At 6:30 a.m., freshman Holly Harmon, now a sophomore, woke up so she could go to cross-country practice before freshman orientation. Outside, the starry sky was still dark. It was a lot earlier than she normally woke up.
Holly, along with sophomores Cassie Johnson and Megan Edwards, who then were also freshmen, could only practice for half an hour before they hurried to the Performing Arts Center where Blue Valley Southwest staff explained what the freshmen at the orientation would be doing.
Holly had seen where each of her seven new classes were located from visiting them during the Open House. Hoping that she could remember where they were, Holly received her first public school and high school schedule ever.
Holly used to be home schooled. Freshmen Annika Hedstrom and Troy Allison also experienced both home schooling and public school.
Annika was home schooled every year except kindergarten and first grade.
“Well, we had a really bad kindergarten facility when I lived in Minnesota,” Annika said.
When she got to first grade, her mom decided to home school her because she was smarter than the other kids there.
Annika and her parents talked about attending public school for high school, so she always just expected it.
Sleeping in until 8 a.m., a privilege that home schoolers enjoy, is definitely a thing of the past, especially for freshman Troy Allison. Now he must wake up at 5:30 so that he can get ready and catch the bus.
Troy’s dad’s business moved his family around a lot. With three sisters and two brothers, there wasn’t enough time to enroll everyone in public school. His mom started home schooling them. Troy was home schooled 7th, 8th, and half of 6th grade. Now Troy, who is the oldest child in his family, and all of his siblings go to public school.
“My dad was planning on staying in this one area for a while,” Troy said.
Holly’s reason for going to Southwest was a different reason yet. She was home schooled all of her life until she attended Southwest.
“Well, my parents and I thought about it and prayed about it a lot, and my brothers had done the same thing,” Holly said. “They’d [been home schooled] until eighth grade, and then they’d gone to public school. So we felt that was a good thing to do – that God was leading us to do that.”
Troy didn’t know anyone else before school started, but he wished that he had. Not knowing anyone at school doesn’t mean that home schoolers aren’t social. Annika said many people assume that home schoolers aren’t social, but that isn’t true.
“Well, I was kind of scared,” he said. “I felt kind of awkward, being in that situation. I felt like the odd one out. Everyone knew someone else in the school.”
Annika enjoyed the first day of Southwest, but it was definitely different than home schooling.
“I just had to sit through the classes,” she said. “And it was frustrating if I already knew the material.”
While the academic aspect of the switch may have been easy, Holly found that other things could be more difficult, at least in the beginning.
“The first couple of weeks I was getting used to how I could get to each class in the least possible amount of time,” Holly said. “I was trying to decide which stairway to take, how to get there, and what books to take, and when I could go to my locker.”
Holly said the hardest part about changing from home school to public school was her schedule change. She had to keep up with the class and get extra help on her own time if she didn’t understand the material.
“I just thought about late nights and early mornings,” she said. “And that was hard.”
Holly said home schooling was more relaxed. She could spend more time on difficult lessons.
“I think rather than Southwest being easier,” she said. “It’s pushed me to get things done on time and to do a better job on things.”
However, Holly still worked hard when she was home schooled. She said home schooling did prepare her for high school.
“Well, it’s [home schooling] probably a little bit harder than public school,” Troy said. “Because you spend a lot of time working, and there’s not as many people to talk to.”