The first time I stepped foot in university I was 17 years old. Like many students in France, I arrive in a new city, Clermont-Ferrand, and begin my life as an independent adult. But for me the shock is really general: the class system, the teachers, being with people all day. After having completed all of my secondary education at home, I am experiencing this new stage of my life as a total change.
I grew up in a fairly isolated village in the south of Corsica. I am the oldest of four sisters. The schools are far away. My mother thought we could try homeschooling, which she had heard about. She is a housewife, while my father is a mechanic on construction sites.
I’m in CE2, my sister is in kindergarten. This lasts several months, then we move to the outskirts of Lyon and our parents enroll us in school again. I am struck by the difference in level compared to the other children. In one semester my sister and I got ahead. However, I develop a lot of blocks. I don’t socialize much, I spend my time reading, my level drops a lot and it becomes painful. I often come home crying and my sister is in a similar situation.
My mother quickly realizes that she can spend hours at night explaining our lessons to us again and building our confidence. This period coincides for us with a move to Haute-Loire, a new change of establishment. Even if it wasn’t intended to perpetuate the homeschooling experience in CE2, my mother thought we could try it again.
“I am very organized”
After this move, I never went back to school. We have a big house, in a small mountain town. My mother defined a “classroom”, a space reserved for work, in which everyone has their own desk. We don’t all study at the same time, and the little ones much less than the older ones.
During my college years, my mother managed my classes, then I enrolled in the National Center for Distance Education since high school. My mother maintains a very “classical” curriculum, with normal school programs. I got the certificate, then the baccalaureate as a free candidate, and I obtained them.
I am very organized and tend to plan my days myself by studying in the morning and spending the afternoon outdoors. I have a dog, horses that I ride. My sisters and I also practice many sports and artistic activities: horse riding, climbing, kendo, music… We compete, which takes up a lot of our time.
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