1.I was homeschooled kindergarten through 12th grade! I grew up in Brownsburg Indiana until I was 8, at which point we moved to a small town in southern Indiana.
2. My parents were not homeschooled and were not professional teachers. My dad is a senior electrical engineer at Rolls Royce and my mom went to cosmetology school but was an amazing stay at home mom for 25 years!
3. I have two younger brothers who were also homeschooled - one until 10 grade and the other until 9th grade. Both wished to transfer to the local high school to participate in clubs and sports.
4. There were days I enjoyed being with my 2 younger brothers and days I did not! Haha. We were given our independent study times, especially in high school, however there were definitely days (most likely during our teen age years) when some additional space would have been good. We would start every morning with prayer, pledges (bible/flag) and a devotion. I still remember the beautiful nature inspired readings we would do each morning from a series called Character Sketches (link below). Our day would go as long as it needed to in order to get all coursework done. Some days that might be 2pm, other days it was 4p, just depending on our family/work/music/sports schedule for the day or week. One of the benefits of homeschooling is the extremely flexible schedule, so I think you just have to do what works for you and your family!
5/7. The first time I went to "real" school as my friends would call it, was when I attended IU Bloomington in 2006. It was a slightly scary transition, leaving my hometown of 3500 and attending a campus with 46,000 other people. I think the biggest challenge I faced though was the pressure I put on myself, as I felt as if I needed to prove to myself and the outside world that a homeschooler could succeed at a public college. I am so happy I was home schooled and think it prepared me very well to excel at IU and IUPUI in that I was skilled at self-study and problem solving.
6. While my parents gave me the choice of attending a private highschool, I chose to stay home! I think if I had attended high school, I would have been active in different clubs and cultivated different hobbies, but its hard to say if that would have changed my professional path. I know that I missed out on alot of drama, drugs, sex, bullying and self confidence issues that are considered an everyday aspect of high school life now and for that all I can do is say thank you mom and dad!
8. I received my Exercise Science BS from IU in 2010 and my physical therapy doctorate from IUPUI in 2013. I attended an orthopedic residency at the University of Indianapolis and Body One Physical Therapy and Sports Rehabilitation in 2014 and in June of last year I became a board certified orthopedic clinical specialist. Currently I practice on the north side of Indianapolis at Body One and enjoy helping people recover from back, neck, jaw or any other joint pain. For fun, my husband and I are rehabbing our home Geist! I enjoy refinishing furniture, DIY projects, trying new recipes and Crossfit. We have found a new church home and are looking forward to getting involved there very soon.
9. During college and grad school, my friends and classmates were often surprised when they found out I spend k-12 at home. When I would ask why they were so shocked, they would say something like, "But you're so ..... normal?". I recognize that there are some not so normal home schoolers, but this always made me laugh. I guess you would say my social interactions were normal? And I'm not really sure if anyone is truly prepared for the awkwardness of dating! My husband and I have been happily married for 2 1/2 amazing years. He was not home schooled, attended IU and works as a CPA. He also turned out "normal" I would say. :)
10. We have discussed the possibility of home schooling in the future, but I really don't think it will fit our family's needs very well. We have spent 12 collective years on our education/professional goals and this point I can''t see leaving that investment to home school. I will most likely stay at home for awhile when our kids are young as day care is running about as expensive as a mortgage these days! Yikes! But I really love what I do and can't see giving that up permanently....Although that being said, the Lord has taught me a lesson or two just when I think I have everything "figured out", so we will see what he has in store for us!
If you would like to know more about what Dr. Savage does professionally please visit her profile with Body One Physical Therapy and Sports Rehabilitation.
If you would like to know more about what Dr. Savage does professionally please visit her profile with Body One Physical Therapy and Sports Rehabilitation.
4 comments:
I just got a google alert in my inbox notifying me that my name popped up on the internet. I was surprised to see "My Homeschool Journey with Chelsea Savage”; because my name is Chelsea Savage and I was also home schooled:-) I am in Virginia and am 45 years old. I had to read it because home schooling was such a big part of my journey as well. I am so happy that homeschooling was a wonderful experience for this blog's Chelsea Savage. I and my peers whom I grew up with experienced the underside of homeschooling. We live in a state that has a religious exemption statute; in my case and in a lot of other home schoolers case this is a set up for abuse. I was raised in a cultish environment and taken out of school after 6th grade. We had books but no effort was made to teach us. We were lower class, subsiding on welfare and section 8 housing under the control of a religious leader. Most of my peers didn't get their GED until well after they were married. I taught myself got my GED when I was 15. I left this church at 24 with my 3 month old daughter. I am now a very happy Buddhist with a RN, BA in philosophy/religious studies, grad degree in Health Administration, fellowship in health law, and doctorate in nursing practice. My child is an awesome 21 year old. It worked out ok-but there were many years of darkness to overcome. My homeschool story.
Chelsea Savage in Richmond, Virginia
Thank you for staying to read our guest post. I am sorry that your upbringing was such a painful one. Our family is thankful that you were able to leave such a harmful belief system and group of people. We will pray for continued peace with your past. God's Blessings - Amy
Thank you Amy. It was a nice surprise to find your blog post. Blessings to you and your family as well.
Chelsea
Post a Comment