My mother graduated with a degree in communication disorders in 1997, and shortly after, moved from her home in Massachusetts to Los Angeles, California, where she would soon give birth to her first daughter in 2005. At the same time, she worked with children who had communication disorders in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
When she entered these classrooms, what she saw broke her heart. Teachers forced students to read the same sentences to each other over and over when they seemed uninterested and unengaged. The public schools seemed to suck all the life out of learning, she felt, and at home, she had a young daughter approaching school age who wanted nothing more than to explore freely and learn in her own way.
By the ripe age of three, her little daughter was reading bedtime stories aloud and indulging in full conversations with the adults. She knew the monotony and strict rules of the school system wouldn’t be compatible with how her daughter’s brain was wired.
Well, that differently-wired child was me. My mother decided to homeschool me from the moment I entered school until our lives changed direction and I went to public school in sixth grade. And now that I will be a college graduate within a year, I’ve been reflecting on my educational experience and how it was shaped by the choices my mother made just under 20 years ago.
Driving the passion to learn
One of the best parts of being homeschooled was that my teacher thought I was the greatest, smartest, most capable human being on earth…because she was my mother. We had a special bond that, obviously, most teachers and students don’t get to have. The fact that I was her child and that my education was not only her responsibility but also something she could give me herself made everything feel more authentic and rooted in compassion.
Now, I was a bit spoiled, since I had a mother with a background in working with children. However, she had no official training in education, so I was fortunate in some ways.
Going above and beyond
If I was ready to advance in a subject, or if I was falling behind, there were no other children for me to be compared to or restrained amongst. When I was homeschooled, I was doing higher-level math and reading coursework, even though I was in a lower grade, because the curriculum was tailored to me.
Another incredibly overlooked benefit of homeschooling, and probably my favorite part, is that you can teach your child the most important knowledge of the world through literally ANY means that you desire. When I was in kindergarten, my mom created an entire four-year unit, inspired by the curriculum of English educator Charlotte Mason, that taught history from the beginning of the world through ancient civilizations and beyond. Being taught this way, where I could work on projects of my choosing, while learning the same science, math, history, and English that children in public schools were learning, gave me the passion for those subjects that I have today.
For the love of everything — get that kid outside! And some friends too…
This is the number one stereotype that people perpetuate about homeschooled children, and the worst part is, it can be true. Many homeschooled children are incredibly sheltered, don’t have many friends, and are spoon-fed propaganda by their parents. I definitely don’t condone that, and I wish it weren’t so difficult to regulate who is homeschooling their children and what their intentions and qualifications are. I just happen to be someone who was homeschooled by a smart and qualified person, who wanted me to feel just like the other kids, but in a way that enriched my life and set me up for success.
The most important choices my mother made when I was homeschooled were getting me involved in as many activities as possible. Summer camps, Girl Scouts, dance, swim, playing instruments, theatre, you name it — I did it when I was homeschooled. Another huge factor was that my mom involved me in something called “homeschool co-ops,” short for “cooperatives,” where families work together to teach classes and plan activities for their homeschooled children.
These activities took up most of my time and gave me a social life, friends, a schedule, time outside, physical exercise… practically everything that a child needs to thrive, but without the confines of four walls and without spending seven hours away from home, feeling bored, tired, and uninspired.
Why couldn’t I have gotten this through public school?
I think a lot of children go through public school and end up smart, passionate, and incredibly capable human beings. However, I think that’s because of who they are and the environments that raise them, not always the systems in place for them. The public education system in America has repeatedly failed students of all ages. While I have countless stories of my friends who entered public elementary school and exited feeling burnt out and passionless, the statistics speak for themselves.
A record low 35% of Americans are satisfied with the quality of education in the United States, according to a 2025 Gallup poll. 69% of American fourth graders scored at or below the “basic” reading level in the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress assessment in reading comprehension.
The attention, love, and care that went into my education from my mother, other children’s mothers, and educators in homeschool-focused spaces gave me a childhood that prepared me to excel in high school and beyond. Some of my friends have said they wish they could’ve started their education later in life so their spark wouldn’t have been killed by their primary schooling.
This breaks my heart, and I think if this country were designed to make homeschooling more affordable, more accepted, and practiced ethically and meaningfully, many more children could have had the experience I did. I want people to know that I was not a loner, a slacker, or someone who fell behind in my coursework. In fact, I was exactly the opposite. I will always be proud of my educational background, and I will continue to be an advocate for alternative education. I hope that stories like mine change other people’s minds about homeschooling and maybe inspires families in the future to make the same decision my mother did.