Through 1st grade to my freshman year of high school my mother homeschooled my older sister and I. Homeschooling for us was an incredibly fulfilling lifestyle. We were active in year round sports, clubs, volunteer work, church activities, classes and all types of lessons. We were had so many friends, but always a core group of best friends in particular. My parents placed God's word into our hearts and taught us real love and compassion. Our confidence levels and social abilities were superior to many of our friend's. My friends didn't all believe what I did, but it didn't matter because I was taught the most important thing about social interaction: To live, laugh with, and love people who are different that you. The best way to influence the lives of others is to live by example anyways, thats what my parents did for us. It wasn't until I entered high school that I understood how much homeschooling had done for me.
My mother knew that for high school level teaching we would have more opportunities in a real school, plus we were excellent players in many different sports and wanted the opportunity of getting scholarships for college. For this reason, us two girls went to high school with the rest of our friends. The transition from homeschooling to real school was hardly noticable to me, and I truly mean that. I think it all comes down to the confidence and passion for life that my parents built into me. I wasn't crazy about the school work, but I kept an A average anyways because I knew I needed scholarships for college. And the wierd thing is, getting A's came easier to me than it did for most of the students I came across, even though they were used to the homework and testing when I wasn't. The only hard part about the transition was that it was a bit more structured, there was less time for P.E, music and art than I had hoped for, and all the homework kept me struggling to have time for all of my friends and family and boyfriend. But I laughed constantly and God helped me through it somehow because I did balance it all and got multiple scholarships for college.
Now honestly, I wasn't introduced to any negative influence that was new. My parents didn't use homeschooling as a way to shield us from life or put us ahead of the rest, only as a way to spend a little extra time with us and instill concrete values into our hearts. I had already turned down cigarettes and pot before high school, and had experienced the party scene and everything else that can lead a teenager wrong. High school DID bring on new levels of these temptations however, especially Sex. But again, the confidence made it easy to make the right decisions. No one is better than me. And I'm better than no one. I could say "No" easily and gracefully, because I was living up to no one's expectations other than the ones I knew God had for me, and the ones I had for myself. I functioned well in groups, and on my own, which was necessary because sometimes I was on my own when it came to my beliefs. But I was respected by both students and teachers.
I'm a junior in college now, and my sister and I still drive my parents crazy. I think sometimes my mom wishes we weren't as bold as we are, but she trusts us and the love is stronger than the disagreements or hard times. Homeschooling was my core foundation of learning to put God and people first, and to keep my priorities straight. I love to travel and be adventurous (just studied abroad in Spain recently) because I love meeting people and challenging myself, but I love being here at home with that same awesome group of friends. I used to get angry when I heard people say that homeschoolers are socially challenged and can't function well in groups, but I haven't met every homeschooler and I know it all depends on how the child is homeschooled. I know this was an old episode of Doctor Phil, but I just want to say don't stereotype it. I had so much fun homeschooling, and I know about 30 homeschooled students my age who got most of the same benefits from it that I did.
(Original Airdate: 10/18/05) Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy? Stacey says she and her husband, Eddie, made a plan when they got married -- and it didn't have anything to do with Eddie's current goal of becoming an ultimate fighting champion. Now she's giving him an ultimatum: "Give up the dream or give up me!“ Then, an entire family faces off against a mother in a debate about the weight of her 8-year-old daughter. Plus, a 30-year-old virgin saving himself for his soul mate wonders if he made the right decision. And, Jylana is determined to home school her son, but her husband, Mike, says he'll miss opportunities and become socially stunted. What does Dr. Phil think? Talk about the show here.
