Everyone has had that light bulb moment when being taught how to accomplish a difficult task or problem. At first, you’re barely able to understand what you’re doing. You look around and see that everyone else is able to complete the same work as if it held no burden on them. Yet, you are left there still not understanding why you can’t seem to have things come just as easily to you. Then, one day, eventually something clicked. You understood what was happening. You were conscious on your ability to defeat the task and then the next thing you know. Everything was easier. For me, that one task was school, and the light bulb, burnt out.
My childhood academic career began to see problems when my mother told me we were moving from our small town home in Alaska, to Michigan, to help support our grandparents in their old age. At the time I was within the top percentile for my classes and normally saw full 100 percent grades on my tests. Each class was small and the teachers catered to the students. The school’s environment was perfect for me and my unknown complications.
Everything became worse once we made the move to Michigan. At the time I was just entering sixth grade. The class sizes doubled, expectations tripled, and the educational difficulty for me quadrupled. Teachers in a changing rotation I saw every hour no longer had a chance to cater directly to me. I was thrown in a class with thirty-some other strangers, and asked to do many numerous tasks which overwhelmed me. This, over time, resulted in arguments with my parents on why I was failing, and required me to receive disapproval and criticism from everyone who didn’t understand why I couldn’t achieve decent grades.
As the first semester came to a finish, report cards were sent out. My parents were extremely upset with me, and I was devastated when we both realized how inadequate I really was at being a successful student. Dropping from the top of my class straight into the abyss of the bottom 90 percent was extremely discouraging to the younger version of me. This caused me to start falling asleep during class. At the time it was assumed that I wasn’t getting enough sleep, and that I didn’t care enough in school to stay awake, but in reality I was passed down my mother’s hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is a condition which causes the regulatory gland of your body to slow down, this meant that I was often fatigued and was the root of my issues. Due to the constant fatigue I was unable to focus on my studies.
It was freshman year when my parents and I decided to leave public schooling. This allowed us the time and flexibility to schedule appointments and work with doctors 300 miles away because, at the time, we still failed to understand my medical conditions. Along the path to sorting my medical issues I was diagnosed with ADD, a learning disorder that carried a heavy impact on my learning abilities.
Not only did I not learn the different subjects in junior high, but I also failed to learn how to learn. Schooling does not only teach you a handful of subjects, but it also teaches you different strategies to learn information efficiently. While I completed my 10th and 11th year of home schooling I had that moment—where finally all of the obstacles pitted against me, no longer had control. That was my light bulb moment when I finally understood school. I understood my expectations and how to best achieve them. I was able to start earning straight A’s, and bring my GPA up from the original 2.1 I had before. It was by my choice that was influenced by my light bulb moment to return to my local high school for my senior year, to prove to myself that I can achieve what is expected of me, and more.
My childhood academic career began to see problems when my mother told me we were moving from our small town home in Alaska, to Michigan, to help support our grandparents in their old age. At the time I was within the top percentile for my classes and normally saw full 100 percent grades on my tests. Each class was small and the teachers catered to the students. The school’s environment was perfect for me and my unknown complications.
Everything became worse once we made the move to Michigan. At the time I was just entering sixth grade. The class sizes doubled, expectations tripled, and the educational difficulty for me quadrupled. Teachers in a changing rotation I saw every hour no longer had a chance to cater directly to me. I was thrown in a class with thirty-some other strangers, and asked to do many numerous tasks which overwhelmed me. This, over time, resulted in arguments with my parents on why I was failing, and required me to receive disapproval and criticism from everyone who didn’t understand why I couldn’t achieve decent grades.
As the first semester came to a finish, report cards were sent out. My parents were extremely upset with me, and I was devastated when we both realized how inadequate I really was at being a successful student. Dropping from the top of my class straight into the abyss of the bottom 90 percent was extremely discouraging to the younger version of me. This caused me to start falling asleep during class. At the time it was assumed that I wasn’t getting enough sleep, and that I didn’t care enough in school to stay awake, but in reality I was passed down my mother’s hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is a condition which causes the regulatory gland of your body to slow down, this meant that I was often fatigued and was the root of my issues. Due to the constant fatigue I was unable to focus on my studies.
It was freshman year when my parents and I decided to leave public schooling. This allowed us the time and flexibility to schedule appointments and work with doctors 300 miles away because, at the time, we still failed to understand my medical conditions. Along the path to sorting my medical issues I was diagnosed with ADD, a learning disorder that carried a heavy impact on my learning abilities.
Not only did I not learn the different subjects in junior high, but I also failed to learn how to learn. Schooling does not only teach you a handful of subjects, but it also teaches you different strategies to learn information efficiently. While I completed my 10th and 11th year of home schooling I had that moment—where finally all of the obstacles pitted against me, no longer had control. That was my light bulb moment when I finally understood school. I understood my expectations and how to best achieve them. I was able to start earning straight A’s, and bring my GPA up from the original 2.1 I had before. It was by my choice that was influenced by my light bulb moment to return to my local high school for my senior year, to prove to myself that I can achieve what is expected of me, and more.