gave me opportunities to stay in touch
with her. ;at year I got my ;rst email
account and became good at corresponding with friends who were far away. Some
of the single women in my parents’ mission took me shopping and invited me to
movie nights, and I learned how to make
friends with adults.
Since we didn’t have access to many
of the extracurricular programs that are
available in the United States, especially
a;er moving to the village, we took the opportunity to develop our imaginations and
leadership skills by creating “programs”
for ourselves. Using the encyclopedia,
my brother constructed a regulation badminton court on our lawn, and our dad
taught us the rules. At our bi-yearly mission conferences, I planned childcare programs for the preschoolers during the day
and joined with homeschooled friends in
decorating for the banquet celebration on
the ;nal night. My brothers and I loved
the performing arts. We recruited whatever other homeschoolers were around,
as well as local friends, and made movies
or plays. ;e fall of my senior year, I directed a homemade version of the Beauty
and the Beast musical with a cast of nine
younger children and two obliging adults.
Perhaps the greatest
blessing of being
homeschooled was the
privilege of becoming
best friends with my
family members.
Perhaps the greatest blessing of being homeschooled was the privilege of
becoming best friends with my family
members. Times of isolation deepened
the bonds between us. I became especially close to my mom, since she was o;en
the only “girlfriend” around.
Since my siblings and I were never
separated from our parents to attend
boarding school, living at home allowed
us to be involved in their ministry. On
one occasion, I visited a literacy school
for nomadic children with my parents
and other members of their team. I
helped perform a health check, weigh-
ing the little ones on a bathroom scale.
Another time, I went to a sewing school
for poor women, admiring their intricate
handwork as my mom passed out prizes
to the graduates. Doing missions togeth-
er—just like we did school together—
united our family in a way that would
not have been possible had we not been
homeschooled.
Esther Dalton is a student at Biola University in southern California. She grew
up in South Asia, where her parents were
missionaries, and was homeschooled for
eleven years. Now she is pursuing a degree
in English writing. Her ;rst novel, Zelle of
the Tower, was written while she was in
high school and published in May 2011.
www.; eHomeschoolMagazine.com
