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?
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.
