My Homeschool Story

Dear Friend,

I remember clearly the moment my parents told me that they had decided to homeschool my brothers and I. We were all in the car making our way out of the parking lot of my school. I was in 5^th grade, 10 years old. My brothers were in 3^rd and 1^st. I remember being confused and a little scared. We already had a school, why did we need to be homeschooled? Why did it have to be right before I was entering middle school? Would I still get to see my friends? How does homeschooling even work?

My parents explained, very vaguely, that they didn’t like what was going on at my private, Christian school. I had the impression that there was some kind of scandal involving the high school students – looking back now I can only assume some of them were caught kissing, or maybe doing drugs.

They also explained that their decision was final and that they had done their research into how to go about educating us at home. After that we were busy rearranging our basement to include an elaborate school room, complete with a cute new paint job, three full-sized desks, a blackboard, and educational posters. They bought up textbooks and went to homeschool conventions and joined forum boards and signed up for local homeschool social groups. There was a lot of energy and enthusiasm about our new lifestyle.

Then I waited for ‘school’ to start. I was accustomed to the structured, scheduled, classroom form of education and was waiting for my mother to fill that role of the traditional teacher. I had a very naïve expectation, but so did my parents. Yes, I recall a few instances where she got out a textbook, instructed us to read through it and then do the accompanying work sheet. As children we were naturally reluctant to want to do anything involving work, so I don’t doubt we pushed back against her orders. Those attempts at structure were few, never lasted long, and disappeared entirely after our first year trying to ‘homeschool’. The rest of the time we did nothing all day, every year.

The First Letter

Dear Stranger and New Friend,

You may be wondering why I have chosen to use the alias of Rapunzel. Do I have very long hair? Am I being held captive by a wicked witch? Am I princess? Maybe, not quite, and I wish. Like Rapunzel, I am a young woman that has lived an isolated life, and at present I am still trapped in this situation. I live in a very conservative, religious household and have been homeschooled since the age of 10. I am enrolled in a small Christian college taking classes on teaching. I am a Christian myself, and I’m not abused, but in many ways I am cloistered from the world and the life I’d like to live.

These ‘letters’ will have a wide variety of subject matter, but will mostly focus on my observations from this ‘tower’. I’d like to share my insights about the conservative community, the Christian community, the homeschool movement, education, how these things impact women, and love.

Indeed, love. I am not waiting for my prince, you see, because he’s already found me. But my tower is keeping us apart. Until I am able to leave home and live securely on my own I have to keep this relationship a secret. So, for now, I will wait in my tower and write about what I see. I hope these letters will be illuminating.

Looking forward to the future,

Rapunzel