I am Different

A home schooler has a unique life. We spend our hours of the day at home with our parents learning, rather than heading to a building to learn the same things, but also enjoy peer pressure, bullies, and low expectations. We wear clothes that reflect what we enjoy. We do things that make us happy. We learn things that interest us. We spend quality time with the family. We have relaxed schedules. 


We are different.


Difference, in high school especially, is a scary and typically unwelcome thing. It smacks of confrontation, it oozes confidence. Being different as a teenager is a hard thing to do, but those who stick to their guns prosper.

I think back to when I went to go sign up for driver's ed. Naturally, I had to make a visit to high school, which also meant I had to walk the hallways to the classroom with my mom. Not only had the students never seen me, but I was also toting my mom with me. What an explosive combination!  That grand total of one and a half minutes of strolling down the hall proved to be the most uncomfortable. Rude glares were thrown at me, and I felt not unlike a bug under a microscope. Pure agony.Perhaps I was a little sensitive, but who wouldn't when fifty teenagers are looking at you like they're just about to haul out the pig's blood?  


The thing is, home schooling let's you be yourself, even if that isn't necessarily the "in" thing to be. I am so grateful to my parents for the endless hours and patience they have given me so I could get a good education sans all the crap that I'd get at public/private school.

Here's the other thing. Being a sheep in the herd is a habit. It may protect you now in high school, but one day you will regret your willingness to follow along with the crowd.

The habits you make at fifteen don't magically disappear on you 25th birthday.   -- Tindell Baldwin

Mrs. Baldwin has a fabulous point. The habits you make now will last the rest of your life. 

God made you special for a reason, whether you go to school or are home schooled. It's time for us to stop "going with the flow" and make some waves.