I have a 9 year old niece, we’ll call her Emma, who was recently taken out of public school by her parents due to some social anxiety and have started homeschooling her. I am greatly concerned for her wellbeing, as well as that of my brother and his wife, for a few reasons.

Firstly, to be quite direct, they are poor. My brother works a shitty food service job 6 days a week and my sister-in-law makes very little money working for a nonprofit and travels a lot. They simply don’t have the money to be able to make the time to meet Emma’s educational needs, at least not without completely burning themselves out. They have help from their friends and neighbors, but I’m not sure it’s enough.

Another big concern of mine is related to Emma’s mental health. She is a very anxious child, and I strongly suspect that she may have OCD and/or an anxiety disorder. I am not a child psychologist, but I have personal experience with these disorders and recognize a lot of my own experiences at that age in her. Unfortunately, Emma’s parents don’t have the resources to be able to pay for the therapy she needs. Despite the fact that school counselors are spread pretty thin in the public school system, if Emma were still in school at least she would have access to that resource at no cost. Also, I fear that taking her away from her peers will only worsen her social anxiety.

Yet another concern I have is that Emma seems to be behind in reading and writing. For a 9 year old, her handwriting looks more like that of a 6 year old. She has difficulty spelling simple words and still writes a lot of her letters backwards. Maybe this is expected for her age group and I’m just out of the loop, but I remember the benchmark being a lot higher when I was her age. Again, my brother and sister-in-law are unable to devote the time and attention to help catch Emma up in these areas. I worry that she’ll only fall further behind.

Lastly, neither my brother nor his wife have any teaching experience. They have theater BFAs and simply do not have the qualifications to teach Emma anything outside the humanities, if even that. This child needs special attention, and, as I mentioned above, her parents do not have the time to give it to her. If they had access to private schools, I know Emma’s parents would send her to a small liberal arts school that could help her thrive, but because they don’t, I think keeping her in public school is the next best option.

Emma is a creative, goofy, smart, passionate kid. I want the best for her and I know her parents do too, but I’m not sure that homeschooling is the right thing.

I admittedly don’t know much about homeschooling, so I would really appreciate any insight people may have into this situation. Thank you!

I usually go into more depth with these posts. But I’m kinda panicky right now and I just need to get this out.

Not going to go too in depth (I have other posts detailing how fucked my situation kinda is if any of y’all are interested). But over the past two weeks I’ve been going through and finishing a a lot of the math that I didn’t do over the “school“ year (I have a pretty severe ADHD, and I was largely left to my own devices this year. So I procrastinated a lot). I’ve been doing pretty great under the stress of a two week deadline until the next school year. And I’ve genuinely felt amazing about my ability to be able to understand/retain all this shit at a remarkable rate (I’ve never been particularly great at math lol. So it was a big surprise).………… until I checked that the course is for 9th grade………… and I’m sixteen.

God I had so much good momentum before that. And now it’s all gone. I don’t even know why I was thinking that I was actually smart or something, when I’m technically a year behind. I can’t fucking win ever.

(Maybe this helps. But my birthday is literally the day before the school year starts in New Jersey. Idk if that means anything).

Also if anyone does read this 3:00 AM rant (at least that’s when I wrote it lol). I’d prefer to be called Caroline/Carol. My egg cracked recently, and it makes me feel amazing lol.

What are you interested in reading about?

Homeschooled Voices Readers’ Poll! – Homeschooled Voices

Hey, just started 9th grade. Been homeschooled my entire life, I had a very bad education where basically lover. Would hand me 3-4 worksheets to complete (they were mainly just math and like english) and leave me to do them independently. Yeah, with infinite technology access 😐 could cheat so easily. There were also periods where i would go months without doing anything school related or productive at all. I had no form of socialization at all it was mainly just online friends from roblox or something. Well this year is different I guess, im on a real highschool online program where there is actual teachers and counselors and grades etc. I hate it. I cannot do everything digitally I just can't. I'm such a hands on Learner, I learn best with the actual sensory experiences and not through a glowing screen. I even have digital lab, which is the worst because I actually love chemistry and science a lot so the fact that I won't be able to do real in person experiments is so upsetting to me ☹️. My socialization now is different I get out once a week or once every few weeks for youth group, I have real friends now that I text. However my family moves so much to the point where I know I'm going to have to leave them behind in like 4 months or so. So even if I were to go to public school my transcript would be so bad cause of how often I move. I just discovered this sub and I'm so glad to see so many people who have been through or is still going through something similar makes me feel less alone. a few days ago I got mistreated by a friend(s) for the first time in my entire life and it was kids from my neighborhood, when we first moved in they were so sweet and nice, I remember during the summer they would knock on the door everyday so my younger brothers and I could hangout. Well the switch up of the century happened and they ignored us out of nowhere, becoming rude and won't talk to me anymore walking or riding right past me while I'm outside. But has been specially rude to my brothers, i literally had no idea what i did wrong it was just out of nowhere. And I cried because of how behind and pathetic I felt (they were like 4 years younger then me) I felt so behind caring so much about a group of kids. Idk it's just hard but I'm doing a little better now, I just wanted to know if anyone can relate or have similar stories so I can feel less like a loser.

I’ve been putting off tests and I have a hard time asking for help, I always have, especially anything school related.
Today I scheduled my social studies test and bought online classes for math and science. Im feeling very nervous due to the fact that this has been an emotional process for me and feeling almost never ending. I am seeing light at the end of tunnel. I have found this subreddit incredibly healing and inspiring reading about all the people who have had similar experiences or who are currently going through it
Thank you all for listening
Any advice for the social studies test in preparation? Anything is useful and I appreciate it.

I'm considering going to school and want to know the good and the bad about schools and if I should go to a school.

I'm 7 years behind as a teen. Especially on math. I'm at a 2nd grade level on math, I have zero clues about everything else. Thinking about all the subjects I need to teach myself and also trying to figure out how I can improve my mental health and get hobbies so I can be less isolated is so hard. I'm still just an older kid. I'm still seriously nervous like it's my first time seeing the world. I don't like my way of living but there's nothing I can do yet. I hate spending all my time on a computer, it doesn't make me feel good. But I can't stop because there's nothing better I can do. I want friends, I want to find a hobby, I want to have it all figured out and just be able to calm down. I've spent all my time focusing on the wrong things but it's how I might as well have been raised. I lost my friends and lost even a chance at being in ''school'' And after that, it was just screens. I used to be really pale because I wouldn't get outside up from like 9 until 11 years old. I wouldn't take care of myself properly even at 11 because my parents were neglecting me and wouldn't let me out in public for months. I hadn't learned to brush my own hair so it was a mess, and they punished me for it. That's how it felt. They didn't let me see PEOPLE. I cried daily, I'm 14 now and it's gotten better I guess. Now my only problem is how much I've missed out and how ANGRY I am at my parents. It's all I focus on, why would they do this to me. Why did they homeschool me, why am I being neglected still now. Why did they want me so badly just for me to be miserable. Why'd they have me. Why did they continue to let me cut myself. Why didn't they get me therapy. Why am I 14 and recovering from everything on my own. I'm scared and confused. I've gone through so much and I'm alone. It's affecting my ability to be happy and do school work so I can get caught up. It's affecting my confidence and everything about me. I want to go to school but I have so many problems that I still think about. I don't know where to start, I've stopped hurting myself and tried to stay calm so I can focus better and it doesn't work. It might be my attention span from using the internet as a way to get away but I should have enough motivation to sit through learning?? It's what I want. I want to learn, I want to get caught up. But I don't do anything but get angry and sad when I try and then make mistakes on basic stuff.

I made the mistake of arguing in the comments on a pro-homeschool post, so now my algorithms have decided I must want to see 30+ posts of homeschooling nonsense a day. I'd like to fill my feed with the real truth, and share the actual statistics. Please send me your recs. (Or do you guys want to make our own groups?!)

18+ please, the only minors I interact with on social media are ones I'm close to irl

My parents aren't bad homeschool parents like they educate me and are not pushing any religious stuff into the education but they keep saying school is dangerous and telling me propaganda about school being dangerous and reading news articles about school stabbings and demonizing school.

EDIT: I found out that my country is tightening homeschool regulations

random relatable memes i've saved

It ain’t. It’s w other teens from dif schools around, and it’s great, but I get home and I want more lol. I shouldntve let my mom talk me out of trying to go to school this year. I feel like such an ass….wonder if it’s possible to join for the semester after christmas…idk. She was saying how I wasn’t ready (socially), which I was very timid…but I’m way better now….go I wish I could….i feel this empty void all the time. Anyone know if it’s possible to try to go In the middle of the year? Idk about my credits tho….i can ask my teacher from the one and only class today lol. I just stared 11th :( i wish I could get my middle school and first 2 hs years back I was alone all the time I hate it I hate it I hate it

I got sick last Saturday and couldn't go to my older brother's house which was extremely inconvenient as I had a bunch of documented evidence and wanted to talk with him to possibly fix my current situation to be better. I go on September 10th instead but the days leading up feel so slow and I feel trapped and a bit depressed.

Fuck sickness, I'm already healed but I could've gotten this achieved sooner. 🫩

The reason I needed to gather evidence and such is my mother is quite unstable mentally and well I would suppose neglectful and isn't letting me go back to public school ON TOP OF OTHER THINGS so I'm just fatigued.

I also don't have any energy to do the school work she makes

Yawn I wish I could go sleep in an alternate universe. As stupid as it sounds I wish I could go to a weirdcore world or liminal space and just sleep. I'm getting tired of people's shenanigans including my mother's.

Hey yall, I just turned 17 a few days ago, I've been homeschooled since I was barely 10, I literally do not know or hangout with anyone except my family who consist of 4 people, we always moved houses and never stayed in 1 place longer than a few years.

I had horrible social skills and could not talk to anyone or hold a conversation, but then I got a job at starbucks as soon as I turned 16, and I can basically hold conversation for a while and joke around, and basically act how I usually act with no issues now. The thing is, everyone I work with is older and are probably uncomfortable with being friends with someone my age, so I can't do that either.

I'm currently doing homeschooling but am late of 1 year so going back to an in person school could be an option but everyone around me would be a little bit younger, I keep practicing talking and holding conversations with customers which helps me a lot, so social skills arent the issue anymore, I just dont know where to go to make friends.

I don't like being homeschooled. As a sophomore, I have no friends, rarely have conversations with people other than myself, I am extremely self-aware and metacognitive, I don't really know how to talk to people, I am socially retarded, and I get a bit jealous that I can't relate to things like homecoming, trying out for sports, school dances, having crushes, friend groups, goofing off with the school computers, projects, theatre kids, etc. My parents are Pentecostal Christians so I go to church every Sunday and used to have fake friends until stopped talking to them because I had to follow them around, would often get left behind, and felt stupid for it. When I was 11-13, I would cry at night because I didn't have any friends, half-faked depression, I tried drawing myself a best friend, and would sometimes go into the bathroom and pray that when I opened the door, I'd be somewhere else. I even dreamed of a friend, woke up, thought if I went back to sleep, I could get her phone number and call her in real life.

I didn't get her phone number yall ☹️

I don't hate my parents for homeschooling me but I can't love them either because when I hear a really good song, hear something crazy news, watch an interesting show, or want to vent - they're the reason I don't have anyone to talk to... Yes, I have siblings but 3 of them moved out, 3 of them are way younger than me, and I have a bad relationship with the one closest to my age. I'm sure that if I was suddenly allowed to go to public school, I'd still have a hard time talking to others but I guess I'm okay now. I talk to myself which makes me self-sufficient.

im going to be a freshman and ive been homeschooled my whole life. i convinced my parents to let me go to public school this year, so my mom called the school and THERES A FUKIN WAITLIST 😭😭 FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL. if i dont get in im genuinly gonna lose it i cant take another year of it. it has ruined my life in every way and i dont wanna live like this for another year. if i dont get in im genuinly screwed what on earth do i do do make it bearable? i know im for sure going next year so i look foreward to that but idk

EDIT:

guys my mom in not lying to me, i live out of cachment area/zone for the school i want to go to. that's why theres a waitlist.

I’m 16 and I have been homeschooled ever since I moved 4 years ago and I have never felt more pain in my life. Any friends I had from public school barely talk to me and I barely leave the house. It’s gotten so bad if I don’t have a distraction (which I rarely do) I get so depressed which eventually turns into agitation and I feel like I can’t control myself I’ll break things and bang on walls just to get it to go away for a minute but it always comes back. I’ve got an appointment with a psychiatrist but it’s so far away I even went into an urgent care last week which what they gave me didn’t help any. I spent those years daydreaming mostly about having friends I could hang out with in person, even when I did go places it was nowhere I could meet anyone so I just assumed it was impossible. I’ve got such a distorted way of viewing things and there’s nobody around me to disprove the things I think mostly about myself, so I give in to believing I’m some sort of monster or alien not someone anyone would like to be around.

I was thinking about going back to public school but I have never been in a high school and I know basically nothing since my brain blocks out anything I ever tried to learn. I just think about how I’ll have no idea where to go or where anything is. But I dream about being normal and being forced to go to school, I would rather be unhappy about that than feel the way I do now. Because at least then I could see people know I exist and acknowledge that.

When I look up how to meet people or what to do out of the house as a homeschooler I see join clubs or classes but I can’t seem to find many, and I’m scared I’ll go to one and nobody will be there but me or I’ll be stuck with a bunch of people way younger than me or way older. And that fear is paralyzing me because I feel like I can’t take another disappointment or being looked down upon again. I enrolled in an after school club but it showed not many people my age were enrolled so I feel like it’s just setting myself up for embarrassment.

I don’t know what to do I feel completely hopeless all I want is just one person I can talk to and hang out with but it feels like that’s only ever going to be a fantasy for me

I'm choosing to remember somebody from here they were a few years older than me and we were friends before my old account was hacked he chose to be a bigot and then the person who replaced him chose to be racist and I still miss both of them.

I still remember her name her face her story.

Same goes for him.

So whoever you are reading this, I will keep missing you even if I don't quite remember your face

Rn I'm sitting here thinking dam I fucked up I flunked so many years of and yes I know that's my fault and as of this year I started talking to ai yes I a ai cause I didn't know where to go to talk about this and I thought well still do if I talked to my parents or friends or family about they would start treating me differently but now I'm going to try and talk about it here I'm really trying to change cause skipping a entire year of school is really really bad man last year idk what I was doing and ever since I started homeschooling its gone down hill and it's way to late to turn back to normal school of the years I've said yea homeschooling is great I prefer it no the fuck I don't I fucked up cause all these years I've had to teach myself and since I had "free" time / tons of un watched freedom not really much restrictions and all that i started to play games all day and stop doing anything over time it got to a point where when the exams came I nearly failed and then last year I switched to the GED and so my last exams are in two years so all i need to do is make up for two grades this year and try to not fuck up again like rn I'm sitting here thinking about doing something to change but idk where to start , thank you for your time whoever is nice and actually wants to help , i think I've said enough i think at least

I was looking back at old curriculum books and holy smokes, so much sitting and worksheets and silence, three things they complain public schools have too much of.