HOMESCHOOLING PAVED THE WAY FOR A BRIGHT FUTURE

By Joe Riedesel

Every individual will differ in their experience with homeschooling and how it has impacted his or her life. For me, I have had a very positive experience and enjoyed many of the opportunities that were provided to me given my background as a homeschooler and how that background helped shape who I am and what I wanted to be.

I started out in private school for some of elementary and then my parents made the decision to go ahead and teach me at home until I went into eighth grade. This seemed like a natural time to pull me out because that was the point where my district in the state of Kansas stopped having as many sports opportunities not directly linked to a particular public school.

What I discovered when I switched from homeschool to public school was that I was quite a bit ahead of my peers on the academic yardstick. Not only was my work ethic much stronger, but also I was far better at doing research and developing ideas on my own. Contrary to what many people think, there was no communications disconnect between myself and my peers when it came to group projects, so long as I made sure that I chose team members who didn’t lack the motivation to succeed with hard work. It was that realization that would help lead me to my choice of higher education.

Having read Lords of Discipline and taken an interest in things of a military nature, I came to realize that it would not be a bad idea to surround myself with people who had a will to succeed and an innate sense of duty and thankfulness for this country. This, coupled with an opportunity to pursue sports at the higher level, led me to the Air Force Academy. Though this is not a school for everyone, I found that my homeschool experience was very beneficial in leading me toward success in my new surroundings. The dynamic atmosphere is such that you have to be able to push yourself as an individual before you are really able to help anyone else.

While being homeschooled, one of the things I learned was to always look up something that you didn’t understand or fully grasp. My teacher (a.k.a. “Mom”) would always be the first to grab a dictionary when only Webster could complete the picture a book would illustrate with complicated
circumlocution. This would later translate into many presentations saved by my off-hand research that others didn’t think needed to be done until the Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the class would ask about the very thing I had researched the night
before. I probably owe many good grades to the basic self-discipline and sense of academic
inquiry that was so beneficial during my collegiate education to what I learned during my time as a homeschooler.

2nd Lieutenant Joseph Riedesel

United States Air Force
• 2005 Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
• Graduated Top 10% of Management Major
• Rugby All-American Collegiate Athlete

Academic Achievements:
• High School 4.0 GPA
• USAFA: 3.6 GPA