I remember that at a pretty young age I saw a Jackson Pollock painting, and I realized that life doesn’t come with a set of rules. If you don’t know what I’m talking about here is a link.
There are a plethora of disciplines where there is no right and wrong. Before Jackson Pollock no one would have looked at a wall splattered with paint and declared it a masterpiece, but they would have instead looked for the vandals to lock them up.
It was a pretty freeing realization as a kid. I think that realization was helped along simply because I was educated in an unconventional way. I wasn’t like all the other kids, and I didn’t have to be like them.
If you are struggling with confidence, or maybe you don’t think that you are very smart, let me encourage you with three things.
Learning at home isn’t a strike against you.
Abraham Lincoln grew up with only a hard working father after his mother’s death, and largely educated himself at home. Just because you were educated at home doesn’t mean that you are not smart or educated.
There are plenty of amazing historical and contemporary figures who were homeschooled. Bill Gates largely taught himself coding. Think of what you can accomplish learning at home with the limitless resources available now.
Fitting in is not the goal. Standing out is.
The main worry that I get from a lot of people is that they will be different because they learned at home. I feel like they imagine themselves unplugged from the big societal mainframe. They might not fit in like they want to.
Anyone who simply wants to fit in is looking at life completely from the wrong angle. Homeschooling doesn’t make you socially inept, but it does give you the opportunity to stand out in all the right ways.
You can be an extremely well-educated homeschooler.
Whether you are using Dual Credit at Home to earn college credits in high school, or just testing the waters on home education, your horizon is bright. Just because this isn’t the path that most people take doesn’t mean a thing.
You can get your degree online and work in the Governor’s office or make a difference on the streets of Southside Chicago. An education isn’t how you learn, it is what you learn.
What will YOU do with what you learn?
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