Wednesday, October 30, 2013

In Which the Second Homeschooler Prepares for College

Me little brother is getting ready for college.

Good. grief. This, I cannot believe.

Neither can I believe that I am halfway through my junior year and, as such, will be doing intensives next semester and student teaching a year from this winter!

Anyway, B2 is getting ready. He's home-schooled all the way through, too, K-12--again, taking it a year at a time and exploring other options from time to time. As the second one through, he gets to be barraged with advice from three people! I'm sure he is very grateful! [or something...]

People ask whether academics or social life is the hardest part of a homeschooler adjusting to college. Neither, I think. The hardest thing for all of us that I've known (who have had, admittedly, a decently rigorous high-school curriculum) was losing our freedom to do what we wanted, when we wanted!

My brother's best friend put it this way: "I'm losing my childhood!"

B2 feels that way too. Fortunately my schedule has been somewhat restrictive for a while, so we kind of got used to it. Doesn't make it a great deal easier, though. Vacations are limited, mission trips are limited, everything is limited. When we aren't in school, we're working, so even summers aren't a blank slate. He has to start looking for jobs and filling out applications soon.

It's not fun, but he will get used to it. I think he will enjoy college more than I do, actually--I'm not much of a "people person," while he is.

In the meantime, I wade through field experience (basically a practicum for ed. majors) and classwork and my three jobs, and try not to be too flippant about his adjustment phase. ;)