Helping Your Home-school Student Prepare To Be A College Student
By Mimi Rothschild
Having gotten his education from home-school, your child has already reaped a host of benefits from this educational choice. With home-school, your child has received the one-on-one attention that can be crucial to learning. He also has been able to expand his curriculum to include learning venues not available in public school. As your child nears high school “graduation”, you both are turning your thoughts toward college and to all of the advantages and challenges it brings. Though some people may believe that home-school students are not prepared for the public atmosphere of college, there is no basis to that assumption. Every child, whether a home-school student or a public school student, should be adequately prepared for college life. Home-school students may sometimes even have an advantage in that they can focus their attention on preparing for college as early as you both see fit. With the flexibility of the home-school environment, you and your child may be able to start visiting college campuses and researching the different types of colleges as early as middle school.
Part of successful home-schooling is teaching your child to be self-disciplined and self-sufficient. When helping your child prepare to be a college student, you need to remind him that what he has learned in home-school can be extremely useful in college, as long as he stays with the positive habits he has developed. There will be many more distractions in college – this cannot be avoided – but your home-school student need not feel overwhelmed by them. Sit down with your teen and have a talk about what concerns him about attending college. Ask him how he is prepared to maintain good study habits in a noisier and more crowded environment. Letting him voice his concerns and helping him develop strategies for staying on a positive learning path will help him tremendously through his college years. These talks don’t have to end when he leaves for college, either. He should always know that you are available to help him work through any issues that arise, although you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised at his maturity in handling most of the problems himself.
Go over the basic requirements with your home-school child on what it takes to be a good college student. Stress the importance of doing every assigned task, studying, attending class every day, and managing his time wisely. With your help and his own positive learning experiences, your home-school student will be well prepared for the college years.
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