THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310048
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAMELA SARIAN, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 73 lines
FIRST DAY of school: Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1995
6 a.m.: I wake up to the annoying sound of my alarm clock. I slowly walk to the bathroom to take a shower, I get dressed, do my hair, grab a quick breakfast, grab my books, jet out of the door. I try to get to my first-bell class before the tardy bell rings.
7:35 a.m.: First bell. I listen to my teacher's long lecture, and then get a homework assignment. The routine continues in each bell.
2 p.m.: End of my school day! I go home, rest a little, do my homework, and eat dinner. By the time I notice, it's time to go to bed.
Wednesday, 6 a.m. I'm up again and I'm thinking, ``I'm tired and stressed out,'' but remember something will be different today.
I can sleep a little longer. In fact, I can sleep all I want. So, I wake up at 9:45 a.m., grab a couple of books, do some reading, and answer questions at the end of the chapters.
Around 1 p.m., I put the books away, plop on the couch and watch some television.
Sound like the life of an absent student? Well it's not! It's the life of a home-schooler.
When you hear ``home-schooling,'' you might think of long, boring hours studying with your mom. It's more than that. Home-schooling is an alternative to public or private school education. It's an option for those who don't want to attend school for religious reasons or those who want to avoid the stress of peer pressure and school life.
I had problems with peer pressure and dealing with the school routine so I decided to give home-schooling a try.
I chose correspondent home-schooling with a Chicago-based school which sent me a booklet to describe how to teach myself at home without a parent or a tutor.
There were definite advantages to home-schooling. You could wake up when you wanted, study at your own pace, have the comfort of studying in your own home. The school sends you a book and a booklet to study with. You read a few chapters and answer the review questions after each section. When the questions are completed, you send them in. The school grades the work and sends it back.
Some choose to have a tutor to assist them in areas that may be confusing but I, like many, just studied on my own.
I found home-schooling very effective because there was no peer pressure to keep me from progressing with schoolwork, which is why I left Green Run High School. I found it difficult to concentrate on the teacher when your mind is distracted by a problem with a peer.
Have you ever stayed up the half the night thinking of what to wear the next day? I did. It's hard putting an outfit together, keeping with the latest style or fashion trend. But that was never a problem with studying at home. I could study in my pajamas.
But after a few weeks, home-schooling became difficult. I had to be very self-disciplined to study because it is very easy to put things off. Unlike school, I couldn't raise my hand and ask the teacher when I had a question. I either had to call Chicago or ask someone familiar with the subject, normally a friend who is a tutor. Also, it got pretty boring all by myself.
A month later, Oct. 5, 1995. Well, it's 6 a.m. again. Time to wake up and get to school on time. That's right, I'm back in public school!
Home-schooling is a good program but it just wasn't for me. But at least I learned how to budget my time wisely. I now know the difference between using time and wasting it.
I've been in school for months now and I've learned to live with the peer pressure and stressful routine but I still have one problem: What am I going to wear to school today? MEMO: Pamela Sarian is a sophomore at Green Run High School. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Pamela Sarian by CNB