Tips for High School Homeschoolers
If you have a high school homeschooler in your house, make sure you read these tips! Whether you are new to homeschooling or a veteran, these ideas will help your high school homeschooler have a successful four years.
Hey, I’m Ava from Faithfully Exploring Blog! I’m a junior in high school. My mom has been homeschooling me since 2012, and we have enjoyed every minute of it!
A few months ago, I had a sudden urge to start a blog, and I did. I soon realized that it was easier said than done, but two weeks ago, I posted my first blog post. So, here I am: writing a blog post for Saving Talents!
As a young blogger, I hope to inspire other teens to go after their dreams. I also hope that my posts help other homeschool families.
Since I entered high school, I’ve been trying to learn everything that I can learn. From learning life skills to learning about politics, I’ve learned a lot.
High school is the last four years of school. You need to use this time to work on your weaknesses or to find new interests. Whatever it is, you need to do it before you graduate and go to college.
In this post, I’m going to list 10 things that you should do throughout high school to become a more well-rounded person. Not only will you feel more aware of what’s going on in the world, but you’ll feel more confident and ready for college!
Note: if you’re new to homeschooling, don’t miss this post on do’s and don’ts from a grown-up homeschooler!
Have Public School Friends
Having public school friends is completely up to you. But I don’t think there should be a separation between high school homeschoolers and public school students.
There are many ways to have public school friends.
- Some schools allow high school homeschoolers to participate in sports or school activities. For example, my local high school wanted me to participate in their science olympiad team, but I didn’t have the time.
- You can go to academic camps or programs.
Participate in Academic Programs
I was just talking about this. One of the benefits of going to academic programs is that you’ll have the opportunity to make public school friends. But there are many other benefits for high school homeschoolers.
One example is participating in a science fair – you could do this fun Apple Volcano Science Experiment!
If the academic program is in the summer, it will keep you busy and will look great on your college application. Some of these academic programs can be completed while you’re homeschooling and traveling.
And you get to learn about cool things! For example, last year, I participated in an academic program, and it was about neuroscience. We built electrophysiological equipment and used crickets. How cool is that?!
Watch the News
Watching the news is so important, especially during these times! It can keep you updated on recent events or well-known people.
If you don’t like watching the news, you can always keep up with it in other ways, such as Instagram or Twitter.
If you have an iPhone, you can use the pre-installed news app. It’s an all-in-one news app that has articles from the New York Times, USA Today, etc. It also has magazines!
Learn about Politics
Learning about politics is crucial (at least for me). It controls our everyday lives and is on the news all the time. We need to understand it and know about it.
When I was younger, I didn’t understand politics at all. When something politics related came on the news, I was completely lost. It’s not good to be unaware of something, especially politics.
You’re probably saying, “But where do I start?” I know that it can be overwhelming! I recommend watching politics, and then if you have any questions or don’t know something, look it up on Google. You could also watch Youtube videos.
I think what really helped me was participating in the NC Senate and House Page Program. It helped me get familiar with my state’s politics, which made U.S. politics less complicated for me. So, I recommend participating in your state’s page program.
Be Independent
I mean this in many ways. You can be independent in your learning or just independent in general.
Since the 7th grade, I’ve been independently learning. My mom doesn’t have to tell me to start on my work because I know that I have to. I also know my deadlines and schedule. Independently learning is something you need to learn as soon as possible because this is what you’ll do in college.
As far as being independent in general, you can go to the grocery store for your parents (if you have your license) or maybe clean up the house.
If you can go places without your parents, it makes you comfortable with being by yourself, which is something you’ll be doing a lot in college.
Learn Life Skills
Learning life skills kind of applies to what I was just talking about. In college, you’re going to need to know how to cook or how to save money.
Like, this summer, I’ve been doing a lot of cooking. Why? Because I go to college in 2 years and I’m going to need to know how to cook. I don’t want to waste my money going out to eat.
There are plenty of life skills that a high school homeschooler should learn before going to college. If you would like to know more of them,read “Practical Life Skills for College” from Ben and Me Blog.
Get a Job or Volunteer
Last year, I got a job at Chick-fil-a! Don’t they say that high school homeschoolers always get a job at Chick-fil-a?
It was really fun and helped me improve my social skills. It also helped me think faster because they get busy! They would have 200 cars at the drive-thru each hour.
Unfortunately, we had to move. But as I said, it helped me in so many ways.
I definitely recommend getting a job or volunteering! Not only does it improve your social skills, but you get to build relationships with people and get future recommendations from them.
Improve Study Skills
Improving your study skills in high school is essential, especially if you’re going to college. But if you’re entering the workforce, you still need to have good grades.
I recommend finding the study skills that help you the most and stick with those skills, like this High School Leadership class schedule.
When I study, I make sure that I take breaks to stay focused (this is kind of similar to the Pomodoro method). I’ve been using this method for over a year now, and it really helps.
If you would like to know more tips on study skills for high school homeschoolers, we have a post about this on our blog here.
Learn more about College or Workforce
Whether you’re going to college or entering the workforce, you need to learn more about it.
If you’re going into college, you need to start looking at colleges that you may be interested in and what their admission requirements are. You also need to think about what AP (or Advanced Placement) courses you would like to take. These courses can save you both time and money in college.
If you’re going into the workforce, you need to start looking at jobs that you may be interested in and see what they require or recommend. You also might need to check their age requirements.
Take the SAT
If you take the SAT in high school, it opens the doors for scholarships, academic opportunities, and college. It helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses in math, reading and writing, and grammar.
Even if you’re not going to college, I still recommend taking this test. Some employers require SAT scores.
I took the SAT in December 2019. You may be asking, “Why did you take it so early?” It was one of the admission requirements for my online school. Not only did I get accepted into my online school, but I also got accepted into my local community college for dual-enrollment.
If you would like to take the SAT and need some prep tips, we have a post on this here.
Conclusion
As I said, these are 10 tips for the new high school homeschoolers to become a more well-rounded person. These things will also help you be more prepared for college or the workforce.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments. If you would like to see more posts like this, visit our website at faithfullyexploring.com
About the Author
Ava from Faithfully Exploring Blog is a junior in high school and has been homeschooled since 2012. Find her on social media:
- https://www.facebook.com/faithfullyexploring
- https://www.instagram.com/faithfully.exploring/
- https://twitter.com/faithfullyava
- https://www.pinterest.com/faithfullyexploringblog/
- ava@faithfullyexploring.com
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