by Jan Vroegin

Created on: May 21, 2008

My high school homeschool lifestyle adventure has yielded laughter beyond measure, frustrations far too many, infinite opportunities, awesome awards, and two great graduates so far. My oldest daughter graduated in 2004 and my second daughter grabs her diploma this month. The homeschooling road that got us here was full of potholes such as the wrong curriculum or seasons of slack, but the high school years showed me that those never ending moments of phonics, fractions that almost fragmented our family, and science projects that unearthed new life forms in our kitchen really did pay off.

For some, homeschooling a high schooler is a last ditch effort to prevent them from being labeled drop out. For others, homeschooling is the only option for a gifted athlete or a young concert pianist. For me, homeschooling was the continuation of the journey that we had begun in 1992 as my daughter and I tackled Kindergarten.

My first daughter was the quiet student who was slow to begin reading, but then took off with a library card burning in her pocket. My second daughter was the homeschooled child who learned early on that if she did her seatwork, then a world of opportunity available the rest of the day.

Both graduated as star tennis players at the local high school because we live in a state that allows registered homeschool teens to participate in their local high school sports programs. Both graduated after thirteen years of homeschooling. The high school years were definitely the hardest, but through a series of people, events, sports, youth clubs such as 4-H, brain bowls such as Lifesmarts, and our weekly homeschool co-op, we got through it.

For some, homeschooling is a way of sheltering their children. For my family, we sheltered them long enough for them to impact the world without losing themselves along the way. To my daughters' credit, they are intelligent, caring individuals. From holding dying infants in a Jamaican orphanage to greeting weary parents at a Ronald McDonald House respite room, from being a nanny in Holland to being a baker's assistant in a whole grains bakery, from winning a state brain bowl competition to holding a 4-h County Council presidency, the high school years have been rich for my daughters in every way.

Would I do it again? Ask my daughters' two younger brothers! They'll be my next high school youth to graduate from this mom's homeschool and they'll graduate at the top of their class and the top of my heart.

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