As you all know, I was unschooled when I was a kid, and have recently re-entered a formal academic environment to get a two-year degree from community college so I can enter a field that requires a license and a residency. Periodically we all hear naysayers worry about how the unschooled or non-traditionally homeschooled will do when they have to go to college, so I thought I'd talk a bit about my adjustment. (I am aware that I can't say how applicable any of this would be to a person who was going to a fancy university.)
Things I Have Found Hard About Being in College:
. . .
Well, sometimes when I'm on campus I miss my family and wonder why anyone ever does anything outside the home, as I've previously posted. But that also happens when I go to the grocery store, because I am a sappy Cancerian who really only desires to be in her cave with her children, so I'm pretty sure it's not suitable for this list.
. . .
Hm, well, okay, let's start with the easier one.
Things I Have NOT Found Hard About Being in College but Which Worried Not-Homeschooly People Thought I Would:
- Meeting deadlines. Many of my classes are online so I can see when my peers deliver their bulletin board assignments. Every week my assignments are in first. I'm a little uptight about it.
- Getting up in the morning. My earliest class is at noon. That is kind of earlier than I like, but I have had no problems doing it.
- Being forced to be around people I really don't like. One professor is kind of a jerk, but this has only caused me to roll my eyes and debate whether to go to his head of department or just suck it up and take a B.
- Acting like external, arbitrary rewards matter. I avoided college for a long time because an unschooling parent told me, "It's all jumping through hoops! None of it is about learning!" But jumping through these hoops-- and yeah they are just hoops, largely -- feels like collecting all the golden rings in Sonic. It's silly and mindless fun.
- Learning in a way that is not individually crafted just to suit my personal-best learning style. See above about hoops. Yeah, this is a stupid, stupid way to learn, but the data is sinking in and it isn't unpleasant.
- Writing academically. I was worried about this one, and I hear it from folks who are against homeschooling. But writing is just talking on paper, and if you can follow the rules for Settlers of Catan you can understand what your professor says in his syllabus about how he wants papers formatted.
- Getting caught up on all of high school math in much less than four years. I have made my kids study math for years because I feared this one, but husbandman is taking Stats this semester, and I have to take some maths next semester, so I've been reading his book and following along, trying to get a sense of how hard it will be. And you know what? It isn't going to matter one bloody whit that I can't do long division without a calculator. Everything I need to know about the math is actually explained in the textbook.
- Not having time to pursue my own interests. I don't get this one at all. College is optional, therefore, I am pursuing my own interests by going to it.
- Wearing (different) clothes that are reasonably non-offensive every single day. Okay, maybe aunties don't know they should worry this about their homeschooled relatives, but all us homeschooling mamas know. I actually spent five hours this week trying to choose practical, fashionable shoes that would work with a pre-professional Hi I'm trying to network wardrobe. Me, who abhors fashion, who goes barefoot to the library and grocery store and dares security to notice. I sort of want to raspberry the particular relative who told me, when I dropped out of school as a kid, that someday I would have to give a damn about what I wear. Someday I did, and on that day it was fun, and fine, despite my not having to do it when I was thirteen.
That is the main thing I have to say to anyone who says, "But good luck to those kids when they have to face 'the real world'!" There's nothing more real about this stuff than my life until this stuff. Yes, someday we may decide to face it, and on that day it will be fun, and fine, despite not having had to do it when we were six, eleven, and seventeen.
Hang on, I thought of something I find hard about adjusting to "real" school.
Thing I Find Hard About Being in College:
- Not becoming a smug unschooler.
Things I Have Found Hard About Being in College:
. . .
Well, sometimes when I'm on campus I miss my family and wonder why anyone ever does anything outside the home, as I've previously posted. But that also happens when I go to the grocery store, because I am a sappy Cancerian who really only desires to be in her cave with her children, so I'm pretty sure it's not suitable for this list.
. . .
Hm, well, okay, let's start with the easier one.
Things I Have NOT Found Hard About Being in College but Which Worried Not-Homeschooly People Thought I Would:
- Meeting deadlines. Many of my classes are online so I can see when my peers deliver their bulletin board assignments. Every week my assignments are in first. I'm a little uptight about it.
- Getting up in the morning. My earliest class is at noon. That is kind of earlier than I like, but I have had no problems doing it.
- Being forced to be around people I really don't like. One professor is kind of a jerk, but this has only caused me to roll my eyes and debate whether to go to his head of department or just suck it up and take a B.
- Acting like external, arbitrary rewards matter. I avoided college for a long time because an unschooling parent told me, "It's all jumping through hoops! None of it is about learning!" But jumping through these hoops-- and yeah they are just hoops, largely -- feels like collecting all the golden rings in Sonic. It's silly and mindless fun.
- Learning in a way that is not individually crafted just to suit my personal-best learning style. See above about hoops. Yeah, this is a stupid, stupid way to learn, but the data is sinking in and it isn't unpleasant.
- Writing academically. I was worried about this one, and I hear it from folks who are against homeschooling. But writing is just talking on paper, and if you can follow the rules for Settlers of Catan you can understand what your professor says in his syllabus about how he wants papers formatted.
- Getting caught up on all of high school math in much less than four years. I have made my kids study math for years because I feared this one, but husbandman is taking Stats this semester, and I have to take some maths next semester, so I've been reading his book and following along, trying to get a sense of how hard it will be. And you know what? It isn't going to matter one bloody whit that I can't do long division without a calculator. Everything I need to know about the math is actually explained in the textbook.
- Not having time to pursue my own interests. I don't get this one at all. College is optional, therefore, I am pursuing my own interests by going to it.
- Wearing (different) clothes that are reasonably non-offensive every single day. Okay, maybe aunties don't know they should worry this about their homeschooled relatives, but all us homeschooling mamas know. I actually spent five hours this week trying to choose practical, fashionable shoes that would work with a pre-professional Hi I'm trying to network wardrobe. Me, who abhors fashion, who goes barefoot to the library and grocery store and dares security to notice. I sort of want to raspberry the particular relative who told me, when I dropped out of school as a kid, that someday I would have to give a damn about what I wear. Someday I did, and on that day it was fun, and fine, despite my not having to do it when I was thirteen.
That is the main thing I have to say to anyone who says, "But good luck to those kids when they have to face 'the real world'!" There's nothing more real about this stuff than my life until this stuff. Yes, someday we may decide to face it, and on that day it will be fun, and fine, despite not having had to do it when we were six, eleven, and seventeen.
Hang on, I thought of something I find hard about adjusting to "real" school.
Thing I Find Hard About Being in College:
- Not becoming a smug unschooler.