Category: Students

Image: Martin Vorel, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Helene talks about how homeschooling helped her to be involved in the pro-life movement and prepared her for studying a Bachelor of Commerce.

How long were you homeschooled for?

I was homeschooled for my whole life.

What did you do after your homeschooling education?

After school, I took a gap year so that I could go to World Youth Day in Portugal, and I worked for my Parish, running their coffee van. I prepared for the trip, volunteered at a pregnancy center, and prepared quotes for my brother’s landscaping business, Fresh Start. After the gap year, I went to the University of Canterbury to study a bachelor of commerce majoring in management. I started with a minor in sport, and in the second year I changed that to marketing. I am now working part-time as a nanny, and for Fresh Start.

Did homeschooling prepare you well for university?

At uni you do a lot of study on your own. There’s no set schedule, like there is in school. Homeschooling is similar to uni; you have your subjects, but you get to choose where to spend time on them. In my high-school years, I took subjects that gave me university entrance through NCEA or Cambridge. I could choose the topics I wanted, but also how and when to study, which I found was quite useful; picking the subjects that I had a passion for and having personalized choice. 

You’ve been involved in the Pro-life movement; did homeschooling help with this?

Having the more flexible schedule allowed me to make time for volunteering, and organize my study around other things I wanted to do. Volunteering at the Pregnancy centre worked around my study schedule; and other volunteering like Voice for Life Youth, which I got to know through a group of homeschool friends. My involvement in public speaking groups though homeschooling meant I could eventually give a talk at March for Life. I used a curriculum that was quite focused on Catholicism and Pro-life movements.

What did homeschooling look like on a day-to-day basis?

My usual strategy was to try to get a lot of the work done as early as possible. I’d often get into my work as soon as I got up, and work through it, with small breaks in between. This was broken up by homeschool events or regular sports, and often in the afternoons I would play with siblings, do crafts, play sports, go on hikes, and hang out with friends; I’d try to leave the afternoons and evenings free.

Did home-schooling help form you in the Faith?

I think it did; I had a religious education curriculum that was very personalized to my family. Dad would often help us on RE. He would read books aloud to us about apologetics, and we would discuss them as a family over the dinner table. I guess just being around my family a lot meant we had a lot of Faith discussions, and the chance to go to Mass and Adoration – which the flexible schedule helped with.

Do you have a book/resource recommendation?

Chief Truths of the Faith.

When we were primary-school age, we read saints stories and then summarized them back to Mum; she would write them in a scrap book and we would draw a picture to help us remember saints or Bible stories.

What was your favourite thing about being homeschooled?

The chance to be around my family so much. I developed a really close bond with all my siblings, which even now, as we move out of home, we’ve always retained. There’s a lot of trust and love between my siblings, which definitely isn’t impossible, but is harder in a school environment. Faith discussions; building each other up; praying for each other; and being around Mum and Dad a lot.

What was a challenge about being homeschooled?

A little more limited social opportunities, and also probably slightly less chance to reach out and evangelize, which you can sometimes do more easily in school. These were just small challenges; in general homeschooling was really awesome, and my family was really good at integrating all these things together.

Do you have a study tip?

Make your study time intentional. I know it can be easy to get distracted when you’re studying and not get everything done. If you have really dedicated study time, then you have more time for everything else. If you make your study time intentional it makes the rest of your time more enjoyable.

Image Credit: NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

(I picked this image because Anna loves to surf)

Homeschooled from Kindergarten to year 10, Anna says, “I loved it, it was a lot of fun. I loved being at home.” Anna has ten siblings, and says, “it was fun to have a group of us at home.” All her siblings have been homeschooled for part of their education.

Anna’s favourite thing about homeschooling was “having the freedom of choosing your own thing…and having that one-on-one time with your teacher, which is my mum, to…help you overcome difficulties that you’re facing, or improve on your good qualities.”

History was Anna’s favorite subject, but she also enjoyed English, and science in primary school. Anna talks about how homeschooling prepared her for the university studies she is doing now at Campion; “in homeschooling…we [studied] ancient history, like classical history, which is what we’re learning at Campion.”

Anna went to school for a short time, and says “the school life was a big change.” She says it was “good for socialization,” but often she spent a lot of time at school learning things she’d already learned, or learning things that “at homeschooling we could have just gone through quicker.”

After a term or two of school, COVID happened, and Anna was studying at home again. Anna says, “It was a surprise, but…I liked being at home. When you’re doing online school, it’s at your own pace, in a way, so I liked that part of it…I also did like going to school and seeing people every day.”

Anna says “a lot of our homeschooling subjects were focused on the Faith,” and mentions learning Catholic history and reading Catholic literature, which “really helped me grow in Faith.” It was also great to have a good grounding in the Faith when she went into the school environment.

On extracurriculars and social life, Anna said “I’ve grown up in a small town, so I think that really helped with my social life…knowing all the other families in the town and doing sports within the town.” She mentioned that “there’s definitely a point in school, where you do a lot of different sports and stuff that you don’t normally do at home.” Anna enjoys sports and has “done lots of different sports, so surfing, swimming, netball, touch football, soccer,” and also “drama, we did musicals and stuff,…music, we did piano, and little bit of guitar as well.”

Anna gave a study tip for homeschoolers; “if you’re struggling, if you’re stuck on something which you can’t push past…focus more on those kind of things, grow with your understanding of those things which you’re struggling with.”

Watch the full interview

Three days after Christmas, 2024, Sarah walked up the aisle of a beautiful, little, crammed-full Church, and married Dominic in a Traditional Latin rite nuptial Mass. Sarah was homeschooled most of her life, which she says prepared her for marriage. While being homeschooled, Sarah “had to learn to take on a lot of responsibility” through helping with chores at home and looking after younger siblings. Homeschooling also taught her social skills as she “had to go out and meet people, ‘cause I didn’t just have, you know, friends that I’d met at school.”

Sarah talks about her love for acting and drama; “right from a young age, I was a performer. I would put on little shows for my parents.” At around seven, she auditioned and played one of the lost boys in Peter Pan. She also has performed in the Three Little Pigs, Alice in Wonderland, and participated in drama lessons and drama clubs. When she finished being homeschooled, Sarah took speech and drama exams. She speaks about how being marked by an examiner was a new experience for her.

While homeschooling, Sarah’s mum graded much of her work, and they also used auto-graded quizzes through Homeschool Connections. Sarah mentioned that the auto-graded quizzes made things easier for her mum, Ruth Green, who is a busy mum of nine (Sarah is the eldest). Sarah says, “I love it, I loved having lots of siblings” Leaving home to get married, “I’ve missed the noise.”

Sarah says, “being homeschooled really helped my Faith, because Mum and Dad really made an effort to teach us all the Faith.” Evening prayer was very important in their home and they attended Mass as a family. Sarah’s mum would read them lives of the Saints, which gave them examples to imitate. They also celebrated feast days. Sarah says, “Having younger siblings…gives you plenty of opportunities to practise virtue…especially patience…And it also taught you to love one another, even when you didn’t feel like it.”

The Green family have celebrated St Joseph’s day for a long time. They prepare a St Joseph’s table with lots of traditional Italian food. Sarah tells about how once there was a famine in Italy, and the people prayed to St Joseph. Then, a lot of rainfall made crops grow. In thanksgiving, the people had a big feast to celebrate St Joseph, and this was the beginning of the St. Joseph’s table. On St Joseph’s day, Ruth Green would make spaghetti with bread crumbs on top, for St Joseph’s carpentry. They also have traditional Italian desserts, and bread in the shape of a crown of thorns, a hammer, or a lily. A statue of St Joseph stands in the centre of the table. Sarah says this tradition “brought the Saint to life for us.” The Green family would make Mexican food for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, put the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the prayer table, and read about her. Sarah says, “It’s so amazing ‘cause it means that we’re looking forward to that every year and it’s imprinted on our minds as ‘yes, this is an amazing thing, so we want to celebrate this Saint.’”

Asked for a homeschooling study tip, Sarah says, “having your own space to study” is great, as well as having classical music in the background.

Watch the interview

You may also enjoy an interview and an article with Sarah’s mum, Ruth Green

Image Credit:
Michal Klajban, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Last year in December, on a boiling hot summer Sydney day, Anna donned an academic gown and graduated with a Diploma in Liberal Arts at Campion College. Anna was among the seven students at Campion who were from New Zealand, as was her brother Bede who graduated with her.

Prior to Campion, Anna was homeschooled for four years, with her siblings. In 2023, she spent time at National Trade Academy, and worked in a Waipara vineyard. She also completed the Campion bridging program in preparation to study there in 2024.

At Campion, Anna studied philosophy, theology, history and literature. Her favourite was history. She took the opportunity to visit Sydney beaches, and travel to Cairns, Culburra, and Melbourne with her Australian friends. She also participated in Christus Rex, a 90 kilometre pilgrimage between Ballarat and Bendigo.

When asked about what she enjoyed most about Campion overall, Anna said, “the academic environment encouraged great discussions with peers and an environment where people were open about their views and open to others. This helped me to have a broader mindset and put thought into my own beliefs and decisions.”

Image courtesy of Gemma Morton-Jones

In a slightly obscure corner of Campion College’s beautiful campus in Toongabbie, there is a cheerful little veggie garden patch, neatly laid out and well-cared for. A friendly little group, aka the Campion gardening society, looks after it. Both the gardening patch and the gardening society were an initiative of Gemma Morton-Jones, a former Kiwi homeschooler who studied at Campion in 2024.

Gemma is the second youngest of six, and was homeschooled all her life, except for one year. While homeschooling, she completed speech and drama exams. In 2023, she took a gap year, went to World Youth Day in Lisbon, worked in a plant nursery, and attended Hearts Aflame, a young adults’ summer camp. In 2024, she completed her diploma at Campion. Her favorite subject was history. She also participated in the Campion skit night, and acted as Margaret in Much Ado about nothing.

About her time at Campion, Gemma says, “I think the pros of Campion was that I had to work to deadlines, which I never really had with Te Kura (I was with them for about 2yrs), and a con would be being away from family, but…the community at Campion was a family-like scenario.” This year, Gemma is studying history at University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Image license:
AKibombo, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The noise died down in the room, giving way to silence. Dr. McInerney, the Dean of Studies at Campion College, read out the names of students who had excelled academically. Elizabeth Boerdam walked up and received a certificate, surrounded by the applause of friends, fellow-students, and lecturers. Elizabeth achieved a weighted average mark of high distinction, and the highest grade of the first year class. She qualified for an academic excellence scholarship, and was also awarded the “The Lord is Our Shepherd” book grant. Today, she joins Oceania CHS to talk about how being homeschooled helped her to succeed at Campion.

Elizabeth was homeschooled all her life, and says:

I definitely think it helped me. The main way it did was helping me manage my own time. Because in university it’s different from school, in that at school, you have your teacher there to constantly remind you when things are due, what you ought to be studying, what your answers to questions ought to be… in university your professors will give you your assignments at the beginning of the semester…and its up to you to form your own relationship with the material so that you get those assignments done on time and you’re prepared for all your exams. Homeschooling was very much the same for me.

She also highlighted how “Homeschooling gave me the opportunity to study what I am genuinely interested in and good at.” Elizabeth has always loved books, and talks about when she read the hobbit at age eleven and “fell in love with Tolkien’s writings.” In a book, you encounter “a world that is different from your own, but the lessons that you learn in that book and the reality it presents, it always translates back to the reality which you live in.”

To attend Campion, Elizabeth moved from her Brisbane home to NSW. She said “it was a very big adjustment…you get homesick…but at the same time, it was such a rewarding experience, because you learn so much about yourself, you learn how resilient you are.” About studying there, she said “I liked all of it.” She mentions enjoying tutorial discussions, both when others agreed with her and when they disagreed, because then she got “to have a really fun conversation about why you disagree.” She said “history had never been my favorite subject [but] I was finally about to see that history was so much more than just dates, and battles, and boring people that lives thousands of years ago. It was this amazing story of people in different times, with different cultures, and how that has affected the way we see the world today.” She also enjoyed reading the Iliad, the Aeniad, and Aeschylus, and studying metaphysics.

She says, “I think that both homeschooling and Campion have definitely helped my Faith journey…homeschooling really gave me a very solid basis, where I was really just surrounded by that which is good and true and beautiful.” Through being homeschooled, she was able to become firmly grounded in her Faith. Later, when others disagreed with her or became frustrated, “it was never something that made me question my Faith” At Campion, she loved being so close to a Chapel that “Our Lord was always just a flight of stairs away from me.”

Elizabeth gave a study tip: “Write it out. Find yourself a planner, find yourself a timetable,” so that you know “what exactly you need to have done.” She recommends “being very clear on what exactly the exam or the essay is going to be like, what criteria you need to meet” in order to avoid spending time studying what you don’t need to, or missing important material. She says “procrastination is the enemy.” Often, if she feels like she can’t study she’ll go for a walk beforehand, and she will take breaks. She says, “don’t just sit in your room and study without giving yourself the rest you need, but also don’t just have a good time and forget about the study side of uni life.”

Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/In3MTjKDHcE