A thought struck me today. It actually caused my jaw to drop and my eyes to wander to the ceiling as I just sat there, remembering.

I, like you, was a public school kid, through and through. The only main difference, most likely, was the fact that I was an Air Force brat, traveling the world my entire childhood. Born in Taiwan, we soon made our way to Japan, where my sister, Jenefer, was born. My father was a military man with a desire to give his family as much as possible. It was a great life! England, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Scotland, Israel, Greece, Alaska-lots of adventure and lots of picking up and beginning again. We rarely stayed in any one place for more than three years.

This meant that Jen and I needed to constantly adjust, start over. We'd make friends, only to leave them a short time later.

But what gave me pause this morning was not the memory of the fun times, the traveling and exploring. I was sitting at my desk rushing through the mess of e-mails, the writers' calendar, the looming deadlines, the day's (never-ending) plan. One of our magazine's State Coordinators, Gail Biby, sent me a great announcement written by HSLDA's Chris Klicka. It turns out that yet another homeschooler took a major prize, this time an international one. John Rice (age 15!), a homeschooler from a wheat farm in North Dakota won a gold medal last week in an international geography contest (National Geographic World Championship). The United States actually took France and Germany in a grueling match in Europe. Three U.S. students claimed that gold medal, John being one. Incredible how homeschoolers have entered the mainstream and are holding their own. We should be proud, very proud, of this accomplishment.

Further research this morning brought me to another compelling story (HSLDA). Jason Heki, a seventeen-year-old homeschooler from Iowa, took a great prize as well. Turns out that the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, which sponsors an annual entrepreneurial competition, honored homeschooler, Jason, at their tenth annual Entrepreneurial Spirit Awards Dinner in New York City. Jason, who graduated from the NFTE (the organization who honored him), received a cash prize of over $750 for his accomplishment: he created a neat little business, Green Acres Family Farm, where Jason services local restaurants with his free range eggs! His mother credits homeschooling to her son's success, explaining that the Lord and the local Christian community made all the difference as well. She went on to share that learning lessons "hands on" is much more practical than studying them in a classroom. I couldn't agree more.

What makes study fun? Why do these kids pour their hearts into specific areas of academia, and how do they know at such young ages what they are even interested in? I mean, you have to really LIKE this stuff to take it that seriously. As my mind wandered this morning, I began thinking about my public school days. I despised them. For one thing, I could not learn and for another, I was what you would term a "nerd" for the first twelve months I lived anywhere. Making friends was difficult for me. After a year of living in one spot, I was fine-plenty of "good" friends to influence me, and me them (downtown Kaiserslautern, Germany is *NOT* a good place for American high schoolers to run wild). I would spend those first months attempting to adjust, trying to make new friends, devising ways to mold into whatever the current cultural trend was -- and believe me, ultra-liberal Europe's cultural trends are nothing like Asia's or the United States' cultural trends. This left little room for focus on my studies or pursuing what might interest me as far as career choices go.

Ninth grade went a little like this: I was new in Ramstein, Germany, just fresh from an air base in England (Greenham Common). England (culturally speaking) is slightly (OK, way) behind France and Germany. I had spent a year in England doing quite well. After all, I was from the U.S. which was "more civilized" much more "ahead"-I could hold my own. But, spending days watching the "punk movement" evolve (green hair, purple hair, fluorescent clothing), and deciding that I must meld to the culture, we were soon whisked off to Germany to begin a new (two-year) tour. Purple sweats, weird hair, and fluorescent green leg warmers (I kid you not) don't really work at Ramstein Middle School, a very "posh" place to be. I was hit with a wave of rejection I had never experienced. My 9^th grade year was impossible. Learning did not happen at all. I was made fun of daily. All I could do was dream about going home and stuffing myself with frozen pizzas and tomato soup and cookies. Then the next day, the cycle would begin again. Even the school geeks hated me.

But, oh joy! There was one good thing about 9^th grade. Technically, I was in high school (even though we were at a middle school with 7^th and 8^th graders) so we got to choose our own classes. Electives!! Maybe I'd enjoy learning. Well, Foods I and Foods II were first choices (I loved food), and Journalism was a close second, as I enjoyed writing. But I couldn't function anywhere, even in these high interest classes.

Germany was too advanced and I was just too far behind everyone else. I found a friend, Jodi, who took me under her wing-well, only until I publicly changed my name to Jadus (so I could be like her with a "J" name) and embarrassed her in Journalism class with accidentally acquired dog feces on my shoe which I slyly tried to wipe on my school desk frame. The class burst forth with hysterical laughter and mocked disgust noises, and she turned red since she was my "friend"-she didn't talk to me after that.

I also had made a new friend in Foods I and Foods II classes, Jamie. But soon, Jamie hated me, too, and made fun of my loud leg warmers which lit up our class. No learning took place there, either. I remember crying into the food we prepared.

I couldn't study this way. I had no interest. I hated Journalism class intensely after the "dog/desk" incident-people thought I was a freak. 9^th grade was completed with mostly "D" grades, no friends and a whole lot of grief.

What put me into a daydream this morning was thinking about these homeschooled kids who accomplished such great things with their minds when they were my age. I was no where near ready to think about what I might do in the future. What am I? I write; I'm a publisher. I love journalism. It occurred to me that I had attempted to "whet my appetite" in that field in the ninth grade (where the "shoe" incident happened), but had come away with vowing that I would NEVER enter a journalism field. I received a "D" in that class. Even the teacher had laughed at me.

To end the story, I'll just share with you what happened the following year. This "nerd" adjusted to the culture and I became like them. I threw out the pizzas and cookies and designed my new "image" to be like my peers'. Those who looked like Kate Moss were the "beautiful people" so I strove to become like them. Out the door went the crazy green leg warmers and purple sweats and weird hair. In came the wild European clothing, crazy 80's big hair and loads of make up. The boyfriends came and went. The friends taught me their ways. I learned plenty in public school the following year. But my vow to never enter the journalism/writing field stayed with me for twenty years. My 9^th grade year was too traumatic to even think about.

We have such an opportunity with our children, don't we? God is gracious. He allowed me to go through this for a purpose. My kids will never experience that way of life. They won't sell their souls to fit in with a dying culture. If they decide to pursue a particular field, like John and Jason, they will climb that ladder until they get there, without distraction of embarrassing class laughter, red faces, or the lowest part of society's barrel expecting them to be like them. Praise God.

Gena Suarez is the co-publisher of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine for homeschoolers. Her husband, Paul, the other "co" reside in Cool, California with their four homeschooled children. Gena@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com