SO INSPIRING

I love this letter from Homeschoolfreestuff. It just warms my heart and I hope that when Nikki and Ethan are bigger, they would appreciate the choice we made for them: the choice to homeschool.


From Their Eyes Looking Back

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Parents ALWAYS wonder if they are doing the right things. I do! My parents still wonder too! I think it's part of being a parent. Then to do something courageous like homeschooling, far from the norm, it's scarier yet. When this story came in, I had stop and redo this newsletter! What a wonderful testament to loving and caring parents!

My High School Diploma has finally arrived! Year 2005. What excitement! My mind drifted back to the winter of 1996 when I had just finished my Primary three (Third Grade) final year exams in public school. Little did I know that that would be the last time I sit in a classroom to take an exam and that the next time would be in a lecture hall taking my SATs with people much older than I.

My parents made the important decision that would cause the course of my life to be far different from that of my peers around me. The decision to homeschool me and the rest of my brothers and sisters. Do I regret that they did so? No…. and let me tell you why.

I never had negative thoughts toward homeschooling. In fact, I my first reaction was, great! I finally get to be homeschooled like the rest of my friends. But as I grew older, I realized the host of things I was protected from by being homeschooled. The peer pressure from friends at school that would have a wrong influence on me. The high stress and pressure to succeed, to excel in exams, to be first in class, to get in a good university; I no longer have to face. Instead I learned to study independently, learned to multi-task and schedule my time to include housework, homework, cooking, baking, playing, babysitting, church meetings, and most importantly, my family. Rubbing shoulders daily and taking care of each younger brother and sister have taught me things I never would have experience, had I not been homeschooled.

Am I socially inept? unlikely so, with seven siblings and a host of church friends. Am I bitter about missing the opportunity to be educated the same way as every other child in my country or feel ashamed that I'm homeschooled? Rather not, as I have met people who are genuinely interested about my education and there is no stigma attached to me or my family. Am I less qualified to enter a university? Hardly! I know of homeschoolers who enter university without a hitch. Am I less able to find a job? Nil to that too! I found a job as a legal secretary even before I graduated! Has homeschooling better enable me to face the working world? I would definitely say yes! If I could rewind the years and be given a choice, would I choose to be homeschooled? Yes I would, and I'm glad my parents made the choice to travel the road less taken.

--J.H.Y.--