for the homeschooled -- how did you adjust to college?

Post Reply New Topic

Once again, we are tossing around the concept of homeschooling our child during the high school years. I've come around to the thinking that homeschooling/cyber school definitely works for others, and probably would work for my child.

My question is: If you were homeschooled because the demands of middle school/high school became too much, and you enjoyed homeschooling and did well enough to enter college, did you have a hard time adjusting to the demands of college? All the reading, the heavy workload, the paying attention in class? If you did NOT have trouble adjusting to college, do you think it was because a certain maturity level kicked in that helped you accomplish what you needed to?

My son at age fifteen started with one class. The next quarter he took two classes. This he did for three quarters. The next year he took three classes. So he sort of eased in. He told me only once of difficulty in only one class. Because of his AS, he could not understand the teacher's abstract lectures without concrete examples. Ha, exactly the same kind of problem I had in college. Fortunately, both of us took mostly science classes and we both got degrees with high grades except for the one or two abstract classes.

I was homeschool I think my main issue was fear. I got my GED then did night courses then 1 summer course followed by more courses that fall. It wasn't until that fall that I FINALLY felt comfortable in College (Unfourtunently I screwed it all up in Feb 2005 by getting kicked out of College) So who knows how things would go now.

I wasn't home schooled in high school, but was home schooled through 8th grade. In 9th grade I only took two courses at high school, I was a part time student. If you find a private school that will allow it, your child might enjoy going part time to high school. The demands of public school were stressful for me but I really enjoyed going to a smaller private school part time. About the transition to college though...I'm in junior college now, and I would say just let your child take one class or a part time load at a junior college (or a university if they want to) to get their feet wet. I've got a good plan worked out, I'm taking a small number of hours a junior college this year so I can still be a freshman at a university next year and not miss out on all the opportunities other freshman get. I think it's a great idea for someone who wants to ease the transition into college.

As I said I wasn't home schooled in high school, but I was for many years. Also, I missed a lot of my senior year (several months) so I was practically home schooled. I think being alone so much that yeah, that certain maturity kicked in. The biggest transition from home school to school/college is organizing your time.

I was homeschooled and never went to public school and it has been kinda hard adjusting to the different learning environment. I almost wished i took one or two classes as a senior, so i could get used to how the professors taught and what they expected of me. For me, focusing is not that hard as long i take notes on the subject.
The other thing i find hard is how they test. I have no problem taking tests or studying for them, but when they don't specify what you should study, ie going over one topic and not even having it on the test. He is unspecific, and that is the one thing that helps me learn.
But I enjoyed being homeschooled, even though i had nothing to compare it to.

I actually found it easier in some ways, because as the only home schooler in a family of five I had been expected to do a lot of work around the house, and having your meals cooked/someone else clean your dorm space was nice. But really, I didn't find it too bad. I had taken night classes and had a structured curriculum (I was considered a "distance student" at a high school in another state) during high school, so that wasn't bad. I was often overwhelmed by the number of people around, and the fact that I would see people who weren't my family on a daily basis. I did make friends for the first time in my life, though, which was very good. My dorm had a "Big Sib" program, where a freshman was paired with an upperclassman who would help them adjust to the college... I was very lucky and got a great big sister (who was definitely on the spectrum, though undiagnosed!), and she introduced me to her friends. Also, my roommate was a very social person, so there were a lot of people who knew me as "Arax's roommate," and would talk to me because of that.

Honestly, the hardest thing was not being able to control my environment the way that I was used to. I had a lot of sensory overloads my first semester, until I learned good coping strategies.