I grew up as the oldest child, the oldest grandchild, and the oldest great grandchild. Needless to say, for the first three years of my life, I was surrounded by a lot of adults and grew up very quickly. I learned to speak especially early and was always a social butterfly. As I grew older, my surroundings may have changed with the additions of more little ones running around but we all were expected to be social with each other, those older than us and have manners while interacting.
When the time came for school we all went in different directions. Some went to public school, others went to private, while a few were homeschooled. As the years went on, each family changed their minds about where their children should be learning but all three sectors of education were still employed, just by different people.

In my experience, I’ve learned that it’s not where you go to school. It’s who you surround yourself with and how you choose to live your life. While I was a homeschool student, I wasn’t “in class” everyday. Sometimes I would be working with my grandfather in his auction company and taking my “business class.” Other times I would go to work with my dad in his weed control business and learn about natural resources. Each morning and evening I would spend time with my livestock project. That would entail exercising, feeding, vaccinating and managing books. While doing that I was taking, P.E., nutrition, health, and accounting. Every day was a new day for learning and while I still learned the basics that the state required me to, I was gaining valuable knowledge that I use every day.

In today’s video blog, we take a look at homeschool students from around the nation who are getting the most out of their education and their lives.
Andy Barth