Homeschooled: Fiction majors Amy Camarena and Kathryn Radosti by Anne Pilon, Journalism

photo by: Alexandra Pilichowski

Moving to Columbia’s busy downtown campus can be a culture shock for even the most hip freshmen. For fiction writing majors Amy Camarena and Kathryn Radosti, the transition was two-fold.

Both girls were homeschooled for their entire k-12 careers, but they both have managed to adapt to Columbia’s urban environment and insist that some of the stereotypes surrounding homeschooled kids are completely false.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked how I had any friends [growing up],” said Radosti. “That’s why it was good to have Amy around for my first year here. We both got a lot of laughs out of stuff like that.”

The two girls, both now sophomores, met early in their first year when they lived on the same floor at 2 E. 8th. Though they had a lot of things in common, there were also a lot of differences.

Contrary to what most may think, there are many different formats for homeschooling. Camarena’s family practiced the more traditional form that tries to emulate the regular classroom by using textbooks, grades, and other traditional teaching methods. Radosti’s mom decided to go a different route.

“I was un-schooled, which means that I didn’t have as much of a structure as some homeschooled kids,” said Radosti. “I didn’t have grades or textbooks or a GPA.”

Despite the less common structure, Radosti said she is glad her parents made the decision to homeschool her and her two sisters.

“I mostly enjoyed it,” said Radosti. “Sometimes it was frustrating because all the other kids got grades and I didn’t, but I liked it because the emphasis was really on learning, instead of on getting a good grade.”

It was this excitement to learn that fueled her love for books; Radosti said she has loved reading for as long as she can remember.

“In my house reading time was fun time, it wasn’t like school,” said Radosti.

This is another thing the two girls have in common; Camarena can remember reading being one of the highlights of her day. In fact, her local library helped her in more ways than one.

“When I was in junior high I really wanted more of a social life,” said Camarena. “I used to volunteer at the local public library and they got me involved in this teen reading program at the Harold Washington Library, and I met a lot of great friends through that program.”

Radosti met most of her friends through un-schooling associations that set up events and educational field trips for homeschooled children.

Both girls said they felt like their homeschooled education adequately prepared them for college and for whatever is in store afterward.

“I feel like college is more like homeschooling than traditional schooling,” said Camarena. “With the exception of things like algebra and geometry, you’re really capable of teaching yourself many different subjects. In homeschooling I got a lot of freedom to work through problems and try to teach myself things, and I don’t think people who went to public school got as much freedom to do that.”

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Related Links Fiction Writing Department Harold Washington Library Homeschool.com

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