How to Help Your Home School Student Get Ready for College

The shift from high school to college is often dramatic for recent graduates; however, for a home-schooled student, it can be downright overwhelming. The idea of leaving a comfortable learning environment and striking out on one's own can intimidate even the best home-school students. If your son or daughter will soon face this transition, then you should try to give them some help in order to make the change that much easier on the entire family.

Change Your Teaching Style

The biggest academic adjustment that your child will have to make in college will have to do with how he or she will take classes. Most lower-level college courses are taught lecture-style, which means there will be less opportunity for your child to interact with the professor or fellow classmates. Depending on how you currently teach your courses, you should consider lecturing your child during the last semester of study at home. This could prepare your child to sit in a lecture hall and take notes. Of course, not all college courses are like this; your child will probably have some small seminars to attend as well. However, it's important to get them ready to do their best in the lecture courses, as these courses will give them foundational concepts that will be useful once they move on to the upper-level seminars.

Be Your Child's Own College Counselor

Students who attend high school often have a resource in the college counseling office: an educated, up-to-date college counselor who can help them navigate the complicated college application process. Most likely, your home-schooled student won't have as much access to this kind of resource, so in a way, you have to become that resource. Visit area high schools and ask to speak to the college counselors there. Use sites like The Princeton Review and College Board to get help with the different parts of standard college applications. Visit the Department of Education website for advice on financial aid. Enlist your son or daughter to help you gather all of this information, and go over it together; this will help involve them in the application process.

Get to Know Campus Life

If possible, take your child to visit a nearby university campus. Even better, you should take them to visit the school's they are applying to. Spend some time on campus so that your child can see how different the college lifestyle can truly be. Of course, they'll see people of all races and ages walking around, but that'll hardly be that much different than the experiences they've already had, especially if you have enrolled them in social groups and other activities outside of home-schooling that get them to socialize with all kinds of people, cultures, religions and perspectives. This will prepare them to be able to navigate through the freedom of college life.




Teach Them to Appreciate Different Viewpoints

Finally, teach them to appreciate different viewpoints, especially when those viewpoints might diverge from their own moral compass. They have probably already experienced some different viewpoints through other activities outside of home-schooling, such as scouts, field trips, community sponsored events, and sports. However, in college your home-schooled student will be more or less on his or her own; of course, you'll still be in touch with them, but he or she will be maturing, learning about the world, becoming an adult. One of the biggest challenges of becoming an adult college is learning how to understand and respond to that which challenges your own worldview while still remaining a useful contributor to campus social and academic life.

By-line:
Alisa Gilbert, regularly writes on the topics of bachelors degree. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: alisagilbert599@gmail.com.

Thanks Alisa for your wonderful suggestions!