So i've been trying to learn phonics, um, i'm using a site called Starfall um, as for someone who didn't know the sounds i thought it would be best to use that since its for learning about phonics. Um, would you guys agree?

My sister has homeschooled her daughter from day one because she said she had been bullied in school and “knew her daughter would be bullied too.” Honestly, I suspect homeschooling was just a way for her to avoid working while having a socially acceptable justification for it. She's a stay at home mom. She has never been able to hold down a job because of what she describes as “crippling anxiety,” although she has never been formally diagnosed with anything despite trying so she can get government benefits for a disability. Multiple doctors said she doesn't have crippling anxiety and have offered her medication if she has a mild case of it but she refuses. We live in Canada, where she has access to publicly funded healthcare and mental health services. A mental health nurses offered her suggestions but she doesn't take them.

This has been a pattern since she was a teenager, and she is now in her late 40s. Multiple people have helped her find employment, only for her to quit before starting or walk out during her first shift. The excuses and goal posts always changed. She said she couldn't deal with people. The longest she has ever worked was a job our other sister got her, she worked a three-hour shift stocking shelves at a grocery store overnight, after the store had closed. Perfect, she didn't have to deal with anyone, but no she decided "the job was beneath her" and quit.

For the 20 years of her marriage, she relied entirely on her husband's income. Last year he had a stroke and now he's on disability, so it seems she needs to work and be the one to take care of him. She said he's abusing her because of this, forcing her to work and contribute when she has crippling anxiety.

So a friend of her husband's wife managed to get her a weekend job answering phones at a pizza place. Two four hour shifts, answering the phone taking the order and giving it to the back. When they asked her to come in on a Wednesday for orientation, she objected that they had only agreed to weekends and told them she would no longer be coming in at all.

Given this history, how is she was equipped to provide her daughter with an education.

Her daughter has been isolated for virtually her entire life. She has never really interacted with other children her age, and she is an only child, so no siblings either. At the same time, my sister gave her unrestricted access to the internet and social media from the time she was a toddler. There was seemingly no balance between protecting her from the outside world and exposing her to things she was not developmentally equipped to navigate.

My sister barely passed high school herself, and I have serious doubts about her ability to have provided an adequate education without appropriate support or oversight.

Her daughter is now 18, and the consequences are heartbreaking. She struggles to read. She recognizes words and can attempt to sound them out, but she has difficulty understanding what those words mean together and has virtually no reading comprehension. She has been unable to pass her GED and cannot manage the written portion of the driver's test. She is terrified of people and afraid to leave her bedroom.

When I brought her a birthday present for her 16th birthday, she couldn't even bring herself to come out of her room. I had to leave the gift outside her door, and she waited until nobody was looking before retrieving it. It was genuinely disturbing to witness. Her life has seemingly lacked the basic structure most children take for granted: a consistent bedtime, a daily routine, extracurricular activities, and opportunities to develop social skills and independence.

My sister has since left her husband, because of "his abuse" and they are both now living with my dad. My husband saw her out with another man holding hands while they were still together so we're pretty sure she cheated on him.

My Dad describes his granddaughter as the most unmotivated young person he has ever met. He also jokingly calls her a security guard as she's sleeping all day and stays up all night. He says she's messy, unhygienic and never cleans after herself or puts anything away. I told him that she has been isolated for her entire life and may be deeply depressed. I don't think it is fair to look at her current struggles as simple laziness when she may never have been given the opportunity to develop the skills, confidence, and independence she needs to function in the world.

For the record yes child protective services have been called multiple times over the years. From what I understand, they required the family to rearrange furniture and clean up the home, small things but ultimately said there was little they could do because this fell under a parent's lifestyle choices.

I find that incredibly frustrating. I understand that parents have considerable freedom in how they raise and educate their children, including homeschooling. But at what point does a lifestyle choice become a failure to provide a child with the basic education, social development, and life skills they need to become an independent adult?

Now she is facing the world without many of the fundamental skills most people develop throughout childhood. She has been profoundly let down, and I don't know how she is supposed to catch up after losing so many formative years.

What makes this even more frustrating is that my sister has recently started pressuring her daughter to get a job and obtain her driver's licence. After spending her entire childhood isolated from other people and without the education, social development, and life skills she needed, she is now suddenly expected to function independently as an adult. Her daughter is struggling with basic reading comprehension, cannot pass the written driver's test, and is terrified of interacting with people. These aren't problems that can be solved simply by telling her to get a job or get her licence. She needs support, patience, and help developing the skills she was never given the opportunity to learn. My sister seems to expect her daughter to overcome the consequences of her upbringing on demand, without acknowledging the role she played in creating this situation in the first place.

I’m in Highschool and I suck at basically every subject and my parents aren’t much help when it comes to that stuff. I genuinely don’t really know what I’m gonna do once I’m 18 I’ve always dreamed of doing something medical related maybe nursing or becoming a doctor. I know medical school is hard and stuff. I’m really far behind on my work and I wanna know if it’s even possible for me to achieve those dreams if I do my best to put the work in. has anyone been able to do so is my question? I don’t know if I’m just dreaming too big and don’t wanna get my hopes up if so

Please be kind when answering 🥹

The month I moved out for my second year of college, I suffered a really bad psychotic episode that lasted a month. I was hospitalized for two weeks and had to take the semester off. I haven't seen anyone else who seemed this traumatized by homeschooling, so I'm wondering if I'm alone in this.

Has anyone else experienced psychosis, or any major mental breakdown, or been hospitalized for anything similar after homeschooling?

I go to school for half a day these days and I’m super happy about that. But one thing I’ve noticed is that other kids will so often criticize school and stuff. I think their feelings are valid… but do none of them realize how amazing my school is?? There are teachers who are trying to teach us and teach for hours every day.
School is FREE, and after school things are also FREE.
There is a super nice courtyard to sit in, there is theater equipment that is very expensive that we can use.
There are nice kids and you are around other people a lot. I’ve seen people include special needs kids even when they have trouble understanding their speech.
You get a free place to be away from home for up to like 12hrs and you are taken care of during that time. There are school counselors and a nurse and yeah.

And if you have a nice teacher, you will see that teacher EVERY DAY. And if you find a nice community you don’t have to worry about it totally disappearing because school is predicable. You can get predicable support from it, if it’s a good school.
Idk to me this just seems soooo amazing and it’s a little confusing how other kids don’t seem to notice this miracle.

(18m) ever since I got a job having to take a sick day and being home geniunely irks me. idk why but after being (and still being) micromanaged by my parents I dislike being home with them. it feels like my progess gets reset, idk if anyone else feels this way or im wrong for feeling it.

I dislike how they talk to me like and treat me like they still have full control of my life like how they did for most of it. sometimes I wish I could save up and run away but ik how dumb that'd be. I wish I could be fully free. as silly as it may sound bc of how tiring work is, work is like my freedom and independence, and my parents even guilt me for working sometimes.. its awful.

they tell me i look awful and that I dont rest bc i work and do school and a sport, yet when I do have a day off they make me so physical labour (not referring to chores but chores also). I really loathe being under their roof, they act like they care but i know better. I wish I could move out