So, my homeschool education is now a thing of the past (although I definitely am still going to do lots of independent home-studying outside of schoolwork). But, I see no reason why I should delete all the text about my homeschooling, since it's quite an interesting story. So, below you can read how it all began and what I used to study...

I had already mentioned that I left school after only a couple of months in first grade because of a head lice epidemic, but there were more reasons too. While I still was in first grade, my classmates were learning the alphabet but I already knew how to read and write, because my mom had taught me. I also knew some math. I could write in cursive but my teacher at elementary school didn’t let me write in cursive, or even to read anything. The teacher said that I would make the other kids jealous and hurt their feelings. Well, I actually taught one friend to read on her own during recess breaks…

Another thing was that the teacher often complained to my parents about me being too “picky” and that I didn’t play with just everybody, that I chose my friends selectively. The teacher said I wasn’t sensitive and social. Whatever…

I remember a funny thing that happened when I was finally allowed once to read out loud in class. In the text there was the word “fat,” but when I read it, my teacher scolded me and said I should say “fit” instead. Why? Isn’t “fit” an opposite of “fat”? Well, she explained that I could hurt the feelings of some “obese” kid. I couldn’t understand then, but now I do realize that there are so many American children who are really fat, like pigs, even when they are of elementary school age… Normally, in Europe, fat (or even slightly chubby) kids are teased mercilessly by their classmates and are given nicknames like “piggy.” Well, unable to endure the shame and humiliation such “piggies” usually do their best to lose weight... And most of them really succeed. I personally know a few in Lithuania. But here in America school kids are afraid to tease, because they don’t want to be reproved by their teachers or even get suspended from school. So the fat kids don’t feel ashamed of their appearance and they never ever try to lose weight, which is why so many adults are also morbidly obese here.

This whole “fat/fit” thing was just so absurd that I understand perfectly well now why my parents took me out of that idiotic school.

I understand also what is the reason why American kids mostly are so dumb. Instead of learning math and reading in school, they are just brainwashed from a very young age about being sensitive, tolerant, and how they should be happy about all this diversity stuff. It is hard to believe but it’s true that thousands of students in America graduate from high school or even university, but they still can’t read what their diplomas say... Neither can they read anything else, or write, or do mathematics. In this town where I live one-third of adults are functionally illiterate. This is official!

Therefore, as my father says, going to American school is the same as stepping in dog poop. So, if you can avoid it, then why waste your time and spoil your brain. Instead of spending days staring at your classroom ceiling while the teacher drones on about sensitivity and diversity, better stay at home and really learn something. Remember – First a reader, then a leader!

I finally finished my homeschool eductaion with 10th grade. If you’re wondering what kind of materials I used for studying, well, our relatives used to send me almost all textbooks from Lithuania. Every year I would receive a hefty box of books and worksheets which I used during the school year. So, most of my education was of Lithuanian standard which is much, much, much higher than American. Although some things, such as English grammar and literature, I learned from textbooks borrowed from our university’s library.

My subjects were many and varied. Most were interesting enough, but there were a few that I didn’t really like and would have gladly lived without. Probably the most interesting subject I studied was literature, especially English literature. Since I absolutely love to read, I’ve tried reading at least a tiny bit from most of the literary works I’ve studied. However, I couldn’t understand much in the earliest English literature, that was written in “Olde English.” Another thing that I did was learning by heart poems in Lithuanian, English, and Russian. Since I learned at least one new poem in each language every month, and I’ve been doing this since I was about seven… well, you do the math. By now I sure know a lot of poems!

Every day I also learned music (I play piano). And, every morning, rain or shine, I still go jogging several miles which keeps me very fit and definitely not fat...

In this manner I was homeschooled for over eight years. At first I really couldn’t even imagine going to an American public school again. No way! But, as of now, as I said before, I'm almost ready to graduate from Lane Community College, which is a ten minute bus ride from home. So far I've been enjoying it very much. Since I received my G.E.D. (an equivalent of a highschool diploma) at only 16 years of age, as opposed to all other students who finish school at 18, I'm the youngest in all my classes. And the classes are great (except for math, which I've always despised). I'm working towards an Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer Degree with a major in History. Some of my favorite classes are History of Western Civilization and History of Western Art, as well as Survey of British Literature (Ancient to Middle Ages), which I took in my first term and enjoyed immensely, especially reading Beowulf in Old English.