I have a big family of seven. I’m also the only boy. I have four younger sisters, between the ages of 3 and 4 months. The older two, 13 and 6, are homeschooled.

Homeschooling is not for everyone.

I went to public school from kindergarten to third grade. Third grade was awful. I was only 8 years old and I was being bullied. Kids made fun of me for my height (I’ve always been a pretty tall guy) and for having glasses. It’s cliché, but I was known as, “Four-Eyes”. They’d push me down during recess. I’ve never been a physical person, so they’d just do it knowing I wouldn’t do anything to reciprocate or protect myself.

My teacher also made it hard for me, saying I wasn’t good enough, even though I was the smartest in her class. People would make fun of me in class and she wouldn’t say anything about it, until I got upset, then she would get mad at me. She’d send me out in the hall and tell me to suck it up or I’d be going to meet the principal and his paddle.

I was 8 years old and I felt alone. I didn’t tell my family any of the problems I was having until I told my mom I didn’t want to go back to school. My family was having a very hard time with my uncle, as well at the time. I recognized, even at an age that young, that I shouldn’t bring anything else up because of how much my family was dealing with.

I was homeschooled from third grade to eighth. I loved being homeschooled at first, and I got really into it. I would do all of my school work as soon as I would wake up and I’d be done by noon. The rest of the day was free, so I used to spend my whole day reading. It was great, or so I thought.

By my second year of homeschooling, I started to hate it. I’m a very social person, which I didn’t realize until I had grown up some, and being stuck at home wasn’t for me. I had asked my parents for years to be allowed back into public school. My mom always said no, because she was afraid of me getting bullied again.

I stayed at home for five years. I despised it. We moved from West Monroe, Louisiana (home of the coolest rednecks you will ever meet, and they have this show you might have heard of called Duck Dynasty) to Wylie, Texas. I hoped that we would be able to get me back into school. It didn’t happen. I was homeschooled for another year, until I met a neighbor of mine. We started hanging out a lot, and he invited me to his Bible study. I went and met a lot of people there.

I started hanging out with that group of friends all the time, and I was always out of the house. My mom and dad saw a difference in me and started to realize I was a social person, and I needed to get out. I talked my mom into letting me go to school. I started public school my freshman year at Wylie East.

I love it. Public school is a much better fit for me just because of who I am. Homeschooling is a very good program, but it wasn’t for me. It’s a much better fit for my eldest sister, who prefers to be home.

Both homeschooling and public school programs have some great aspects about them, and some awful aspects about them. There are a lot of things you are exposed to in public school, especially high school, that you might not experience at home, such as partying or drinking. But at home, you don’t get to socialize or experience things every teenager should experience.

I’m so glad to be in public school now.  I hope to have a great four years.