(Originally published in "Adventures and Challenges: Real Life Stories by Girls and Young Women," edited by Frances A. Karnes and Suzanne M. Bean)
By Sarabeth Matilsky
I was in the Seattle Airport anticipating my red-eye flight home to the East Coast with very little joy. I was returning to NJ from a camp for homeschooled teenagers, and it had been an incredible week. What a bummer to end all that with a trip on something as sterile as an airplane.
January 20, 1998
There are a lot of headaches that one must deal with to be an unschooler. For eighteen years, my parents or myself have had to answer continual questions on everything from my social development to my ability to get a Real Job. And yet, despite all the challenges I wouldn’t trade these eighteen years for anything in the world. Today was one of those days that reminded me of that...
I currently can't find a copy of this essay, which was originally published in "blue jean: what young women are thinking, saying, and doing," edited by Sherry S. Handel. Let me know if you find it somewhere!
(Originally published in the George Street Co-op's newsletter, "Food for Thought," in 1996(?)
by Sarabeth Matilsky
I never sit in a school classroom. I’m a homeschooler, and the idea of a classroom with other students around me in orderly rows and a teacher in front is alien to me. Does this mean I have no teachers, that I don’t learn from anyone? Does it indicate that I am deprived of an intellectual community?
(Originally published in "New Moon Network" magazine, May/June(??) 1997)
by Sarabeth Matilsky
On 12 November 1995, I turned sixteen and crossed that invisible threshold separating childhood from the rest of my life. On that crisp November evening I passed into a new period of my life surrounded by my family and twenty-four close friends.
(Originally published in the George Street Co-op Newsletter)
By Sarabeth Matilsky
I have been wanting to write an article on homeschooling for a while, but I couldn’t think of what to say. Then I picked up The Home News & Tribune on Monday, October 30, and in the Education Section there was an article. It made me very angry, and the thoughts just came tumbling out. The article was about teen-agers who don’t want to attend college, and there were several points made that I disagree with wholeheartedly.
(Originally published in Growing Without Schooling #96 (1993??).)
by Sarabeth Matilsky
I've been homeschooled all my life, and a few months ago I got fed up with people asking me so many stupid questions about homeschooling. I felt like I should go around wearing a sign that read: “No, I do not feel like I'm missing out by not going to school. Yes, I have plenty of friends. Yes, homeschoolers CAN get into college and get jobs.”
(Originally published in the George Street Co-op Newsletter (sometime in 1993?). As you can tell from the writing, it was one of the first essays I ever attempted.)
by Sarabeth Matilsky
Every homeschooler is different. Ask twelve homeschooling families what homeschooling means, and you will get a dozen different answers.