Seton Magazine Catholic Homeschool Articles, Advice & Resources
Summary
A homeschool graduate and college student, Clara Davison recognizes the benefits of homeschool education and how well it equips students for the university.Growing up, I had always enjoyed being homeschooled.
However, it was not until I went to college that I began to truly appreciate my homeschool education. While some people think that homeschoolers will have difficulty adapting to college, I found quite the opposite to be true.
Looking back on my homeschool experiences, I have identified three key things that have made my college years a success.
1. Organization
Everyone knows that freshman year can be a difficult time of transition. For many students, this is the first time they are responsible for managing their own time and making their own schedule.
While the rest of my classmates frantically tried to finish assignments at the last minute or get extensions on papers they had forgotten to submit, these responsibilities were nothing new to me.
As a homeschooler, I used to managing my schedule and taking responsibility for completing my assignments promptly. I knew my learning patterns and what times I was better at taking exams and created my class schedule accordingly.
At the beginning of the semester, I wrote down all my due dates and planned my time around large projects and exams. About half way through the semester, when many of my friends were trying to get back on track and organize their schedules, I was able to have a calm finish to my semester.
2. Self-Motivation
In college, professors expect you to seek them out if you do not understand a topic. Classes are usually so full of information, there is little time to for questions during or after the lecture. If you do not understand something, you are responsible for seeking the professor during office hours to ask questions and receive additional help.
This is not a new concept for homeschool graduates: we grew up having to find Mom when we needed a spelling test, help with Calculus, or proofreading a college essay. I was not accustomed to having a teacher on hand to answer any questions. While sometimes, going to find Mom or Dad seemed like an inconvenience, it prepared me for what I must do in college.
For a homeschooler, you could not slip by without understanding something. There was no class of twenty-five students to hide behind if you did not understand the class content. Instead, you were responsible for understanding every topic, since there was only one person your teacher could call upon or test at home!
3. Classroom Novelty
Like many homeschool graduates, sitting in class and being taught was a novelty. While I may have taken a class or two during high school, the majority of work was completed alone in my room.
While my college classmates complained about going to yet another class, I was enthralled with the idea of having classes to attend and professors always willing to talk to you about the classwork.
For my classmates who had attended traditional schools, they saw college as yet another place to attend class and do homework. They did not realize that while they had college classes, the environment and academic expectations were drastically different from a high school classroom.
In college, there are no teachers who will guide you through each assignment and remind you of due dates and as tests approach. For my classmates who were accustomed to having this style of education, they did not realize that the college classroom is a whole different playing field.
Since I had never gone to class before, I was not stuck in the drudge of normality. I had never had a teacher sit with me in every class and was accustom to keeping up with my due dates with no reminders simply because Mom was too busy with the younger children to worry about monitoring me.
As this was a new style of learning for me, I realized I had to learn differently and adapted accordingly. While this meant harder course work and more in-depth class discussions, I was prepared to work hard to keep up simply because I knew no other type of classroom learning.
I look back fondly on my homeschool education, and I am so thankful for the knowledge and abilities I learned at home. I love telling people I was homeschooled and answering questions from professors and peers about how thankful I am for the opportunity my family was given.
Homeschooling is an amazing opportunity, and every graduate should be so thankful to their parents for being given this blessing.
For every homeschooling mother worried about whether their child will be prepared for college, stop worrying.
While there are some things they may not know going into college, the skills and good habits that homeschooling instills will give them a significant edge during their first semester of college.
About Clara Davison
