Crooked Arrow: Smith Lingo’s Story

I realized from a very early age that my dad cared more about me as an idea than about me as a person, a discrete, tangible being.

Be Excellent To Yourself: By Rene

“It’s been four years now since I hit rock bottom and thought life would never get any better, four years since everything looked black and despairing, and now I’m pretty damn happy. I never knew it was possible to be so consistently happy and resilient — and I purposely am not using the Christianese ‘joyful’ here — I mean happy, not gritting-my-teeth-determined-to-be thankful.”

I Was Born With A Severe Immune Disease: Attackfish

“For years, my family and I had battled bullies and an administration dead set against helping me end the torment I was enduring. I had switched schools, moved, and done everything I could to blend in and keep my head down. I was out of options and out of hope. I remember this tremendous sense of relief at the idea of leaving school, and once I had, I felt truly safe for the first time in years.”

Visualizing “The Myth of the Unsocialized Homeschooler”

“Socialization is a component that definitely can be ignored or accidentally left out and it has openly (and wrongly) been discounted as being unimportant by many prominent homeschool leaders. Because it has been ignored and dismissed as a necessary part of many homeschool curriculums is the main reason why homeschoolers have gotten the reputation for being unsocialized in the first place.”

Homeschooled Girls and Trash Cans: Latebloomer’s Story, Part Six

“It didn’t help my situation that my sister took naturally to wearing cute dresses, having tea parties, and making crafts. She didn’t even need coaching, while I was unsatisfactory even with coaching. As I watched my brother leave for his many outdoor adventures with other boys, I felt cheated and limited.”

Homeschooled Girls and Trash Cans: Latebloomer’s Story, Part Two

“Out on various errands or on family vacations, wearing my very odd, ill-fitting clothing, I felt the stares and desperately wished that human contact was unnecessary. ‘I wish I could just be a hermit!’ — this sentence occurs a little too frequently in my teen journals.”