How To Help Your Homeschooled College Student Stay Sane
August 9, 2023 Adrienne Brown 0 Comments
Helping your homeschooled college student stay sane today is a very challenging task.
Yet in this blog post, you’ll learn some practical skills to use as you fight for your child’s sanity. My husband and I have been homeschooling for over 26 years.
So far, we have graduated 5 students from our homeschool and have gotten them into some of the best colleges in our nation.
But one of our main goals for them was to make sure they could function in an environment vastly different from theirs.
As a homeschooling parent, you will need to think about the future, their future away from you.
For instance, each year we have helped our graduates with choosing their prospective schools.
And always our ears and minds were open and sensitive to their wishes, as they made the final decision.
Helping them stay sane in each school had its challenges
What does this mean, well each school came with its unique set of challenges to their lives. They all faced people and activities that challenged the very foundation and lifestyle that they had lived for 18 years.
Sanity has to be protected
Some of your children will be more suited to the new college environment than others.
In our experience, we found that this varied base on their age, prior exposure to community college, and work experience.
Oh, and one thing for certain, we knew that even though they were off at college, we couldn’t consider them totally hands-off.
Especially when it came to staying sane and centered. All of our college students need us to cover their lives in the following ways.
Help keep them sane by praying for their spiritual lives
Never stop praying for their spiritual growth. Just because you raised them in a Christian home and kept them up under the best spiritual teachings in the world doesn’t mean they are equipped.
Satan is waiting for them and he shows no mercy.
We must give them spiritual protection by talking to the Lord on their behalf.
Pray to God “Lord, we do not know what they are doing, really, but you know exactly.
So, we place them into your hands, keep them safe and sane.”
Again, petition Him to “Do it any way that you need to do it” Just make sure that they don’t forget about who you are, God!” in Jesus’ name!
God will honor this kind of prayer because we are giving Him full authority. I am not saying that the child is going to be perfect and deserving, but I do know God is trustworthy.
Therefore, I trust in the Word. He promises that when we place situations into His hands He will do what is necessary.
Help your student stay sane with constant contact
Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like. As parents, we have got to keep our loving voices resounding in their heads.
They need to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we will be there for them.
Our college students may be big and strong, but mentally they still need emotional support from us.
As human beings, we need to feel secure and cared for at all times. If your child doesn’t have these basic securities to hold on to, he can start to feel unnecessary and unwanted.
This can cause him or her to lose touch with sanity. The very foundation of what he is made of will seem as if it is crumbling from beneath his feet.
We have to remind them from whence they come. We still have to keep building up their sense of self by encouraging real words that are true of them.
As we walk through this harsh world we all must be reminded of who we are. Our big grown college students need the same faith-building forces to surround them.
Send up sanity-strengthening signals
Not a day goes by that I don’t send up prayers for my kids, and not a week goes by that I don’t reach out to them.
Sending text messages with scripture or some words of encouragement are my go-to signals.
Many times I will send a voicemail so that they will hear my voice and other times I will send a video message.
We must be sure to touch base with them at least once a week. Don’t think that you have to say much, just send a simple “I’m thinking about you” that will do.
Help your college student stay sane by advocating for their success
This one requires that we act more like mentors rather than parents. Our children want their independence and should have it.
Yet, for many things on the administrative part, they are clueless about how to advocate for themselves at this level.
Some kids are quite intimidated, shy, or just plain old fearful. That’s where our mentorship comes in handy.
We will need to go out of our way to help them understand how to negotiate, bargain and fend for themselves sometimes.
They are really still naive about the college system and the world system.
I can remember navigating through this stage in life and it was very scary. I felt lost and like I was going to fall apart.
Thankfully I had a mentor to assist me in making wise decisions. This is what we can be for our kids while they are figuring out how everything works together.
After helping 4 of our children make it through college, I think that my husband and I have learned quite a bit about the challenges colleges can bring.
Hopefully, you will be able to institute one or all of these methods into parenting your college student.
Happy Homeschooling