Let's start from the very beginning-- Hi, my name is Kira, and I am a home schooled dork. Now, I mean that in the best possible way, but this is my reality. Homeschooling is an experience, in and of itself, because of isolation from one's peers, but it is a unique experience because of my family and the way I was, and still am, raised. I am the oldest of four children, being raised in a family that by and large does everything together-- eating, learning, reading, discussing, and traveling the world. My family has had opportunities to travel even when I was very young, and taking advantage of these opportunities has meant that I have had the gift of travel since I was six weeks old. And though I didn't appreciate it when I was younger, as I got older, I realized that not everyone has this gift. As soon as I grasped this concept, I understood that I should take advantage of every opportunity to travel, and everything travel has to offer--such as an education about cultures, people, and even about myself. Last year, we were in limbo because our house did not sell in time for us to move and settle in a new state where I would be attending a brick and mortar school. I did what came naturally to me, being raised in the family that I am in-- I suggested to my mother that upon selling our home, we should take an inexpensive sabbatical to Europe. She could rest after the stress of closing down a business and selling a home, and we could home school while immersed in an entirely different culture. I never dreamt that she would agree to this-- but my mother, the gypsy, said yes. We chose Greece as the country to immerse ourselves in, and decided to spend two months in a little town called Chania, on the island of Crete. I fell in love with the small European country immediately. I still cannot fully articulate my feelings for the Greek culture, language, history, and people. We spent two months in two small rooms, often filling up our days with absolutely nothing but time together-- no television to watch except for Greek TV, no telephones with which to communicate with our friends, no people to talk to save each other or the locals-- the only food we could eat was local fare, and in the manner in which the locals took their meals. Which meant we had to learn to sit for an exceedingly long time by American standards. I discovered that I truly loved this lifestyle, and in the process developed a much deeper relationship with my family, my mother in particular. After the two months passed all too soon, I knew that I would come back one day, but I had no idea it would be so soon. I was shocked when my mother, who also fell in love with Greece, came to me with the concept of returning-- this time to volunteer with an organization called Global Volunteers. She stumbled upon the website and idea of volunteering overseas while researching international high school programs for me online. Again, yet another unique aspect of home schooling, for what may seem like an outrageous concept to most is simply another day in my life. I had recently told my mother that a dream of mine was to volunteer overseas, after I graduated from college. I also told my mother that I was worried about the application process for college-- that my extracurriculars were not sufficient, and although I was home schooled in the most unique way, something was missing from my high school resume. With these two issues in mind, my mother researched and constructed a plan that would incorporate my dream to volunteer overseas, and would provide a resolution to my concerns about my extracurriculars. This would be an extension of my education and another path to my personal development. I will be returning to Crete in July, teaching early elementary school children to speak English with my own curriculum. While I do this, I will be learning Greek as well. Although my trip is in just a few short months, I am impatiently waiting for our departure date to arrive. But for now, I must be content with simply waiting.
