I chose to officially start my homeschooling
career in 10th grade. My parents have been an
amazing support, and I am grateful every day that
they blessed me with this opportunity. Looking
back at these last three years, it has been the
best decision we have ever made.
Thanks to our mentor Mrs. E, doctorate in
education, I’ve gathered the following helpful
notes for other students trying to get started with
homeschooling and moving into adulthood:
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR BEGINNERS
What are you interested in? What are you good at?
What do you love to do? What do people recognize
you for? You may think that since you are young,
you are less important. This is furthest from
the truth. Now is your time to shine and make a
difference: Not after college or retirement. This
is your most active time in your life. You have the
most drive to do things from ages 16–24.
VISION CASTING
Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
20 years? 70 years? What do you want to be
known for? When you are old, and think about
what you did in your life, what will you be proud
of? Plan a vision for your life, be organized and
well thought out.
POSTLECTURE COMMENTARIES
Sometimes, you might be in a lecture
environment. How do I make it stick and not lose
it? Take notes in class, and afterwards (within 24
hours) write a commentary. Take no more than 5
minutes to answer these questions:
• What happened?
• What did I learn?
• How do I think/feel about it?
• What of it? (Why was it useful?)
• Commentaries turn lectures into experiential
learning.
A fewadditional personal insights:
Getting stuff done
Let’s say you have something you need to get
done that isn’t particularly interesting to you.
Homework, an essay, a house chore, anything.
Want to know a secret method to be your most
efficient? Try the Pomodoro method (“tomato” in
Italian). Set a random timer for yourself between
16–20 minutes (the time must be random). Then,
work as hard as you can until the timer goes off.
Breath: 5 beats in, 6 beats hold, 7 beats out. Take
a break for five minutes. Go outside. Relax. Start
again, if you like. That’s it! Do as many as you
want in a day.
Get enough sleep
Your mind needs sleep. Sleeping heals your body.
Sleeping before midnight also turns short term
memory into long term memory. If you don’t
get 8–10 hours of sleep, the things you learned
yesterday may be forgotten.
300 good decisions
Your earliest hours in the day are most efficient
for your brain. As soon as you wake up, your brain
has about 300 quality decisions before you are
maxed out and put into autopilot (~noon)
Your early hours are for learning tough things.
This is the best time of day to grasp difficult
concepts. Your afternoon hours are for making.
This is when your creative brain gets going.
Don’t make tough decisions at night. Tough
decision + over-tired = sleep on it.
Relax
Make a day for yourself where you aren’t working
or doing school. Relax, enjoy life, go outside,
exercise, play a game, read a good book. Taking
a break is a good thing and will make you even
more efficient.
Some personal favorites:
• Programming teacher: Bob the Developer
bobthedeveloper.io
• Math teacher: funmathclub.com
• History, Literature, and Rhetoric teacher:
balm.pathwright.com
Recommended books to kickstart
your homeschooling adventure:
• The Romance of Education by Robert Welch
• How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler
• The Great Books, compiled by Mortimer Adler
• Word Clues: The Vocabulary Builder by
Amsel Greene
• Oxford English Dictionary
Jonathan Pappas, high school senior:
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makeprojects.com