Diary of a home schooler

lonely

Some people love summer vacation because they get off school, see their friends, and spend time with their family. Some people love the weekend because they can sleep in, and relax. Some people love December because of the holidays and the cold. There are a lot of things some people love that are all the same to me.

Summer: Hot, muggy, and lonely
Weekends: Boring, empty, and lonely
December: Stress, anger, and loneliness

Lonely is how I felt most of the time, although at eight years old I thought that was how everyone felt, like they could cry at any moment, like every second the hole inside them grew into a massive crater. But no, it was just me. Just me. When you're home schooled you get pretty used to being alone, even in a family of 8.

As a kid my daily life consisted of waking up at seven, eating food, doing chores, playing outside, and then eating lunch. After lunch at 1 o'clock sharp my mother would send all six of us to our rooms for "Separate time" It makes sense, especially when most of us were still in the habit of napping all afternoon, but the problem is we had to stay in our rooms until 4:45. Three hours and forty five minutes every single day. I was fourteen when my mom stopped fully enforcing "Separate time". Then at five we ate dinner, listened to our bedtime story, and at six o'clock got ready for bed at seven.

Every. Single. Day. Over and over again. The same routine, except for Sunday when we went to church, and Thursday when we went to children's group (Children's group met once a week, and we would sing songs about history and science facts, and sing our multiplication tables) Children's group taught us the bare minimum to get through state mandated testing, and at home we learned by experience, which ment going to the art museum occasionally.

My parents swore by Children's group, saying that because it taught us Latin it was better than any traditional education we could get. Because knowing Latin is always helpful when you need a job.

By the way, I never formally introduced my self, My name is Summer Cole, and I am 15. This is a diary of sorts, somewhat fictionalized for privacy, telling the story my life so far. I think when people hear that I'm home schooled and from a big family they assume I had a happy childhood and get to do all kinds of fun things since I don't have school everyday. I guess this is true in some aspects and since I've never been to a traditional school I don't know if my education is better, or if I am happier that the average teen, but I do know that I have an interesting life, and I want to share it.

As I said, I am one of six siblings, so its easy for me to get lost in the mix. I am second oldest,and we're all about two years apart. My parents were pretty consistent I guess. Here is a list of our names and ages

Liz-17
Summer(me)-15
Paul-13
Fred-11
Ella-9
Kathryn Grace-7

This first chapter I am 8 years old, because that's when my life got interesting! So Kathryn Grace had just been born and we were barely fitting in our four bedroom house. Liz and I shared a room
The boys shared a room and now Ella and Kathryn Grace did too. And of course my parents.

I was actually fitting in at Children's group and I had two really good friends, Sasha and Amber. Sasha had a big family too, and Amber had pool, so we hung put at her house a lot. I felt like a part of something normal for the first time in my life.