A 10-Year-Old Explains: How Homeschooling Helped Me
"For kids to learn, they need to think. And to think, you need imagination"
Dear Coddling movie community,
I’ve written many essays and have introduced many more, but today’s is extra special to me.
Today, I present my 10-year-old son’s first published essay.
He even chose the topic himself, and that’s fitting because the essay is an outgrowth of homeschooling.
My son said he wanted to start his own Substack, and I suggested he start by writing an essay. That way he’d get a taste of what it would be like to start his own operation.
Once he finished the essay, I asked him if he enjoyed the process. He said yes, but I knew that already. That’s because I had discovered him working on his essay on a Saturday.
He didn’t write this essay because he had to. He wrote it because he wanted to.
I hope you enjoy TCM’s very first Gen Alpha contribution.
All the best,
Ted
By a 10-Year-Old Boy
Homeschooling is a fairly controversial topic among some people. Some like it and some don't, but I will tell you about how it worked for me.
My parents and I moved into a nice small town, which we still live in today, and we found a good Catholic school. The kids were nice. The teachers were good. You may ask, "Then how was it bad?" Well, it was bad because of one reason: It had no imagination.
Let me explain.
For kids to learn, they need to think. And to think, you need imagination.
And if you're cooped up in a box all day, you don't have that imagination you would get if you were climbing a tree or playing tag.
Then the COVID shutdowns started to happen, and once the school year ended we were looking for an alternative. And my parents’ friend recommended a new school called Acton Academy. Acton had a more homeschool-like approach to teaching, which I LOVED! (shocker).
I got to have fun, learn, and play. They even had pretty good lunches!
But then at 12:00 am my mom got a text that THE SCHOOL WAS SHUTTING DOWN! (Did I mention that it was at 12:00 am?) We were shocked, but we had to move on. But we got good news! The school just got relocated. We all were relieved... for about five minutes!
The new "Acton" was not like the original at all. I had no fun. I didn't learn. I barely got to play. And the lunches were ok ... kind of.
But it wasn't all bad.
We sometimes played fun games, and had story time. And the playground was not plastic! But I still wasn't having fun learning like I did in Acton Academy, so we went to a new school (again).
This one was on a farm!
And it was fun. We got to play with and feed goats, pigs, chickens, and horses. It was very fun. There were some cool crafts too. I made some friends, and the playground was pretty cool.
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But then we found ANOTHER farm school. I'm still going there to this day, and for good reason.
It's very fun. It's a lot like the other farm school in the sense that there are animals like goats and pigs. But it's a lot more fun because we get to play more, and we get to study the things we're interested in. Throughout the years, I have studied topics including reading, mechanics, ecology, leadership, and many more!
We also do homeschooling at home, which I think has helped me discover what I'm interested in. For instance, when I was in regular school, I thought I hated aerodynamics. But when I turned to homeschooling, that changed.
I saw the Top Gun movie, and got very interested in aerodynamics from that. Then my parents bought me the Top Gun book and I read that too. I also went to an aerodynamics museum.
A lot of people think homeschooled kids aren't properly socialized, but that is completely false! I have many more good friends than I did in regular school, and that's probably because I have more time to get to know my old friends and make new ones.
I go to the farm school three days a week, from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm, but I mostly do homeschooling at home. I do math and German during the day, and philosophy, theology, and history during the night. My dad also pointed out that I do coding and watch shows like MinuteEarth, John Stossel, and Veritasium, and listen to podcasts like Forever Ago, Million Bazillion, and Brains On.
I read on my own for about three hours each day. I like to read comics like Big Nate, Charlie Brown, and MAD magazine, and books about history and theology.
I couldn't remember all that because it doesn't feel like schoolwork.
I also attend another "school," and it’s a lot like Acton! This year I took a medieval history class and next year I'm taking Lego robotics.
I also play electric guitar in a thrash metal band called Attack on Bloodshed with my friends. They would NEVER let me play heavy metal in school let alone thrash metal!
They would just give me an oboe and tell me to play "Hot Cross Buns" for half an hour! I play "High Speed Dirt," not "Hot Cross Buns"!
In conclusion, homeschooling might not be the best option for some people, but it certainly worked for me.
Your essay was very enjoyable and well written. It was interesting reading about homeschooling from the perspective of someone going through it. It certainly sounds more interesting than traditional schooling. You are a bright young man and continue to enjoy learning and discovering. Congratulations on your first Substack essay!
Great essay. As a former teacher and parent (OK, STILL a parent) I want to remind people that a lot of what we need to know is not fun to learn. Somebody, probably a parent, has to make sure kids learn the things that they need to learn, that they would choose to avoid.