During National School Choice Week (or any week, for that matter), it’s easy to get bogged down in debates over various education policies. We often forget that there are real kids whose lives are incontrovertibly altered by the decisions we make.

I was one of those kids.

My parents homeschooled me from when I was three till I was 13. I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter then, but looking back, I wouldn’t argue for a second that I didn’t benefit from my parents’ freedom to choose how to teach me.

At the ripe old age of 13, my parents placed me in the unique position of deciding whether to remain homeschooled through high school or to attend a public school. After much thought, I chose to remain homeschooled. And that decision has made all the difference in my life.

Because I was homeschooled, I had incredible leeway to choose classes I enjoyed and take them at a pace that fit me. When I was 13, I started taking a few online college classes to supplement my normal coursework. By the time I hit high school, I was taking between six and eight college classes a year, partly out of interest and partly to satisfy general education requirements.

At age 16, after two years in high school, I decided the online high-school classes I was taking were no longer challenging enough.

If I hadn’t been homeschooled, I probably would have ended up slogging through another two years of what was, to me, mind-numbing drudgery. But because I was homeschooled, and because I had taken so many college classes, I was able to do something otherwise unthinkable at that age: graduate high school.

Now, at age 18, I’m a college graduate working as an editorial fellow for The Heritage Foundation, where I’m blessed to work alongside some of the foremost experts on the planet.

But none of these accomplishments are primarily the result of my own intelligence or ability. Rather, they’re because my parents (and later I) had the option to choose the education path that worked best for me.

As a homeschooler, I spent little time doing busywork, which meant I had significant free time after I finished my work. I spent most of this time reading, which not only supplemented my knowledge but also taught me how to write effectively.

I also learned subjects like Latin (not something frequently taught in public schools). I hated it at the time but it later helped me build my vocabulary, better understand etymology, and more deeply appreciate world cultures.

Once I hit a certain age, most of my work was self-guided (via textbooks/online lectures), and while I had certain weekly objectives, I was responsible for managing my time and achieving those objectives. This set me up for success in college, where many struggle to adjust to the relatively self-paced workload.

Nor would I consider myself as having been socially stunted, as is the homeschooler stereotype. I participated in church activities and athletics, and even ended up playing for my college’s soccer team.

None of this is to say that homeschooling is necessarily better than other alternatives, or that my education journey was superior to anyone else’s.

Rather, my point is this: one-size-fits-all education programs help no one. By trying to shove children into the same box, we keep them from developing their unique talents. If I had attended public school, I likely wouldn’t have had many of the same opportunities to develop my writing abilities or take college classes on topics that interested me.

And in forcing children to conform, we do a disservice not just to them, but to our society as a whole. A healthy, burgeoning society depends on the contributions of talented individuals who use their unique abilities to undertake entrepreneurial endeavors, invent technologies, discover medicines, and more.

Instead of encouraging all children to take the same educational route, we should urge them and their parents to choose the option that best fits the individual child and family – whether that be homeschool, private school, public school, or something else entirely.

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Mary Mobley is an Editorial Fellow in the Strategic Communications department of the Heritage Foundation.

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