Getting Your Homeschooled Teen Ready for College
As a parent of a homeschooled student you likely have been preparing your child/teen for the day they become an adult and begin their first semester of college. Undoubtedly you want your child to be a success and continue to thrive, just as he did while homeschooled, so the best way to ensure that success is to properly prepare him for what he can expect.
As noted in Home Schooling is Exploding in Population and Popularity and Here is Why!, a blog published in A Little Crunchy, there are over two million students who are getting their education from home. Each of these students, just like yours, is preparing for the day that they officially graduate and then get to choose their college career path. But, because they are not accustomed to an official classroom setting, you want to make the transition as simple as possible. Take a look at some of the ways you can ease your son into college life.
- Don’t make any special changes to their curriculum before finishing their diploma – While you might be tempted to introduce some type of college prep course into their pre-diploma coursework, research actually has found that homeschool students are more than prepared educationally for the transition. According to a U.S. News published article, home school students may actually be more prepared than students who attend traditional high school.
- Allow them to select college courses that intrigue them – The freedom to choose from hundreds of courses can be exciting for every student. This is a great step to allowing your son to explore their interests and manage their own education.
- Recommend a college preparation course – Most universities and colleges offer courses for incoming freshmen who want to plan for four year success. These courses often teach time management, college life lessons and more. There are a number of classes at South University campuses that are offered for students who want to learn keys to college success, and they apply towards semester credit too.
- Encourage extracurricular activities throughout high school – Not only do extracurricular activities look good on a college application, but they can help to further build social relationships. It can be helpful for your son to enter into college with friends who have shared in their similar homeschooling experiences and are entering into the same situations as they are.
- Prepare your son for what is to come – Remember that talking to your son about the different experiences and people that they will interact with in college is important. Parents should also make their child aware of the questionable behaviors that others their age could be participating in at college, including alcohol, drugs and promiscuity.
Your homeschooler’s entry into college should be an exciting time for both of you, and you should feel confident that you have properly educated him to succeed throughout the rest of their lives. Homeschooling may sometimes be the subject of controversy, but you can be sure your child has all the necessary skills to succeed in furthering their education.
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