By Grace Nilsson
Hello, and welcome back to A Homeschooler’s Perspective. As someone who has been out of high school for a few years, I have had time to reflect on my homeschooling experience. It’s hard not to wonder what could have gone differently and even feel regret about certain things. So, I wanted to share some advice for homeschooled teens.
1. Make sure you’re prepared for whatever you want to do after high school
This is something I succeeded in. I knew I wanted to go to college (and thankfully my parents supported this), so I completed four years of high school level math, science and writing to be academically prepared. I took SAT prep seriously, because getting the highest score I could would help prove my merit in college applications and make more scholarships available. Extracurriculars such as orchestra also were useful. The only thing I regret is not taking any dual enrollment courses. At the time, I was not motivated to do this, but now I see that it might have made me more ready for college. Some of the major challenges were time management and having to study harder for exams.
Before you graduate you should:
- Make sure your parents are keeping a record of your schoolwork, grades, and extracurricular activities. No matter what you want to do, you should have evidence of your high school education!
- Look up what the high school graduation requirements are in your state, and what is needed to pursue whatever higher education or training you may want to in the future.
- Consider taking an SAT/ACT/GED test. I personally think it is good to have some official validation of your abilities, but these tests may not be necessary for everyone.
2. Learn from various sources
I am grateful to have had access to the internet and the local library. This helped me expand my knowledge beyond my academically sound but sometimes biased homeschool materials. Everyone has biases, so make sure to explore both sides of issues.
3. Don’t be too isolated
I failed at this one. During the school year, I attended activities 2-3 times a week but never made close friends. Maybe more activities would have been good, but I didn’t know what was available and felt that my mom might not be excited to drive to even more things. I wish I’d been more outgoing and tried to arrange more get-togethers outside of co-op. There were a few families we knew that literally lived in our neighborhood, but I still didn’t go over to their houses very often. It felt awkward, but I wish I’d tried harder.
Maybe my problems were just due to me being introverted, but it is easy to become isolated as a homeschooler. I noticed that my mom never seemed to mind when activities were cancelled, as she was already busy taking care of a large family. She never seemed depressed by an empty schedule of nothing instead of seeing other people and doing fun classes. During the pandemic, one homeschooled friend told me that her mom was just happy to never be late for anything! Stay-at-home parents sometimes just want to stay home, but being a stay-at-home teenager is not ideal. Advocate for yourself if you feel bored or lonely!
This is just what I’ve learned based on my personal experiences, and hopefully it’s useful to some of you readers. Every homeschooler is unique, but we all get an experience that is different from the mainstream. Homeschool curriculums are not the same as public school ones, and weekly activities are not the same as attending school every day. It is important to focus on the benefits of being homeschooled, while avoiding the potential downsides.
(Also, I promise more book reviews are coming once I find something worth recommending).
