Ariana was already becoming a star, and her budding professional circus career left her little time for school.

I’ve never hated school, but I’ve never put it before real life either. When I was 12, I joined Circus Smirkus and have been touring with them during the summers for the past 4 years. I also do gymnastics and take circus classes in Brattleboro at New England Center for Circus Arts. These interests are more important to me than school, though I’ve always tried to do well in school.

I went to the Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public School for grades K – 8 and then I did ninth grade at Northampton High School. I’d never been to a traditional school before, and in some ways it was freeing; I was just another fish in the sea. I could doodle in class and the teachers wouldn’t mind for the most part, as long as I was paying attention. I had some close friends and I wasn’t unhappy, but it was sapping up all of my time. By the second semester of 9th grade, I was doing five hours of homework a night for one class alone and I was begging my parents to let me go to North Star.

I’d heard about North Star from friends, but it seemed too good to be true. I suppose I was a little worried that my parents’ doubts were valid and that I might well waste the next three years of my life if I began homeschooling, but the lure of freedom was stronger than the fear of what I might do with that power. After months of conflict, Ken talked with my parents during the summer and they agreed to let me begin homeschooling for tenth grade. My parents and I had long discussions that summer over the phone while I was on tour with Smirkus, and we arranged a curriculum. I had big academic plans. I was going to read religious texts and study culture. I was going to write fiction, keep a journal, and continue learning French. I was going to learn trigonometry and physics. I was going to use North Star as much as I could. I was going to be to schedule my circus and gymnastics activities as I wished.

That first year, I ended up taking a lot of North Star classes and playing games out in the sun. I was as happy as I could imagine, and I was learning. I was learning what it is to be free.
I would get to North Star around 9:00 a.m., take about 3 classes, do some writing, and climb a tree or play chess. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I’d go to gymnastics. I hated Wednesday (North Star isn’t open on Wednesdays). Wednesday was my big textbook day, where I’d try to learn math or physics on my own with a book. That didn’t work very well for me, so I started tutorials at North Star and that worked better. Although I didn’t do all of the independent academics we had planned, my parents and I got along well. Homeschooling was an improvement.

This year I am homeschooling quite differently. I go to North Star three days per week, but I only take classes (Logic and Writing Workshop) on one of those days. With friends at North Star, I’ve learned to solve a Rubik’s cube in under three minutes. I’m doing a math tutorial once a week outside of North Star. I audit a class on early medieval history at Smith College. I am still doing gymnastics, and I go to Vermont to train circus once or twice a week. One highlight of this year was in October, when I got my first paid circus gig. Cirque du Soleil productions had a conflict at the Canadian border and I was asked to fill in for a show in Boston. In my free time, I do a lot of art. Mostly I draw pencil sketches of people, but recently I’ve discovered digital art.

My life feels creative, and I’m very happy about it. North Star isn’t the academic core of my life anymore, but I still value my time there. It’s a resource, not a school without rules. Different people use it in different ways, but it can help in setting up a functional life, and that’s a lot more than most schools can say. I’ve been at North Star for almost two years now, and I can honestly say that this is my utopia. I’m not always self-motivated, I don’t always feel happy, and I have days when I take my freedom for granted, but I have never once wished to go back to school. In this time, my art has progressed from failed doodles to completed pieces that I am proud of. My circus training isn’t perfect, I still have a hard time getting all my conditioning done, but I’m able to devote as much time to it as I wish.

I am now sixteen years old. I don’t know what the next few years will bring. I expect it will bring more time with circus and more college courses. When I imagine what I would be doing had I stayed in school, I fear I would be someone working for someone else’s vision. At North Star, I am working for my own.