Liberated Learners Spring 2008

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Spring 2008

Readers of Liberated Learners know that most North Star members are teens who come to our program from school. While many of these teens come with some degree of distress or crisis, one interesting point is that the vast majority of our members would have stayed in school and graduated if North Star did not exist. North Star, and homeschooling, is a wonderful way to improve a life, particularly for those not taking satisfaction from the superficial success they are achieving in school. Two current members who were doing well in school prior to joining North Star are Ariana Ferber-Carter and Oliver Spiro. Both Ariana and Oliver were getting good grades in school when they decided to homeschool. They each have stable, loving, and supportive families. When they attended school, they did their homework, behaved well, and appeared to be reasonably kind and well-adjusted young people. In this issue they explain how “doing well� in school felt unsatisfying, and

When I first met Ariana, she explained that her involvement in circus and gymnastics made it really difficult for her to keep up with her schoolwork. Accepting responsibility for doing well in school meant late nights and a lot of stress. Ariana could see the potential of homeschooling in her life, and she enlisted me as an ally to help her convince her parents to give this a try. Mostly, Ariana did the convincing. Now, two years older and nearly 17, Ariana has been true to her word. She has used the flexibility of homeschooling to adjust her schedule around her chosen activities, and she has worked to honor the academic commitments that she made to herself and her parents. While this process has not been stress-free, the maturity that comes from it is evident. Ariana has a strong self-awareness about her strengths and about the support she needs to accomplish her goals. Her focus, thoughtfulness, and general concern for others have led to her to become a mainstay our community. I am deeply happy that she has had this opportunity to spend her mid-teen years with such a degree of self-direction.—K.D.

Ariana

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