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DD's essay


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I have permission to post this, but will probably come back and take it down in a day or so. DD wrote this for her English composition class, and was asked to share it with the class aloud.

 

How did my high school education prepare me for college? That's a hard question to answer. Technically, I'm not in high school yet. I was homeschooled completely until age 12, when I started here at Southwest, and am currently classified as 3/4 time college dual enrollment and 8th grade. I don't know when I'm going to graduate high school, or even if I'll graduate high school. So, I'll tell you about how my education so far prepared me for college. I believe it prepared me very, very well. Not just because, hey, I scored well enough on the ACT and SAT at age 10 and 11 to qualify to enter college, or because I have a 4.0 after 12 credit hours at age 13, and am in the process of applying to become a degree seeking student. But because, from what I've seen, my homeschool life was much closer to college than high school.

Let me explain. Since age 5, I have gotten up in the morning, sat down, and worked through math, reading the book and trying the problems. When I was really little, I said what I wanted to do, and my mom would write it down. If I needed help, I asked for it, and my mom would sit down with me and help me, whether it was by drawing pictures or pulling out legos or toy cars. But I always tried it first. I never had a lesson, and then go do homework. Rather, working the problem set by myself, and then having questions answered, working through difficult sections with my mom, WAS the homework. College classes are like that. Or, at least, I think they are. You read the book, you do the questions or problems, you figure out as much as you can on your own. Then you come to class, and the class helps you with the tough spots, so you can go back, fix what you didn't understand and move on to the next set. What I see in class, though, is that many students seem to be waiting for permission to start learning. The idea of reading the book and trying the assignment before class just almost seems foreign to them, even though it is written on the syllabus that readings are to be completed before class (and what's the use of the questions if you don't use them while reading?). Some of my classes were online, or once a week at a co-op. In those, I learned just how frustrating it is when other people haven't done the work-but that I can't let their choice to not do the work hold me back.

In homeschool co-ops, I learned that you get out of it what you put into it.  I saw my mom work for hours to prepare a single hour class, and that her classes usually were detailed, engaging, and fun. And I saw other classes where it was obvious that someone had done a google search for "worksheet on topic X", printed it out, and expected that to last an hour. Or where the parent didn't show up at all, and someone else had to try to pull something together at the last minute. And in those experiences, I learned that time was only wasted if I chose to waste it. Just because the instructor didn't do their job didn't mean I couldn't find something interesting from it, and go and learn on my own. College is like that, too. Even if the class isn't perfect, you can always put more into it and get more out of it.

Finally, my education taught me that gifted and smart doesn't mean perfect. Being the only one in your class doesn't make you the best-it just makes you the only. If you can get 100% on 5th grade math, take a test and figure out where you need to work. Even if that means Algebra in 2nd grade, or classical etymology in 4th.  It doesn't make sense to do easy work and get a 100% as opposed to harder work where you struggle to get a 70% at the beginning, and then maybe an 80%, but finally you really get it. I credit this to books like Art of Problem Solving, which is just plain hard, and in learning a lot via discovering it. A lot of people questioned me starting college because "What if you don't get good grades? They are on your permanent record". My mother's response is "Then you'll learn what you don't know, go back, learn it, and try again". I have had less than perfect grades in every class I have taken in college. I have made mistakes. I have made errors. I have learned how to study for that particular class and improve over time. And I credit this to my education.

So, knowing this, how would I change the education system? Again, hard to say. My experience with school is Disney channel shows and books and what I hear from my friends who go to regular schools.  But I think that, in general, the things I learned above that have prepared me for college is what every child needs to learn before entering college-that you learn, not primarily from others, but from yourself, with others as resources as needed, that you get out what you put in, even if others aren't putting in as much as they should, and that you should always challenge yourself and not expect perfection at the beginning, but that you should grow and improve over time. Maybe over the next few years here, I'll figure out how to make that happen for more kids.

 

 

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Oh wow. Thank you for posting this. I've read it several times. There's so much wisdom and insight in there.

dmmetler, your mama heart must be singing. All those years of homeschooling have not only been obviously successful, but they've also been appreciated by your daughter. That's precious.

Huge congrats to you both. You're both so inspiring.

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She wouldn’t let me read it-or any of her assignments-until after the semester was over and her grades were finalized and posted. 

It’s been tough going from homeschooling to being a cheerleader and parent for a college student who wants to do it on her own. But so far, she’s more than proved she was ready for it. And that, yeah, DA was right. 7th grade, even at a specialty gifted school, wasn’t the optimal academic fit for her at this time. 

 

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And this is why it's so hard to plan for our kids. And so hard to just sit and watch while others are planning and chatting about curriculum too. Loved it and thank you for sharing. It warmed my heart so I can't imagine how brimming yours must be.

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