I'm trying to write a story about a kid who is homeschooled until high school, then enrolls in a private school. I've done some research, but I really want to know what it's like from a personal perspective.

Have any of you been homeschooled? What was it like? And if you ever switched over to "regular school," what was that like? What was different and was it a good kind of different or not?

Everyone's input is appreciated. :)

Generally, homeschooling is better for special needs children or those who just can't blend in normal classes for whatever reason.

The plus side: you got to hog the teacher's attention all to yourself, so it's generally more advantageous, educationally speaking. Schools these days teach only what's in the text books and the materials are bound by moral demands, parental concerns, etc. you have a lot more freedom in homeschooling (largely depends on the teacher, ofc)

The downside: it robs you of social skills, basically. For a lot of homeschooled kids, things like bullying and the like that happens everywhere, which they're likely to experience sooner or later, are myths. So you'll have trouble fitting in when you switch. Also, while the materials are somewhat limited, it sometimes can be more diverse (but ofc, unrelated materials) because there are more teachers and they like to talk.

>>1 Oh, that's EXACTLY what happened to me o.o

My mum decided to take me out of regular school and into distance education or 'home schooling'. This was when I was in year 9. I honestly didn't want to do this and I cried a little but went along with it because mums too old to argue with, bad for her health. I didn't tell any of my classmates that I was going. Btw I'm a sketcher and back then I use to sketch out all my emotions. So what I drew on the last few days of school for that year, was me with my back turned towards the page, wearing my uniform with all of it's colours dripping off like butter melting.

And just to note, the reason why my mum put me in Distance Educationn (DE for short) was because my nieces were also in the same class as me and she knew they were competing with me academically (and obviously I was losing!). God I thought it was stupid...

So I'm in DE now, I'm confused about how to send in work to my teacher electronically, but they've got a good system running. The teachers are nice definitely, it can be a bit daunting when they phone you...*shivers*. When you're in DE, it is toooooooooooo easy to fall behind on work. There is A LOT of motivation you need to get things done, that's why DE is only a last resort for your education and not a substitute. I didn't get to socialise much with other people unless I went to functions, festivals or events, which were a couple of times during the year. And then of course you begin to fall in a sort of depression, not the type that you say 'i give up', but rather the one where you don't know you're in it and you find these emotions to be fairly normal.

I also increased my anime consumption quite a bit, that was basically my break period, or rather, how i accidently use to distract myself from work. ANDDDD that's how I finished all the episode of bleach in half a year lol.......I spent more time on the computer which family members found annoying. But if you have to do some work electronically and you need some place to socialise with others, why wouldn't you resort to this? So I made online friends in the meantime. Btw exercising became a bit of a problem because at school you could do it easily with others and enjoy it. But if you're sheltered by your parents and you need something to keep you fit, you'd just go on the boring treadmill ._.

So fast forward another year or two of my DE and now I know I'm in a REAL depressive mood. We moved into a really tiny house, where there's loads of traffic and noise, a bad neighbourhood and the worst part was that when I was sitting at my desk near the window I could see kids roughly my age coming and going to school, exactly what I wanted to do.

So I didn't have total insanity but I started throwing things when I was about to go to sleep, needed the sleep, and then started muttering to myself. I didn't have any suicidal thoughts however I became somewhat dangerous. I started dreaming about hurting people close to me. Worst part was I couldn't tell this to anyone I'd trust because they would seriously fear for their lives, more worse because there was no one who knew I was suffering and it was too late to tell, even more worse was that people were exacerbating my wounds and deep insecurities (having to uphold a 'I'm smart' image).

Finally after 3-4 years, I was made to go to a private school for my last year of study because again I was still not getting any better grades =_=. This part is sort of interesting so pay attention!

On my enrolment interview the principal and teachers seemed to think I was really shy (not really but it was just that I forgot how to talk to other people and trying to stay reserved for the meantime!). A week later was orientation day and everyone from my class come and get a rundown on things while having a barbeque. I tried introducing myself but it was too hard to remember anything and keep a conversation going, everything in my mind was getting fuzzy and filled out with noise (btw I became really sensitive to noise from people). The bad part before that was that my teacher didn't introduce me to my class so well, he basically just said, "hi girls this is (kokkuri) and she'll be in your class starting this year" and then he proceeds to leave. As soon as he left everyone just looked for less than a second and then went back to talking to each other. That's when my fight or flight response kicked in and I 'half walked half ran' out of that area and went to the school library. All that was going through my head was "Is this how I'm going to spend the rest of the year just sitting in the library?", "Is there a way I can escape?" and I just kept formulating ideas on how to survive these 'heartless' people who didn't even register that there was someone before them. I was thinking all this while reading a magazine.

The Vice principal then found me and decided I needed that bit of comfort since I wasn't use to all these social situations. Everyone needs that once in a while and so as the barbeque took place I took the initiative and started talking to a lot of people. Quick change I reckon. Then y'knowwww the year continued and I quickly got use to conversing and hanging out with people again, cracking up jokes and talking about serious topics. I got to be a little reckless (reckless is probably what you'd call normal) when none of my relatives were around however my parents were still over-protective. There were quite a couple of events I wasn't allowed to go to because it could get 'dangerous'...

Anyways, the year proceeded and I finished my exams. I wouldn't say I made friends there (because I'm a freelancer in many relationships) but everyone regards me as their friends, god I must have high expectations if I were to call someone my friend o_o. I somewhat miss school now but it was fun happy year, I'm just glad I didn't have to graduate alone no matter how small I felt in such a big class.

While i can't give you "personal" input, my girlfriend is "home schooled". From all that she's told me, it really depends on how you take it, she switched to that back when she was 14 by her own choice, bullying in school and getting in trouble wasn't doing right for her, she would often keep her problems hidden from her parents because confrontation leads to scolding/ possible violence in her family.

As for the system itself, i'd say it's harder compared to my regular school experience, while i had to take a test and that'd be the end of it (be it a good or bad grade and move on), her online classes would require her to take a practice test where she needs to score at least 70%(yes, mandatory), this would unlock the real test for her, afterwards she would have to call her teacher and that teacher proceeds to ask her questions about the topic on the spot, failing to answer these would mean the teacher assumes you cheated on your online test and you have to retake it (you see where im going with the problems here), while yes you do get retries, let's say you're having a math test, and the teacher decides to ask you to solve a problem that you just happen not to be great on from all the others presented on the test, even though you know the rest, you failed to answer those questions in that one phone call, proceed to spend a couple of more days re-taking exams and hoping the teacher would finally pick up the phone. Combine this with some personal class difficulty and you could be looking at delaying when you finish that individual class.

Since she's home all day, her socializing was limited to the few friends who bothered to stay in touch from her old school, and the Church goers.

If you'd like a bit more input "personal" wise, i can tell that being home all day has it's draw backs aside from socializing, if your parents happen to be the "whoop butt, ask questions later" type then you know you can't afford to score low or have any sort of class problems as they're most likely thinking: " Well how the **** did that happen?, she spends all day being lazy around the house, right? *enter scolding or punishment here*".

With more time available though she does get more opportunities to do what she wants around the house, in her case mostly spending time between classes and self-teaching on crafts(all hail google/youtube).

According to what she's told me she wouldn't changed back as her experience in the other school was terrible, but it is true she would often get lonely around the house while her parents were working.

I hope this helps, tried to give you a more personal approach to life as a "home schooled kid".

I was home schooled for a little while with three other kids. We learned some useful things for rather rare situations. like sign language in a restaurant. Some Spanish. regular math so forth. It was a nice family like environment. Lost my first tooth in a tickle fight in that house. watched popcorn pop in a pan. Played with dogs and screamed at thunder.
I think I was fine moving into a public school at first. Mostly for the new people i've never seen before but. The rules were ridiculous and only in benefit for teachers. There were a lot of kids and I couldn't grasp normal sentence building so I was tutored at home by my parent in the end. Teachers have less time and patients for big groups I suppose.

Thanks for all of the replies--I think I understand it better now and am better prepared to write my story. :)

Something that came up a couple times was that being homeschooled can (though not always) hurt your social skills.

Kokkuri-san, you mentioned you "forgot how to talk to other people" and how to keep a conversation going. Could you expound on that a bit? I mean, I'm assuming that while you were in DE, you still talked to teachers, parents, neighbors, etc. So what made talking to other kids difficult? Did you think they were more judgmental, more immature or something? (Sorry if this is a dumb question--I do understand feeling awkward in social situations, but I mostly feel that way because I'm shy and I don't like being around others much. So I'm thinking that what you experienced might be a little different from what I've experienced).

Also, do you remember what your first impression was of all the noise at school? Did it seem like utter chaos to you, or did you kind of view it the way one views a loud restaurant or a crowded shopping mall?

Cain, you mentioned that there were a lot of rules. Do you remember what rules stood out to you / annoyed you the most when you started going to a public school? (I know some that I myself didn't like when I was in school, but I'm assuming I didn't think about others much because I was just so used to them after being in the school system for so long).

Also, is DE just one type of homeschooling? Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought most kids who are homeschooled are taught by one of their parents and they just have to take a couple tests at the end of the year to prove to the school district that they're keeping up with state standards (I'm from the US--maybe other countries do it differently?).

I thought only a couple homeschooled kids were in regular contact with their teachers. I've only known one person who did homeschooling that way. All the others I've met were taught only by their parents and had little to no interaction with any schools.

@michiro
It wasn't high school but even then it was the worst. I remember lunch time where they would turn out the lights. and the rule was we couldn't talk to each other or stand up from out desks once we got out food out. If they caught us talking too loud we would have to sit on a concrete bench outside for 5-10 minutes before we were allowed to play. I remember having to do 5 minutes and it felt like eternity.
Then when recess was over our class had to stand in a straight line and hold completely quiet and still before going inside. One day during the winter we all played in the snow and got really cold. So we were, of course, all moving a little to make friction and keep warm. They must of kept us out there for a long time before we could go in. I remember my fingers turning a bit blue and to this day im positive that's how i got bad circulation.
What's worse is that was not my horror story school. = ∆ =

>>6 Na it's all good michiro :) it's just not so common that's all. DE is not really home schooling but it's just referred to it as that sometimes. You could say it's a sub category of home-schooling.

Also, the forgetting how to talk to people had more to do with how to talk to people my age and slightly older. This is because a lot of the people I talked to before were from middle aged to old people and occasionally toddlers. I guess after going to an actual school I had a very very mature way of conversing with others and I was not a really bubbly person as 90% of the people in my class were, not that either one is a bad thing though. Their way of thinking was quick and on the spot but sometimes poorly thought out. I usually took my time and didn't leave any loop holes in my conversation (that's probably why keeping a conversation with these guys was difficult).

With the noise it was pretty startling and extremely draining on the first few days. After that I started enjoying it and later on got use to it. The interesting part was that everything these guys use to do such as quirky remarks and weird actions would make me laugh. I laughed a lot after the first few days, I guess because it was all new to me (this sort of humour from people my age). But then after that it went sort of like 'mehh'.

Ah okay so how DE works is that there is I guess what you could call, an 'online school'. So you have books and other cheap study resources given to you once you enroll and you gotta complete work week by week and send them to your subject teachers. These teachers could be contacted by phone, through email, fax and in dire circumstances even face to face. It's a very flexible experience and I found myself having to study at the oddest of places (such as a barn, in the airport/on a plane, travelling in a car and in completely different cities), I even had a classmate apparently who was travelling around the world with her father on a boat! But classmates aren't allowed to contact each other (or aren't given that capability) until their second last year of school and beyond.

When you're homeschooled, you don't speak the OMG language. Pretty much it.