To speed run this conversation:

My elementary school administered a few tests my mother felt were unfair to both my middle brother and me. A few times after my second grade teacher made derogatory comments about me (and possibly my brother's teacher did towards him, I am uncertain). Her TA was awesome though. My teacher eventually said during a PTA meeting "I'm not going to teach more than two grades above my grade" and, in every class, simply sat me at the school's then only computer with some turtle based drawing game.

At the time, I was very hurt. I held on to that for a long time. It was only two or so years ago, when talking to my wife, that I realized the teacher's decision was a relatively reasonable one. The situation maybe could have been handled or at least expressed better, but the sentiment was reasonable.

However, my mom didn't feel so. Between that and whatever was happening with my middle brother, she made the decision to homeschool that brother and me.

(I have two other siblings. The oldest is complicated. The second oldest attended public school longer but started college at twelve and got his Ph.D. in pure mathematics at somewhere between 25-30.)

I was homeschooled from age seven to eleven, then went to college from eleven to fifteen. (I graduated two days before I turned sixteen.) My mom was grateful for the timing of her ESRD diagnosis because I was her youngest and she was diagnosed a few months after she finished homeschooling me, so she was able to focus on her health rather than schooling. I have a very distinct memory of, at twelve (when I was absurdly fit), before her diagnosis but after she started realizing there were problems, physically catching her when she said "I'm fine," stood up, and immediately passed out. This happened more than once.

I gained a two year degree. I took four years to get it because I was taking every computer class they had except for "introduction to Unix" because when was I going to use that? Incidentally, my current career started with - and is heavily based on - Linux. Maybe 11-15 year olds don't make the most educated decisions.

The admission process was easier for me than it would have been for most because both of my older brothers had gone to, and graduated from, the same college at a comparatively young age. My eldest brother had to face a whole committee to get approval to attend. I only had to face a few people and they mostly knew me because I had been riding along with my mother as she drove my brothers there for years. I don't remember what my GPA was when I graduated, it wasn't great, but I did graduate.