People always ask me, "what was it like to be homeschooled" and I never have an answer for them. It was all I knew. What was it like to go to public school? But this. This is what it was like. My sister and I did things, made things, whatever we wanted. We went places and interacted with adults and worked on real projects. Nothing as impressive as this, but lots of things far more impressive than our peers.<p>But that wasn't "being homeschooled", that was having our parents. I've learned that most of our homeschooled peers didn't do anything like we did. It was kind of a weird revelation to grow up in this group of supposed-academic-over-achievers, often feel like the dumb one because I hadn't read all of the books they did (which I now realize was because I had a much more balanced up bringing that included sports and other studies), and then be the only two (my sister and I) to make something out of our lives.<p>Religious zealotry will do that to people. And they were zealous in both homeschooling and Christianity. I'm now somewhat surprised one or two of them haven't committed suicide yet. I know one has tried, but his zealotry makes him refuse to get help. His father, being the local physician in our small town, apparently doesn't believe depression is a real thing. And yet half or more of his 11 kids are textbook cases.<p>It makes me sick. But again, that's not homeschooling, that's having certain parents. One's parents are, naturally, the biggest influence on their lives.