So am I socially retarted? Part 2

I left off my last post about how I had learned quite a bit about socialization in public schools. But the story is far from over so I will continue from after 7th grade.

In the summer between 7th and 8th grade we moved. I was starting over again. I thought I ought to try this school thing again. And this time around it was better, and worse. At my new school I never saw kids making out in the halls so that was a good thing, however I never made any friends. I want to make it very clear that I was my fault that I didn't make friends, and not the fault of the school per say. And it may be that if I had attended public school I would have had the social skills to make friends, but that is not the end of the story.

Mom, seeing that I had no friends, decided to do something about it. She gathered other home-school moms and created a unit study class. We met once a week and studied units; like ancient Mayans, or Columbus, things like that. That is the first time I felt like I had friends, I was still weird and awkward but these kids didn't care that much. What a breath of fresh air that was.

The summer I was 14 I went through a transformation. I decided that I was going to care how I looked. I lost about 30 lbs and 9 inches. You know its funny how different people treat you when you fit into their idea of what is acceptable. That school year I continued doing classes with my home-school friend. More advanced classes. We studied Shakespeare, the Constitution, and US history. I also started High school taking Stage Production, and a religion class. And the crazy thing was I made friends just fine. I was no longer and outcast, I knew how to make friends and did so.

I could tell this play by play, my ups my downs, the boys, the drama, but I will boil it down to a few sentences. I almost went back to public school full time I really did. I liked having friends and being accepted, but I didn't and here is why. Being at school didn't give me the time I wanted to focus on getting a good education. It gave me lots of time to be with friends but that was not my highest priority.

I didn't give up on having a social life. I just chose to control it. I consider my teen years to be some of the best of my life. My good friends were my home-school friends. We had many parties and adventures, all of which my parents would heartily approve of. We really had some great times

We have all taken widely different paths, but each and every one of them has a dear place in my heart. I love you guys, thanks for making my teens great.