Written by Aerial Whiting
Sophomore Rachel Moran and senior Sarah Riley love people. Both girls are active members of the social club Shantih, and both enjoy surrounding themselves with friends.
However, neither extrovert experienced the socialization most students do in elementary and secondary school. They were homeschooled during their entire precollege education.
Upon entering Harding, Moran and Riley adapted to a traditional classroom setting and to new kinds of friendships.
Moran began college after having spent years learning at home with her mother and brother. Because of that, adjusting to learning from a teacher was difficult, she said.
Harding professors cover material more rapidly than Moran was used to. Moran said she also felt pressured to excel on her assignments because someone she did not know was grading them.
In these respects, Riley had the opposite experience. She said that school classes would spend longer on particular points than when she studied on her own. She was also used to having people other than her parents grade her work because she was part of a co-op: a group of homeschoolers who came together once a week for classes taught by certain parents.
In addition to learning from a teacher, Moran had to deliver her first speeches and participate in her first group projects during her freshman year at Harding, neither of which she appreciated.
“I hate group projects and speeches,” Moran said. “They are officially the bane of my existence.”
Riley said she had activities that made her more comfortable with speeches and group assignments before she started college. She recited poems in get-togethers with other homeschooled students as a way to practice public speaking and memorization, but even so, she shared Moran’s loathing of speeches.
Riley was actively involved in her youth group and worked at camp, which gave her the skills to work with other people, she said. She was surprised that some students did not care about the projects they had to do, though.
“It was different … having people who wouldn’t participate,” Riley said. “Because you know there’s a lot students here who are just like ‘Eh, who cares about this class?’ I was not used to that. I’m just like, ‘Why are you at school if you’re not going to participate?'”
Besides educational adjustments, Moran and Riley adapted to friendships in college. They both said they have close relationships with their families. But as sociable people, they like having many friendships, and Harding presented new dynamics for those friendships.
Before attending college, Moran claims she sometimes wished to go to school so that she could fit in with children her age. However, she did find ways to stay involved. She participated in 4-H Club and Girl Scouts, and she showed horses.
Now, Harding gives her more opportunities to interact with other students, and her desire to go to school has been fulfilled.
Riley said she was overwhelmed by the number of students when she got to Harding, and she struggled with balancing her friendships.
“When I got here, I was just like, ‘Whoa, people,’ and so it took me a while to really make good friends because there were just so many of them everywhere,” Riley said. “And then I started making good friends, and I wanted to be good friends with all of them, and I realized I just can’t do that. That’s just not possible to every person you meet to really make a good friendship.”
Moran and Riley are two of many formerly homeschooled students who attend Harding University. Out of about 950 freshmen who enrolled this semester alone, 71 were homeschooled, according to Glenn Dillard, assistant vice president for enrollment management.
Families have numerous reasons for deciding to home-school their children, including a desire to incorporate faith with education.
“For many families the reason they home-school their children is the very reason Harding exists … to bring Christ and his word into the curriculum,” Dillard said.
Moran’s and Riley’s families had other reasons for homeschooling.
Moran, who spent part of her life in Virginia, said the Virginia schools were good, but they had a rough student body. Her mom had the idea to home-school, which would protect her kids and allow her to spend more time with them.
In Riley’s family, it was her dad who suggested homeschooling. Her mom resisted at first, Riley said, but as her parents researched what they perceived as the academic benefits of homeschooling, they decided that was the way to go.
