The Weirdest Class I’ve Ever Been In

I was homeschooled as a kid. Despite the popular belief, not all homeschooling is at home in your pajamas. Homeschoolers have classes they can go to if they choose to. These classes are normally all scheduled on one day for the week we call it co-op. So when my mom signed me up for a math class at the local community college I figured it would be pretty similar.

The class was a technical math course. If you are wondering technical math, in this case, is math based on real-world examples and application.

The night before the first class my mom said; “Oh yeah, by the way, you will probably be the only girl in this class. Because this class is normally for people who want to be mechanics and professions like that.”

I remember thinking “That’s ridiculous, of course, there will be other girls there.”

The next day rolls along and as I step into the doorway of the classroom I froze. Everyone else in the class was a guy. I wasn’t exactly bothered by the idea but it was still rather strange.

Weird thing number one I was the only girl in the class.

As I sat in my seat another very strange thing popped out at me. It was deathly quiet. The class hadn’t started yet but no one was talking to each other. I mean the first day of class no one knows each other I get it people can be shy. But it didn’t just happy on the first day of class. I’m talking every single class! No one said a word except the two forty-year-old guys. They were the only people who talked all freaking semester! I don’t even understand how that’s possible! You think homeschoolers are anti-social? I have never been to a class as silent in my entire life!

At one point I came extremely close to jumping up out of my chair and yelling; “WHY DO YOU PEOPLE NEVER TALK?” But that seemed unnecessary.

Weird thing number two the deathly silent semester.

Now number three has more to do with my confidence than anything else. I was under the impression I was bad at math. On the contrary, I discovered I am perfectly actually pretty good at math. I do have dyslexia though so sometimes the numbers move around on the page. In reading it’s not as big a deal because I can at least guess what a missing word probably is or just read the line three or four times until it makes sense. It’s not efficient and that makes me not want to read but I can if I really try. Math, on the other hand, sucks if you have dyslexia and it affects how you see numbers. Because it is really important you get the numbers in the right order otherwise you get the answer wrong. Not fun. I always thought I was just bad at math. well during this class I realized that the way I saw numbers was the same way I saw letters sometimes they just switch places. You have no idea what a relief it can be to figure out you aren’t just stupid, you only have a bit more of a challenge on your hands. After figuring that out I was able to implement a system so I just knew I had to double and triple check my answers to be sure before I turned in any test.

The surprise came when it was time for the final because I had worked so hard on making sure I got as much as I could get right. I was able to finish the class with an A and not have to take the final!

The third weird thing is that I realized I am actually good at math.

I can honestly say it was a great class, I learned some new math skills and refreshed on some old ones. I’m pretty sure I will never be the fastest person ever when it comes to math or reading but I don’t have to be. I got the A I wanted. Yes, it was a weird class. I honestly find it funny that people believe homeschoolers are so anit-social and yet the one class I take that’s not with homeschoolers is the one class no one ever said a word.