G is for... Graduation

Sometimes when I'm feeling overwhelmed and inadequate for the task of homeschooling, I have to remind myself that we have, in fact, had a graduate from our homeschool, and by most accounts he is relatively normal (in the ways that "normal" is considered a good thing), and has been successful in his post-homeschool endeavors so far.

And doesn't seem too badly scarred by the homeschool experience.  LOL

We didn't pursue advanced academic standards, didn't dual-enroll in a college, and he didn't even write any standardized tests or the SATs! I remember the year I realized that the deadline had passed to register for the PSAT and we'd missed it.  I agonized over it, wondering how Harrison would manage on the SAT is he hadn't had the experience of the PSAT and the possible scholarship opportunities that went with it.  And then we decided to not even worry about the SAT and just hope for the best.  As it turned out, he didn't need those exams for the school he chose.  He wanted to be an on-air personality for a radio station, so he chose to attend the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland, which put him on a fast track to that goal.  He graduated high school in June 2010, started at BIM in August 2010 and graduated BIM in February 2011.  And got his first radio job the day he did his final exam at BIM.  Not bad.

Some things I find interesting -

• at home, Harrison procrastinated on almost every assignment (granted, he comes by that honestly...)  but at BIM he got working on assignments as soon as they were given, worked hard on them, and sometimes even complained to me about classmates that were leaving things to the last minute.
• at home, he slept as late as possible, and preferred to do schoolwork lying on the sofa.  With the TV on.  At BIM, he made it a point to not only have perfect attendance, but to always be about half an hour (at least) early to school every day.  And so far as I know, he has never been late to his jobs, and I don't think he's even called in sick.
• at home, he stayed in a t-shirt and pajama pants almost all the time and considered nice jeans or khakis and a polo shirt to be 'dressed up'.  At BIM, he was expected to dress for business every day - including a tie and jacket, and he did it without any complaints.
• at home, a passing grade seemed to be good enough - why put forth any extra effort when a passing grade was enough to earn the credit?  at BIM, he was determined to get the best grades possible and was often focused on getting the best grade in his class if at all possible.
• at home, he used to complain about being homeschooled, but since graduating, he has sometimes complained about the lack of respect, discipline, focus, and ambition he notices in public schooled young people in his age group.  And even defended homeschooling on occasion. 

Accepting a scholarship upon entering BIM

I can think of lots of things that we might have done differently, and at the time we wished we had.  But I think we did okay, all things considered.

When we were just starting out with learning to read and beginning math skills, I had no clue how we'd manage all the way through high school.  And there were some years and seasons (still are!) when I thought we were failing.  One year at my review, my wise and experienced reviewer and mentor gave me a bit of encouragement that went something like this:  You have twelve years to teach them what they need to know.  Don't worry too much about one semester that didn't go the way you planned!

You can do this.  You have lots of time to teach what's important.  Teach them how to learn, how to find out what they need, so that they can do it on their own.  Do your best, and trust God for the rest.

Are you homeschooling through high school, or planning to?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

Blogging through the Alphabet is a weekly link-up hosted by "Ben and Me". Please visit to join in and to see what thoughts this week's letter has prompted for other bloggers.

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This post was added to the Throwback Thursday Blog-Style link-up hosted by Tots and Me... Growing Up Together! on April 8, 2016.

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