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‘‘I just have to get straight up and go downstairs,” said Douglass of the basement turned classroom in his Clinton home. ‘‘But after we get [the assignment] we disappear to the bedroom, the backyard, or wherever [to complete it].”

The pair have been home-schooled their entire lives at the insistence of their mother, Joanne Johnson. Because she runs a daycare program out of her home, it was natural for Joanne to begin instructing her children at an early ago. When the time came for Douglass to enroll in kindergarten, Joanne worried he would be more advanced and cause trouble if he got bored.

‘‘It was only supposed to be one year,” Joanne said.

She never meant to shoulder the burden of teaching her two children through high school, but once she got started she didn’t want to stop.

Today the Johnson children are perceptive and inquisitive, and both are very aware of the ups and downs of home-schooling.

‘‘People don’t understand because public school kids think we don’t have a social life,” explained Douglass.

The Johnson’s are anything but anti-social. With friends on speed dial from half the schools (both public and private) in south county, they both expect to attend several homecoming events this month.

‘‘Home-schooling is what you make it. If you stay home, you are going to be bored and lonely,” Christina said. ‘‘Some home-school parents are overbearing and are scared of the world, but I have to give my mom props because she gives us a good balance.”

Over the years Joanne developed a network of other parents and resources, including the Upper Marlboro Library, to keep her children in regular contact with peers.

A congregation of home-schoolers from around south county come to the Upper Marlboro Library said librarian Anne Ramsey.

‘‘There are over 100 home-schooling families that use the library on a weekly basis,” Ramsey said.

For a chance to chat with their peers, the Johnsons head to the library’s monthly home-schoolers’ book discussions. Weekly chemistry lessons are group classes at a church in Waldorf. And to study the British classics, Christina meets with a fellow home-schooler and her mother at their home.

Family friend and former professional editor Cheryl Brooks recently met with Christina to go over her work for the British literature class. If having friends and family grade papers sounds like an easy pass, Christina and Douglass insist it’s not.

‘‘Don’t write at the last minute,” said Brooks as she chided Christina over a recent assignment. ‘‘You had this great paper, college material, and then I read this other paper.”

In a class of two, there is nowhere to hide from open critique.

‘‘I have not been in one class where [the instructors] did not love you like their own,” Christina said.

‘‘Or punish you like their own,” added Douglass.

But there are plenty of benefits, like the extra treats their parents bring to reward them in class, or the ability to design their own schedules. Understanding how crowded public school classrooms can sometimes be, Christina is glad to have real one-on-one time with her teachers.

Making their own decisions keeps the two organized and driven. Christina has already written more than 200 pages of poetry and hopes to publish a book. Douglass will graduate in the spring and instead of a full day of classes he works part-time at a convenience store near his house.

The two say their mother runs a tight schedule to keep them on top of their studies and is very thorough in checking the quality of their work.

‘‘I’ll look [their work] over to see if it is what I want it to be, but if not I give them homework,” Joanne Johnson said.

E-mail Andrea Noble at anoble@gazette.net.