Ah! I'm a currently homeschooled teenager!

There's a lot of ways to go about homeschooling. Theres the way everyone thinks homeschooling happens - literally in the home, taught by a parent - and then a thousand other ways. It's different for everyone.

With all the technology we have today, there's never been a better time to be homeschooled. The internet has allowed me to do a good part of my schooling through the internet via resources like edX and Khan Academy, and the homeschool groups I'm in are always sharing cool educational and/or extracurricular opportunities over email.

My method of homeschooling is a mix up of online resources, small classes and co-ops, hands-on experience and real world applications. I basically study what I'm interested in, in whatever way I feel like studying them. I'm responsible for my own education, my parents are not super involved in my schooling. I've found that you become more motivated to learn when no one's forcing you to learn. After a couple weeks in an algebra II co-op, I discovered that I actually understood and even enjoyed math.

One of the biggest things people ask about homeschooling is, of course, how do you make friends? This was something I was super worried about at first. In public school, I kind of just made friends with people I was assigned to sit next to. When you're homeschooled and don't see people on a daily basis, you have to be a bit more proactive, I think I've actually become a bit more social since I've started homeschooling.

The best way to make friends in homeschool is through extracurriculars. When you're homeschooled, you have a ton of freetime, and a lot of time to try new things and figure out what you're interested in. Once you find some things you enjoy and you get involved with by joining a team/club/volunteer activity/whatever, you will meet people who share your interests.

Some major pros to homeschooling: Learning at your own pace, having the freedom to explore and discover what you want to do with yourself (my high school experience has been kind of like an extended gap year), sleeping late, not having to sit in a chair all day, people assuming you're a college student when you're walking around town on a Tuesday morning, being able to take trips during the school year

The cons: The judgmental looks some people give you when you say you're homeschooled, not being able to remember what day of the week it is half the time

I'm very tired so this may not be very eloquent. Feel free to ask me questions if you have any.

Here's a video that might help you understand what my version of homeschooling is like.