For seven years, Curtis Stratton was used to being able to get up and go to sleep when he wanted and not having to worry about anyone else.
That all changed when the current freshman decided to give up home school which he had done since second grade and attend Denton High School.

“Curtis is a smart kid,” Curtis’ mother, Nicole Stratton, said. “He did a lot of self teaching. but it was still challenging at times to meet his needs. I was more of a facilitator than anything. I tried to find a curriculum that matched his skills. He’s very bright and enjoyed learning.”

Curtis hasn’t always lived in Denton, but he decided that moving would be best for his education.

“I was living in Aubrey for eighth grade, but then we moved to Denton in November of 2012 because I wanted to be a part of the IB program,” Stratton said. “Over the course of the year, I got involved in swimming at the natatorium and moved into where I currently am.”

While he has found it challenging at times, Stratton says he is adapting to the feeling of high school and is enjoying being a Denton High School student.

“There’s been a big change in my schedule; there’s been a lot of extra-curricular stuff,” Stratton said. “I’m involved with theater and I’m on the varsity swim team. I have to get used to the homework and the new stuff. It hasn’t been to difficult to juggle because theatre is in the morning and theatre is in the afternoon.”

As Curtis adapts to high school, there are still certain luxuries that he misses. He has had to alter his schedule in order to be at school on time.

“I miss sleep,” Stratton said. “My schedule wasn’t very tight. When I was home-schooled, I could get up whenever I wanted and get started whenever I wanted. There were certain subjects that I had to do every day. I had to do the core stuff. But at the same time, there wasn’t a tight curriculum. It was more whatever interested me, I would go with. I would do my school stuff and once I got done I could mess around for the rest of the day.”

Being schooled individually is a lot different than going to a school with more than 2,000 people.

“It gets kind of packed,” Curtis said. “You kind of have to get used to making your way through traffic, you have to especially around the bus lanes and in the connector hallway. It’s really crowded.”

Never having experienced high school, he wasn’t sure how the high school atmosphere would be.

“I was expecting the cliches of high school,” Stratton said. “I was also expecting semi-chaos in the hallways. It’s a big school, but at the same time it doesn’t feel big.”