When I arrived at Oklahoma Baptist University in the fall of 2004, my educational background was a patchwork of nearly every imaginable educational model. I’d done public school, a traditional private Christian school, homeschool, and finally a university model school. All of these educational styles influenced me, and I believe I gained advantages from all of them. But at college, it was the skills I learned as a homeschooler–specifically time management, self-motivation, and a genuine love of learning–that helped me find my feet.
Homeschool as Preparation for College
At an early age I learned a very simple truth: the sooner your work is finished, the sooner you can go out and play. Every school day, I would get out of bed, eat breakfast, and begin my work. At first, this was supervised by my mom, but as I got older I became responsible for myself in some subjects.
With no set class times, when I finished the day’s work on a subject, I was able to move on to the next, and so on until I was finished. Before long I learned that the more efficiently I worked, the sooner I would be done.
Time Management
Poor time management was responsible for more failing grades among my college friends than any other factor. Those who had gone through public school were used to unenforced due dates. They found a rude awakening in the strictness of our professors. My experience homeschooling developed in me the ability to judge with great accuracy how long a task would take. This allowed me to set aside an appropriate amount of time, so that I was far better prepared for the self-supervised workload of college.
Self-Motivation
After time management, skipping classes is probably the biggest college grade killer. Self-motivation is the countering force to the desire to skip class. Without parents to push them, many of my friends began skipping. Since professors don’t call your parents, there were no immediate consequences.
By the time I reached college I had twelve school-years behind me in which I had mostly been expected to be responsible for my own work. Even in those years I was not homeschooled, my homework was still my own responsibility. These long-ingrained habits made me push myself. This was so second nature to me that when I lost a paper due to a computer crash, stayed up all night rewriting it from my notes, and subsequently fell asleep in class, my professor asked me after class why I had not just skipped, as I had perfect attendance up to that point. I had to confess to her that the option had just never occurred to me.
Love for Learning
Most importantly, homeschooling taught me to love learning. Without that, all other learning skills are wasted. It saved me from the burn-out many college students experience and helped me want to go to class.
My experience homeschooling was interactive in a way only homeschooling can be, because it can be much more easily tailored to the student. My siblings and I and a few other homeschool families reenacted, experimented, and traveled to museums, fairs, historic sites, and much else besides.
It was in homeschooling that I discovered learning was not about the job I was going to get or the praise good grades got me, it was about learning for its own sake.
Philip Ledbetter has been a teacher for seven years at Cornerstone Christian Academy, a university model school in McKinney, Texas. Most of his primary and middle-schooling years were spent as a homeschooler. He majored in history at Oklahoma Baptist University, where he graduated in 2008. He and his wife live in McKinney, Texas.
The post Why Homeschoolers Make Great College Students appeared first on HEDUA.
