Home-schooled Johnny fumbles out of bed just around the time that “real school” students leave for lunch. He stretches out his arms, yawns and then proceeds down the hallway of his house to school.

As he flops out on the living room couch, his mother brings him a stack of fresh pancakes. She hints at him to start his daily studies just as he sees his favorite TV show on. He shakes his head in disagreement, “Nah, I’ll do it later,” and spends the rest of his day in the bliss of relaxation.

Although many people, who are unfamiliar with home-schooling imagine this extreme scenario to be a typical day in the life of a home-schooler, this is not the case, according to Whitney Ensom, ’05, who was taught at home from kindergarten to fourth grade

“One of the biggest misconceptions I hear about home-schooling is that it’s easier,” Ensom said. “In some ways, it is much harder.”

Ensom believes home-schooling is more difficult because of social aspects.

“There is not a lot of socialization,” Ensom said, “Especially if you are in a small home-school group like I was.”

There are numerous home-school groups in the Fresno area; size and ages differ between each group. Many of them are affiliated with CHEFA, Christian Home Educators of the Fresno Area. Such groups join together to offer support to the teaching parents and offer activities for the students.

Amanda Sherr, ’07, has home-schooled in the past, but she differs with Ensom because she enjoys the same social activities as any other student attending a public or private school.

“People tend to think that since we’ve home-schooled, we must be sheltered,” Sherr said. “That is not true! We’re not as sheltered as everyone thinks!”

Sherr’s older sister, Ashley, ’06, agrees with Amanda’s opinion.

Ashley finds it difficult to choose between her two school lives.

“It’s hard sometimes picking between doing something with my friends on campus or with my home-school group,” Ashley said.

Both the Sherr sisters are involved in sports and enjoy their time on campus.

“I am enjoying working in a classroom with a bunch of other people,” Amanda said. “I really like Fresno Christian.”

For information on home-schooling and CHEFA, visit www.chefa.org.