Daily Lives of High School Homeschoolers

It's Still There.

~To all of you who tell me Home School is easy and that I shouldn't complain. This is my "Shut up you uncultured fools."

As a Maryland high school student who has gone through both Private and Homeschool, I know for a fact that when you are in homeschool you never feel done. With Private school, you have a set amount of time each day to do something, and its always consistent. Sometimes there is homework, but at least you know that what you are doing is enough. This is not the case with homeschool. In primary and part of secondary (K-4 through 8th grade), its easy. You can get done within hours and not have to worry about "Credit hours" or things like that. You know what you know. Not in high school. We have all been there; Filling out time sheets to log credit hours, spend hours during the night looking up at the ceiling and wondering "Have I done enough today?", or my personal favorite, "Oh my gosh, what if I don't do well on the PSAT/SAT/ACT?!"

I have been here. I'm still here. I have the PSATs coming up in October, and I am terrified. I'm sure you all can relate. But don't worry, it'll be okay. You just have the next 8 months to bare until summer! Then you have to do it all again next year. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm sugar coating the horrifying news that you are going to drown in school work until the day you graduate. I'm sorry, that is a shared fate among all of us homeschooled high schoolers.

Because of my states outrageous laws about homeschool, I have to work for 150 hours on one subject to get a credit. I usually have a 34 week school year. Lets subtract two weeks for sick days and events. So we have 150, I work 4 days of the week and have Friday to catch up on what I didn't get done during the week, so lets divide it by 4. now divide it by 32. I have 10 subjects I need to get credits for, so lets times it by 10. 11 hours a day just to get down with one day worth of school. And yet, I am told that being a homeschooler is easy. SHUT UP YOU KNOW NOTHING.

Sure, I might get to wake up at Eight Am instead of Six Thirty. Yeah, I don't really /need/ to change out of sleep wear, and yeah, I don't have to deal with people (Which is nice for an introvert like me). But, its absolute mayhem. I am in constant fear that I will not get a credit no matter how hard I work. I do not get the required social interaction I need. I get overworked and extremely frustrated.

Now I'm really gonna hit home. This isn't true for all homeschoolers, though. With a big family like mine, my parents don't have the time to teach me things. I have to teach myself. Ever had to teach yourself Chemistry/Algebra 2? I have to work really hard to understand what I'm doing. If I don't understand it, I will keep on not understanding it until I flunk a test (yes, we have those). No one has time to help me understand things, and when they do, I get treated like I'm stupid. Actually, I get treated like I'm stupid no matter what kind of schooling I'm in. Teachers in general insult my intelligence.

I'm really good at math, so I don't need help very often. But when I do, its annoying how hard it is for someone to explain it to me and then get annoyed with me for not understanding. If you are a parent reading this, and you do this to your child, I have some choice words for you; SHOVE A PITCH FORK UP YOUR BUTT AND SHUT UP. WE'RE SORRY WE DON'T LIVE UP TO YOUR UNREASONABLE EXPECTATIONS BUT ITS NOT OUR FAULTS. WE TRY. We try really hard, and no one notices. How much pain we go through everyday. Emotional pain and mental pain. I have had so many mental breakdowns to the point where I just wanted to quit because I felt stupid and worthless. I feel so worthless when someone says "Wow, you got it easy. Don't complain, it's harder in a school like ours. It's so easy for you guys." NO. NO IT'S NOT. I HAVE BEEN THROUGH SCHOOLS AND IT'S NOT. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKInG ABOUT. I have so much anxiety over school and doing well, that I puke sometimes because I'm so worked up over it. You know nothing about us, our lives, and how much work we put in and how little we get. So shut up.

I'm sorry I ranted, I just really hate it when people do that to me.