents let me go to a public science and math boarding school that was incredibly challenging my Junior year, and then I was able to graduate a year early. My advice to you would be to stick it out, go to college, and then self-educate. Right now I'm teaching myself Latin, I'm going through Khan Academy, starting at the beginning in order to refresh my math, and I'm about to start a grammar program because I know very little grammar. Just stick it out, and then your educational choices are yours.

[Desert Rat]

Thank you, Fibonacci. When I have doubts that I shouldn't be homeschooling my smartie son, I'll remember your post and hope he would feel the same.

I was in public high school when friends and I started our own study group. Our literature classes we found to be severely limiting and lacking-so we taught ourselves. I was punk rock in high school because I just didn't fit in with the rest of them. I found freedom and acceptance from the group of misfits and damaged kids and have kept in touch with many of them, even 20 years later. Friends are found in the strangest of places.

Good luck to you. I hope you find encouragement here. You have encouraged me so much.

(I love your board name. My son and I run Fibonacci series when we're bored.)

[kalanamak]

 

Now I am finishing tenth grade at an average rate, still deeply regretting how I may have easily been in college at this point.

 

 

You should let go of this "deep regret". I hate to sound like a truism, but: you are still so young. You have a lot of time to get to your goals, and passing certain classes may be A goal, it is not THE ONE AND ONLY goal in a well-rounded adult.

 

I encourage you to read. At that age, without a mentor, I went down the aisles of the literature section of the library, pulled out books, and read first paragraphs. If it was well written, I read the book. From this I "discovered" Kafta and a whole host of other writers. Read The Economist, read erudite blogs. Read. This, IMO, is the best way for a teen lost in a bit of a back water to productively fill in some chinks, the better to shore up their walls, the better to put the next layer up on a solid foundation.

[WishboneDawn]

You should let go of this "deep regret". I hate to sound like a truism, but: you are still so young.

 

Yup. I had a deep regret over my high school years and not attending university until I was into my 30's. What a waste. I finally realized one day as I was talking about philosophy with a guy who had his Master's degree and holding my own, that I was fine. That no knowledge was denied me because I didn't have a degree, that if I wanted to go to university at some point, I still could and that holding onto the regret did absolutely nothing for me.

[Guest Fibonacci]

I greatly appreciate all the insightful responses and advice. Thank you to everyone who has posted!