Seniors Gretchen and Erika Beckner are new to Lewis-Palmer this year, but that’s not all that’s new for them. This is their first year in public school. They have been homeschooled for their whole lives. They had to undergo a lot of major changes and shocks when entering into the life of an average teenager.

Some of the biggest changes they have had are how they learn, social lives, schedules, and more. When switching from no school environment, to a fairly big high school, there is some heavy baggage.

“Lewis-Palmer is a really big school but I like it. It is really easy to make friends because everyone is so different. There are all kinds of people and no shortage of variation. I like public school better, but I don’t like how early I have to wake up,” senior Gretchen Beckner said.

Many kids don’t understand the pressures of being a homeschooled. Most homeschoolers learn at levels above their own. They have to teach themselves, and keep themselves in check in terms of time and actually doing their work.

“My favorite part about public school is the food and psychology class. One thing I don’t miss is how quiet home was. So many students are obnoxious and speak every highly of themselves. Learning now is so much easier than it was before. We were learning at college level so I’m taking easy classes as fillers. Most classes I am taking are electives,” senior Erika Beckner said.

Teenagers that attend public school have many stereotypes about homeschoolers. For instance, their stereotype is that they are socially awkward and quiet.

“None of the stereotypes are true. All of the homeschooled kids I knew were really normal. They were super nice and outgoing. It’s funny though, we ‘homeschoolers’ have our views of public school goers. We had a pretty bad vision of public schools and the people that attend them. We though they were scary and called them ‘public schoolers,’” Gretchen said.

The big change from home school and almost no social life, to public school and meeting new people every day can be so overwhelming, but the Beckners just jumped right in.