Literacy Narrative Final Draft

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Throughout my life I have had many opportunities and materials to enhance my literacy. I have had multiple sponsors and frequent access to them, and I have had multiple different kinds of resources for learning to read and write. My my differing school experiences have especially played different roles in my literacy, from homeschooling to public school. Up until the fifth grade I was homeschooled, with just a small break in kindergarten when I tried attending school. In fifth grade a started public school and have been going ever since. But even though I love public school, I know that homeschooling allowed me some opportunities I would not have had otherwise.
I first started learning to read when I was around four years old. As far back as I can remember my parents would read books to me before bed. Just like with many kids close to my age, my mom taught me the alphabet, phonics, and writing. I did a lot of art when I was younger as well, so as part of my writing curriculum I used this book where I had to draw a picture and then write about. My mother figured this way I would enjoy writing more. The next year my parents decided to try introducing me to public school for kindergarten. I started midway through the year and only stayed for a month, but I was still influenced by my experience there. I remember my teacher letting me take home a bunch of early reader books because I loved reading so much. My short time in kindergarten introduced me to my first experience in a classroom setting and having a teacher. But I went back to homeschooling after my short time in public school, returning to the laid back routine of learning from home. I could learn things at my own pace again. At home I started learning new things. I did a lot more work on spelling, which I hated. I remember when it was time to work on spelling I would hide behind the chair in the living room to avoid it. My dislike of spelling also transferred to my writing; because of course if I could not spell the words I did not enjoy writing them very much. While homeschooled other tools influenced my literacy as well. I played learning games on the computer like Reader Rabbit and watched educational shows. Reading Rainbow was one of my favorites. I used Leap Frog toys also when learning to spell, and flashcards to learn vocabulary. When my writing started to improve I began creating little hand-made books out of folded paper to further involve my artistic skills. We also tried to go to the library as often as possible and I could never have enough books. When I was older, around third grade, I was involved in a homeschool reading group at the library. We would read books, each worth a different amount of points and we would save up the points to use towards a prize later. This was a great way to encourage reading for me.
In fifth grade I started attending public school. It was great and I learned a lot, but I feel like the things I learned while homeschooled were the most beneficial to me. In public school we mostly learned how to read and write effectively but not why. I did not see as much purpose to reading and writing. Sure, I knew how to do it well, but public school does not give you the kind of foundation for reading and writing that I had earned prior to joining the school system. Being able to learn from home, I learned more about my values and what was important to me. I spent more quality time with my mother and sister rather with some kids who might not have been the best influence on me. And I know that peers can have a negative impact on literacy, because in high school my group of friends had a very poor influence on my learning and kept me from achieving all I could with my education. Literacy is not just what you learn but also what you choose to make of it, and sometimes we find it difficult to make that choice. We would rather fit in and be social than take advantage of the resources available right in front of us. The kind of person I am, I know that if I had not been homeschooled all those years I might never have given learning my full effort. But since my mother installed ideas of endurance, honesty, and integrity while I was younger, I was able to carry these ideas on to my future education and literacy.
Today I believe I have learned from the good and the bad experiences in my journey towards literacy. I want to approach learning with an open mind, the way I did when I was a child. I think I have found that this is one major difference between how I learned in elementary school versus when I was attending school. When I was homeschooled I had an open mind toward learning; it was an exciting thing. But later it began to feel more like work and I felt the negativity towards learning radiate off the environment at school. So I just want to keep a positive mind towards my further improvement while I am in college and for the rest of my life beyond school.