As you begin homeschooling in high school, you are likely thinking about everything your child needs before they graduate. Between state credit requirements, tests such as the ACT and SAT, portfolios, and more, you and your student have a lot on your plates to ensure they graduate on time. However, it’s important not to forget the more general life skills that your child needs if they want to continue on to higher education. Here, we have put together a list of skills high schoolers need before college. As you read this list, consider what your teen already knows and what they could stand to improve on, and then make a plan to strengthen any weaker skills.
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This post is part of a 10-day “Tips for Homeschool Moms Series” we are doing in conjunction with several other homeschool bloggers. Our theme is “Preparing Your Homeschooled Teen for College”. To see links to all of our posts and the other blogs, you can view this post.
Skills High Schoolers Need Before College
Naturally, there are countless skills we could include on this list. However, we chose to focus on skills that are often overlooked but are important for success in college.
Computer Skills
Much of our world operates digitally in this age, and the education realm is no different. Even if your teen takes solely in-person classes at college, they will certainly have assignments to complete that involve technology skills. Making slideshows, typing in Google Docs and Microsoft Word, and even basic video recording/editing are common projects in college. If your teen needs some help getting started in this area, check out the Computer Applications class and Intro to Google Drive unit study we offer here at FundaFunda! These courses will help prepare your teen with practical computer skills they will use throughout their lives. If you as a homeschool parent need ideas on incorporating tech into your schoolwork, listen to our weekly podcast Homeschooling with Technology!
Note-Taking
Note-taking is a crucial skill for teenagers to be familiar with before college. Teens must figure out a method that works for them to organize information quickly and effectively. It’s important for them to be able to recognize a topic, outline main ideas, and summarize critical information. Have them practice summarizing information from their textbooks or an online video in various methods (Cornell method, outlining, etc.) If they are not familiar with different note-taking methods, check out this video for an overview of some popular ones.
Critical Thinking
The ability to think critically and form one’s own opinion is something that will serve teens throughout their entire life. In college, this is a skill that your student will need both inside and outside of the classroom. In many of our classes here at FundaFunda, students are asked to reflect on what they have learned, or provide an opinion on a topic they have learned about.
Test-Taking
While it isn’t the most fun skill to learn, test-taking strategies are a necessity both at college and for college entry exams like the ACT/SAT. Test-taking combines a variety of different skills: time-management, process of elimination, trusting your instinct, and more. Signing your teen up for the PSAT can be a great way to practice test-taking before the ACT and SAT. You can also practice these strategies at home in your regular curriculum. However you choose to develop these skills, your child will certainly be thanking you after their first midterm in college 🙂
Time Management
Time management is, in my opinion, the most important skill for teens to master before beginning college classes. Without it, deadlines, assignments, and other responsibilities quickly become overwhelming. Teens need to be familiar with adhering to due dates for assignments and projects. A great way to practice this skill is by taking co-op or online classes that follow deadlines and have weekly assignments. This way, teens are used to turning in work on a schedule before college. If you need recommendations, you can of course look at our selection of full-semester online classes 🙂
Summarizing a Paragraph
Summarizing information in one’s own words is a highly overlooked skill, but it is crucial to know. It is common for college professors to assign students long textbook readings and/or lecture videos and ask them to summarize the main ideas of the information in a paragraph or two. Students must be able to do this without plagiarizing and while managing to pick out the important information. This is a great skill to practice at home with your student’s reading, be it textbooks or leisure, or even videos they watch! For more information, you can listen to this podcast episode from the Homeschooling with Technology Podcast.
Operating in an Online Classroom
Regardless of whether your child is taking in-person or online classes at college, there will likely be some aspects of the classroom that are virtual. Professors often utilize discussion boards, digital drop boxes for submissions, and Zoom office hours. Your student must be prepared to operate in a virtual setting if needed. It is also good to experience both synchronous and asynchronous classes so your child is ready for either. Our classes contain online assignments with due dates and teacher feedback on submissions, but are asynchronous and do not have scheduled class meeting times (with the exception of Spanish). True North Academy offers synchronous online classes with scheduled meeting times each week (some classes are from a Christian worldview). Both types of classes are great to ensure your child won’t be fully unfamiliar with online classrooms when they reach college.
Blog Series
We hope this post has given you some insight into skills high schoolers need before college! This post is part of a 10-day “Tips for Homeschool Moms” series we are doing in conjunction with other homeschool blogs. Our theme is “Preparing Your Homeschooled Teen for College”. You can find all of our posts, as well as the other blogs and series topics linked in this post. Our partners have some excellent experiences and insight to share in their series, so please do check out their blogs!
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or other skills you think are important for high schoolers to learn before college, please leave them in the comments below!
Thanks for reading!
