Nontraditional College Students Who Home School Their Children

Nontraditional College Students and Their Children

By Linda Pogue

Going to college when you have children at home is difficult at best, but when the nontraditional student parent is also a home schooling parent, it is doubly difficult, especially if they also work. This was brought home to me recently when a friend decided to go back to college after a few years away. She decided it was time to complete her degree. Changing her degree program makes this a bit more difficult, since some of the subjects she had already taken do not apply to the new degree program. At the same time,she is trying to help her husband build a home business and home school her three children. Is she a brave soul or crazy?

She is much braver than I am. I did not attend college until after my children were grown. I saw the difficulties both my siblings had going to college while their children were young, and decided I would wait. Is she crazy? No, I don't think so. In today's economic climate, having a college degree is almost mandatory for a good job. She wants to help provide for her family and wants the best for her children, just as all good parents do. At the same time, it won't be easy.

She has to schedule time to teach her children, as well as work on her own school assignments, in addition to family and household chores. Thankfully, her husband works from home and is able to be more help than he would if he were working somewhere else. They can share the tasks of teaching and grading children's school work to give her more time. She also sits at the table doing her homework while the kids do their homework. That way, she has time to work on her own assignments, while being there to help the kids, if they need it.

She can also use what she is learning to add to her children's education. When she is studying science, she can demonstrate and explain the principles she is learning to the children. For instance, she can do a topical unit study for the kids on climate and weather patterns while she is studying the same thing for her Earth science class.

Nontraditional college students who home school have resources available to them that other home school parents may not have. They have instructors who may be willing to answer questions and may even be willing to talk with the children. They have the college library for resources. If the college has a school of education, there will be lots of excellent information on teaching specific subjects to children. Going to college online would give more time to work on assignments and work with the children, too, since there would be no lost time in commuting to and from the college campus.

Nontraditional Students and High School Transcripts

Believe it or not, nontraditional students have to supply their high school transcripts when applying for admission to college--even if you graduated high school thirty years ago or more. For some nontraditional students, this is not easy to get. When my husband decided to attend some college classes, the school he where had graduated had closed for a period of ten years, due to low enrollment.

Fortunately, one of the administrative assistants of the school district was able to locate the transcript by going through boxes of old records that had been in a closet for many, many years. This lady, bless her, took the time to find his transcript. If she hadn't, it is possible he would not have been admitted without taking the GED (which was mentioned at one point by a college official).

As soon as you make the decision to be a student again, contact the high school counsellor where you graduated. Give them a long lead time to find the transcript, especially if you graduated before computers and even more time if you graduated before microfiche became popular for keeping records. This will make it more likely the transcript will arrive within the allotted time period. Even if you don't know where you want to attend college classes, most high school administrations would appreciate a heads up that you are planning to go and will be requesting the transcript soon.

As for the transcript contents, don't worry too much if your high school GPA was less than stellar. You just need it to show that you completed high school. Most colleges will require nontraditional students to take the ACT, SAT, or a some kind of placement test to give them an idea where to place you as far as Math and English courses go. They want to make sure they don't put you in an Algebra class if you need to brush up on basic mathematics and pre-algebra, etc.

Going to school and being a student again is stressful enough without worrying about the highschool transcript Just be sure you request it early, then spend your worry time prepping for the ACT or SAT!