Alexandria sat on the bus, awaiting arrival at her new school. She wondered what her peers would think of her, and what a classroom would look like. She hardly knew how to open a locker. Everything would change today.

As a freshman at Blue Valley Southwest High, Alexandria Clark looks back on her unwilling transition to public education. From kindergarten, Clark had been homeschooled. But, in 6th grade, her parents put her in public school.

At Home
She used to begin the day by standing to the Pledge of Allegiance, and placing her hand on her heart. She watched video lessons from a school in Florida. Her first class was a Bible study. Then Clark moved through different subjects. Every day the schedule was changed, so as to prevent boredom. Her subjects were that of any regular class, such as reading, mathematics, social studies, art, writing, and science.

When the video lessons were over, her mother would help her with the concepts she didn’t understand. She would also grade tests and help teach vocabulary.
“That was a long time ago, wasn’t it?” Mrs. Clark says, reflecting.

Clark liked homeschooling for many reasons. She was able to take as much time as she needed to understand a subject or get through worksheets. On the other hand, if she finished a lesson quickly, she did not need to wait for other students to catch up. School for Clark could end at noon, depending on how quickly she went through the lessons.
And she was able to wake up at 7:30 to 8 o’clock.

Going to School
But the time came when her sister, Victoria, made the jump to public school in 8th grade. Since her sister was going, Clark’s parents decided that she should go too, especially because they would be in the same school for a year.

She began in 6th grade, at Pleasant Ridge Middle School. Luckily, before the first day, the school held a “Bulldog Boot Camp”, for the incoming class, introducing Clark, as well as the other students, to the way the school was organized.
“We got to kind of just like hang out, and go through what a day would be like,” she said. “So the actual first day of school was not as scary as it would’ve been otherwise.”
They worked on opening their lockers right, and getting to their classes on time.

She didn’t know anyone but a couple of people in the grade higher than her, and her sister. Therefore she didn’t have many friends.
It was difficult to make the switch, not only because of her loneliness, but also because she felt as if the school was teaching a couple grades less than what she knew.
“There was a big change, because I felt like I was taking a couple steps back,” Clark said. “Like even to the point of going from 5th grade, in homeschooling, almost back to 3rd grade. Especially in math; it wasn’t nearly as advanced.”

Feeling Welcome
It took, according to her, about a year for her to feel comfortable at a public school. But, she still felt she didn’t have friends, and that was really hard for her.
“The fact that I still didn’t really have any friends… that was really hard,” she said.

After 7th grade, her second year of public school, she transferred to Aubry Bend Middle School. She felt much more welcome there and made many friends. In 8th grade, she participated in basketball, the school musical, and other activities.
“The word friend can mean so many things,” Clark wrote in a poem. “I have friends that I talk to about some things, but I also have real friends that I tell just about everything. These are my REAL friends, those who know me better than I know myself. They are the people who will forever be there for me.”

Now, the only one to be homeschooled is Clark’s little brother, Zachariah. He’s currently in 3rd grade, working on his cursive.

Alexandria doesn’t regret transferring to public school. Although it was difficult to transition, she now understands how things work, and how to make the most of the time while in school.
“I don’t regret it as a whole because I think it has been good for me,” she said. Though she didn’t really learn any new English or Math until last year and a little this year, she believes socially it has benefited her. “It took me until 8th grade to have real friends at school, and I had always kinda struggled with being in large groups of people and I hardly ever talked to anyone, but now I think I talk a lot more and am more comfortable.”