March 2008

This month we have a guest column from a homeschool graduate:

When I begged my parents to homeschool me twelve years ago, I just thought it would give me more time at home with family doing the things I wanted to do instead of sitting at school waiting on 25 other kids to finish their paper or line up for lunch. My nine-year-old perspective couldn’t comprehend that my boredom with the third grade and my mom’s willingness to devote her life to providing me with a tailored education would open countless doors and shape the wonderful life I have now. God had a master plan better than anything I could imagine. Looking back, just over a decade later, as I sit with my amazing husband in our beautiful new home I can’t imagine my life any other way.

Initially, I thought I would go back to “real” school eventually, but as junior high and high school came and went I wouldn’t trade being homeschooled for anything. The common misconception that homeschoolers are socially deprived and lack adequate communication skills was anything but true for me! I had a more thriving social life in high school than any of my friends in traditional school. I met friends for lunch or coffee between classes, and my flexible schedule allowed time for just about any event I desired to attend. Grace Academy provided me the opportunity to participate in “normal” high school functions – I played on the softball team, was in the chapel praise band, worked on the yearbook committee, wrote for the school newspaper, went to prom, and cheered my future husband on at countless soccer games including traveling to Tennessee for the national tournament our senior year.

Being free during the day allowed me to explore my career interests and begin training in a dental office at just sixteen. The experience of being trained on the job as a dental assistant and completing nearly all my general studies at CPCC before high school graduation made it possible for me to begin the dental hygiene program straight out of high school – no one else entering the program in 2004 was under 20 years old!

Hygiene school was definitely a challenge – and LOTS of work – but I made it through and passed the boards giving me an amazing career before my twentieth birthday. I then married my high school (and one & only!) sweetheart, Will Southerland, and we moved to Raleigh to start our new life together as he finishes his degree at NC State University.

Our year and a half of marriage has been busy and wonderful. Will has continued his education at State while also starting his own landscaping company last spring. We bought our first home in July and couldn’t be happier. I have been working full-time as a dental hygienist since we moved to Raleigh, but switched to a new practice last October that is better than I ever imagined and just three miles from home! Our life has been so richly blessed and I can only give God the credit for that.

As a hygienist part of my job is making one-way conversation eight hours a day. My background and how thankful I am for the way I was raised is one of my favorite stories to share. My patients often ask in disbelief “ You were homeschooled? Didn’t you just sit at the kitchen table all day?” and then it never fails “You’re so… talkative.” (Lack of communication skills… ha!) I then laugh and explain the difference between the stereotype and my life as a homeschooler. I have actually “converted” a few families who are now homeschooling their children as a result of sharing my story.

To this day, there is not a thing I would change about being a homeschooler. I am so thankful God gave me all the opportunities He did. I am thankful that I have two homeschool moms –being raised a homeschooler instilled in my husband such a great work ethic, self-determination, resourcefulness, and most importantly strong family values. It is that determination and resourcefulness that prompted him to start his own business and helped shape the man I so greatly respect and admire – I thank my mother-in-law for that. Lastly, I can’t thank my mom enough for all she did for me. My mom is my role model – she set an amazing example of a Godly woman. Her patience, self-sacrifice, wisdom, and unconditional love made me the woman I am today.

Will and I hope to have our own farm one day and raise our future children with the same God-centered family values our parents instilled in us. I hope and pray that when the time is right God will make it possible for me to be a homeschool mom. If I can do half as good of a job as my mother did, I will consider myself truly blessed.

~Kelli Pearson Southerland