Wisdom Booklet Archive Index

These versions are NOT intended for educational use, but for journalists and researchers who want to investigate the teachings of ATI in primary sources.

An Average Homeschooler: Part Five, High School Textbooks

“I have very clear memories of my high school experience. I remember the way all the books looked, I remember specific passages and illustrations. I remember quizzes and homework problems. 10th grade was A Beka biology, grammar, and history, BJUPress geometry and literature.”

An Average Homeschooler: Part Four, Junior High

“Junior high is mostly when I started understanding how much pressure I was under. I realized that one of the reasons why homeschooling is considered superior to all other forms of education is that homeschoolers are ‘better-educated’ and ‘smarter.’ We test better. We’re better-read… And, in junior high, I became one of them. Suddenly, it was my job to convince everyone that I was fantastic.”

Learning Together: Emily

“I thrived in self-directed, participatory learning. I’m reading Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed this week and I missed out on what he terms the banking model of education, where the student is an empty account into which the expert teacher makes deposits (till high school and college, at least). In contrast, my mom always talked about how we all learned together.”

The Freedom From a One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Education: Apollos

“I was homeschooled all the way through. K-12. Religion was a factor and I don’t mind that. My parents are Christians, we were in a Christian homeschool co-op, and I am still a Christian. I am not ashamed to say I love Christianity and I love homeschooling. But what I love about my homeschooling experience was the lack of structure.”

Reading Voraciously in a Land of Books: DoaHF

“I am, and always have been the gregarious, outgoing, bubbly one in our family. Even though I went through abuse and trauma, I loved being homeschooled. My brain thrived on the literature-based approach that my mother took. If I could afford to not work and stay at home, I might homeschool my future children if they wanted me to.”

From Bullying to As You Like It: Skjaere

“I was home schooled full time in eighth grade, and part time in ninth and tenth. Up until that time, I had been enrolled in our local public schools, where my dad was a teacher. I’d been having problems with bullying at my middle school (both by my peers and by teachers, WTF?!), and when my mother asked me if I wanted to try home schooling, I jumped at the chance. It sounded almost too good to be true.”

Not Well-Rounded, But Excellent: Sean-Allen Parfitt

“Math was indispensable in college, and I even use it sometimes today. In fact, my career as a software engineer was born from the seeds my father planted, when he taught me how to program in MBASIC on an Osborne Executive when I was only 8 years old. He nurtured this throughout my middle- and high-school career, and now I program for a living.”

When Mennonite Stories Are Your Only Literature: Sean-Allen Parfitt’s Story

“The only reading material we had were story books published or sold by the conservative Mennonite publishing house Rod and Staff. I generally enjoyed them, but there was a very religious/indoctrinating theme in many of them. In the last few years I lived at home, I saw the Mennonite teachings from these books make a serious impact on my mother and brothers.”

Growing Kids the Abusive Way: Auriel’s Story, Part Three — Mini-Parents

“For both of my parents, I served as a surrogate spouse. I mediated their fights, hoping they wouldn’t escalate to violence. They would come to me as their confidant. Dad would complain to me about Mom, sharing his quandaries, wondering how to deal with her. He even consulted me as to whether he should divorce my mom when I was 14, or if he should take her to a psychiatric hospital when she was suicidal.”