I wish I were home-schooled, but my parents did not have the resources or means and so I was compelled to attend public school: only to drop out in the first semester of my Senior year at High School (I was 18 by then so there was no legal way the administrators at the school could stop me). However, I managed to make it into the University.
Looking back, I did find myself supplementing the state-approved curricular work at school with profuse reading and research at home with books that my parents happily purchased for me (instead of toys and video games, I hankered for books). I remember my tenth grade English teacher asked me, after the academic year ended, how I managed to excel in the assignments with unnerving precocity ("we never get to see students like you"): "I get to do to a lot of reading at home and everywhere else," was what I responded.
So even for students compelled to go to public school, a supplementary form of "home-school" is necessary in order to surpass peers and make an impression on authorities and superiors (and this is true for college and for life in general really). It would be ideal if parents were to take the lead in this area, since being an autodidact can lead to problems of intellectual pride and vanity - this I know from experience.
Topic: How American Homeschoolers Measure Up (Read 772 times)