July 8, 2026 – Preparing Your Highschooler for College
Preparing Your Highschooler for College
July 8, 2026
Deborah Wuehler
Creating the Best Path
Stacy Farrell
To University and Beyond!
Beth Mora
Everyone Needs to Prepare Their Student for College
Heidi Mosher
Preparing Teens for What Really Matters After High School: Relationships
Mercy Every Minute
Deborah Wuehler, TOS Senior Editor
Creating the Best Path
I know that today it seems like your children will be young and needy forever, but I can attest that it will feel like time went by way too fast when you are standing at the graduation of your homeschooled child and looking back. You may be crying tears of frustration and over-tiredness now, but you will be crying tears of gratitude, pride, and thanksgiving sooner than you know.
When do you start preparing them for life after homeschool graduation? Today! We daily raise them up to let them go. One day at a time, one developmental milestone at a time, we are training them to live on their own.
Creating the best path for our kids from birth to life after graduation starts with goals. Daily goals, yearly goals, and life goals. What might your goals be for your child as they grow and learn while still under your covering?
Some goals to consider:
- To love God, His Word, and His people
- To unquestioningly obey God’s instructions and ours
- To be able to combat the enemy of their souls: the world, the flesh, and the devil
- To develop in their specialized fields (and prayer for wisdom about what those are)
- Basic training in academics: the ability to read well, write well, research, and perform higher math
- To consider their future in trade schools, college, apprenticeships, or entrepreneurial ventures
- Life skills in finances, cooking, cleaning, and marriage preparation (this is where we are the living example!)
- To be good citizens, good neighbors, and ministers of the gospel (to love God, and love others)
- To remember that they are ambassadors of Jesus Christ wherever they go
Help in preparing for the future:
- Transcript and college prep help from Lee Binz, Janice Campbell and Jeannie Fulbright.
- Taking outside classes to put on their transcript helps them learn how to answer to someone else and learn study skills. (Options could be a college class during high school, a class taught by another homeschool mom, or community classes.)
- Find volunteer, community service, missions, or apprenticeship opportunities during junior high and high school.
- Prepare them in writing, research, and note taking skills. Kim Kautzer has excellent insight on preparing for college writing here.
- Gap years: maybe your child needs a year off after high school to consider his possibilities. This is a good time for extended mission trips, volunteer work, or exploring different career options.
No need to fear homeschool parents! You can do this! The Lord is on your side! He is for you and with you!
“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear . . .” Psalm 118:6
~Deborah
Jeff Ober: Exploring Careers
Andrew Pudewa: College Applications: Steps to an Exceptional Essay
Amy Barr: Four Crucial College Skills
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Apply today for Bible School at Capernwray Harbour to discover Jesus Christ, and experience the transforming power of His indwelling Life. More info at capernwray.ca
Stacy Farrell
To University and Beyond!
It’s easy to get caught in the cycle of always looking ahead toward the next thing and missing the gift of the present moment before us.
Be Present Now & Be Mindful of Eternity
C.S. Lewis insightfully addresses this very temptation in The Screwtape Letters. In it, senior demon Screwtape advises his nephew Wormwood:
“The humans live in time but our Enemy [God] destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity.”
Make Your Plans, but Know That He Determines Your Steps
The needs of the present often do intersect with the need to plan for the future, and there is a place for strategic planning.
But recognize who is ultimately in control:
“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:9, KJV).
Don’t Miss the Forest for the Trees
Many voices will tell you what to do to prepare your student academically for college:
- strong transcripts
- dual enrollment
- SAT/ACT prep . . .
But I challenge you to expand your vision.
The Most Important Preparation
Your homeschooling days really are numbered:
- Be present.
- Be faithful to follow Jesus. (Your student is watching you.)
- Be generous and lavish His love on your children.
The best preparation your children can have for university and beyond is to be rooted and anchored in the love of Christ. ❤️
With love and appreciation,
Stacy
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About the author
Surprised by Jesus, Stacy went from an unmarried, childless, thirty-something career woman to a Christ-following wife of more than thirty years with two sons she homeschooled K-12.
Author of more than twenty books—including the award-winning Philosophy Adventure and Food Prep Guide: A Plan for Money-Saving, Self-Sustaining Abundance in Hard Times—she loves to equip and encourage homeschool families. Visit her at HomeschoolAdventure.com and at FoodPrepGuide.com.
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Equipped for What’s Next
Join a community that values faith, academic excellence, and the unique strengths homeschool students bring while equipping them for professional success.
bryan.edu/homeschool
Beth Mora
Everyone Needs to Prepare Their Student for College
The high school years are the final stretch before the launch into adulthood. In these four short years, many students, if not all, will change their career direction many times before deciding on a path that may or may not include college. And that’s more than okay.
Question: So, how do I, as a parent, prepare my student for a future that changes as quickly as the weather in Chicago?
Answer: Because you don’t know what God has planned for them, you prepare them for college regardless.
Not all our kids went to college, but all were prepared to do so if that’s what they wanted. So, academically, we followed a standard college-prep course schedule. But the preparation did not stop there! At age 14, all were expected to hold a job or internship throughout their high school years. This allowed them to develop a work ethic outside of the family. Life skill training expanded in all areas of adult daily living, from filling out their own medical forms and handling finances to auto care and meal prepping.
Most importantly, we engaged in deep conversations about defending their faith and choosing to follow Jesus in all areas of life. We, as parents, helped each child grow into an independent adult while maintaining a healthy interdependence within the family.
As each child graduated, we knew they were prepared, as best we knew how, to face the challenges of life. Four of our eight children went to college; some went to trade school, and some own their own businesses. Years have passed, and when we get together as a family, we still join hands, bow our heads, and thank God for His unending grace.
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