There are a series of articles, books, TV shows and movies out there that portray high school as hell on earth (usually in the form of bad acting). And every time I come across this stereotype I have to laugh. I did not have the horrible high school experience everyone else seems to have had. And no, I wasn't Miss Popularity. I was overweight back then (though, much less so than I am today). I wasn't a jock - in fact, I was a choir/musical "nerd." I hung out with the ROTC kids (if that's not a label for nerdom, I don't know what is). I never spent a ton of time on my appearance for an average day at school and I didn't have a ton of boyfriends.
But I was never a social pariah.
I had my group of friends and we did our own little thing. No one bothered us and we didn't notice anyone else. I don't know. I think junior high was hell on earth but that's another post (having much to do with the fact that I had major boobage long before most of my classmates).
I have hopes that Dante and Lucy have a similar experience to mine. "Normal"- whatever that is. Not hell on earth. Just....fine.
So I want to hear from you. Do you have high school horror stories?
I actually had an amazing high school experience. I wanted that for my kids, but it took me a few years to realize that my kids aren't me and they aren't necessarily going to have the same experience that I did (and that is when I began homeschooling). :)
ReplyDeleteHigh school definately had it's ups and downs for me. 16 was an espcially bad year for me. But, I had some close friends and I guess over-all it balanced out. I survived.
ReplyDeleteI did have my moments of hell though, so I guess I can empathize with some of the crappy teen melodrama's that paint a bleaker picture...however, my beef with teen drama's are always the shows/movies that cast 25 year old's as high school students who all drive new cars, or vintage muscle cars, and go to wild and crazy parties and take field trips to Paris...seriously people?
Home for me was crap, so school was a safe haven. It was fine. It was normal.
ReplyDeleteWe also homeschool, but it's because my kid came home one day in sixth grade and said, "Why don't you just homeschool me?" AND because I was the mom who hated the end of summer and looked forward to every single day off of school for them. But I have a lot to say on this subject (not all pro-homeschool/anit-school) and if you and Adam what to listen or ask questions feel free - you know where to find me :)
I'm one of the chicks who had an absolute blast in high school. I loved every minute of it...I had a great group of close friends, dated my now husband after our freshman year with out any real true boy drama, went to just about every function & had a ton of fun.
ReplyDeleteI played sports (not well, but again--social hour!) and worked at a tanning salon. The school work part was easy enough, and it was a very small class with 100 kids in our class. I could have been cooler, meaner, riskier (I never drank or did naughty stuff like that) a better student and better at sports--but it was still a fantastic experience for me, I'm not going to lie. I hope my kids can make the best out of theirs, whatever it is that's best for them!
Somewhat like the MFP, my experience at home was crap. So school was a good place. My only gripe with HS was that I was "done" with it, before it was done with me. I wanted more than my small town HS could provide, so I moved on to college a year early. I liked my friends, and mostly enjoyed school, but was just done.
ReplyDeletePlus moving on was easier to get away from home. So that played a huge role in my moving on.