Inside the Life of a Homeschool Success Story: Q&A with Anna Cabaniss

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Anna Cabaniss is a homeschooled student who excelled academically from kindergarten through high school.

Attending a blend of accredited home school groups and private school co-ops, Anna maintained a 4.2 GPA, earned honors, and was involved in extracurricular activities such as Beta Club.

Her homeschooling experience, akin to college-style structure, prepared her for success at the University of Georgia, where she graduated debt-free with a Bachelor's of Science degree and received the prestigious Presidential Award of Excellence, recognizing her outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements.

We invited Anna to share her homeschool experiences with us:

Anna shares: 

• How did her family craft social experiences for her

• What was her college admission process like

• How did homeschooling allow her to pursue her interests

And more…  

Enjoy!

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background, especially your experience with homeschooling?

I would say I fit in the "traditional" and stereotypical homeschool family that most people would think of. I have 4 sisters and my dad owns a dairy farm and my mom was an elementary school teacher until she "retired" after having her first child.

I was homeschooled from Kindergarten all the way through my senior year of high school, however, my freshman year of high school I started attending an accredited home school group, so on paper I attended a private school. But we only had to go once a week for classes and then the other days we completed assigned homework at home.

In the area I grew up, home schooling was super popular. There were a lot of options for home school co-ops so growing up I attended many different co-ops and made lots of friends. Most people started attending schools at the start of high school, usually because parents can't help as much.

My oldest sister started private school freshman year of high school, then switched back to home school senior year to dual enroll before starting college. Then myself and my sister right under me attended the accredited private school/home school co-op all the way through to graduation. My youngest two siblings both started private school their freshman years of high school.

We all played travel and rec sports, so the main reason for them starting school was for sports and friends from sports convincing them to come to school full time.

I'm not sure what initially drew my family to home school, it was really just what most people around us did. My mom was later diagnosed with leukemia when I was about 7 years old and a local private school offered for them to send us to school at a reduced rate. However, if we had all gone to school we wouldn't have been able to ever see my mom during the school year because of her severely weakened immune system, so we all stayed home schooled with tutors.

Can you share how homeschooling helped you excel academically, addressing the misconception that homeschoolers miss out on a competitive academic environment?

Personally, I think that the homeschool environment I was in had a much higher academic competitiveness than my friends who were in public and private schools.

I think a lot of it has to do with the material you're being taught and whether you attend any co-ops, but I think this is a silly misconception. I didn't really take academic very seriously until I got to high school, but honestly what kid does?? When I started attending the accredited co-op and had the added accountability, I started taking things a lot more serious.

Home school kids are smart.

There was a competitive nature in every class. We compared grades and wanted to do better. I think one thing that truly sets home schoolers apart from other school kids is that we really have to learn a lot on our own. We have to go above and beyond to teach ourselves things that some students are taught in a class room.

The difference is we are more likely going to truly learn and absorb what we're teaching ourselves as opposed to students in a classroom who are just listening to the material, if they're even paying attention.

This absolutely set me up for greater success in college. I think that the homeschool style I had was very similar to the structure of college classes.

I graduated my high school as an honors student with a 4.2 GPA, a member of Beta Club, and many other achievements and awards.

I was accepted as a freshman into my dream university, The University of Georgia, which is not an easy school to get into, especially as a freshman. I qualified for multiple academic scholarships that have allowed me to graduate from a top university debt free.

I will graduate in May with my Bachelor's of Science degree, earning honors Summa Cum Laude and having received the Presidential Award of Excellence which is an award given to less than 1% of the graduating class.

Students who receive this award are nominated by their college deans for having exemplified outstanding academic and extracurricular involvement at the university.

This was honestly a complete surprise to me but a tremendous honor. I already had a job offer for my dream job before graduating.

Socialization is a big concern for many families considering homeschooling. How was your social life? Did you ever feel isolated and uncomfortable in social situations?

I think that socializing is probably the biggest concern for home school families, and I get it!

It's super easy to be home schooled and have no social life. You don't get those "guaranteed" friends from school like most people do.

My biggest would tip would be to get involved outside of school. Join sports teams, youth groups, etc. I would also highly recommend joining a home school co-op to still give you the class room feel and accountability.

Sports would definitely be my biggest social outlet and where I made the most of my closest friends.

I played club soccer for many many years and my best friends were on those teams, even though they all went to public schools.

I can't tell you how many times I've been told things like "I would've never guessed you're home schooled" or "you're not like most home schoolers" etc etc. But the thing is, most home schoolers are like this than most think. Sure, there's definitely some weird socially awkward home schoolers out there, but so are some public and private schoolers.

My social life was hectic, I always had something planned with friends. My friends always wanted to come to our house on the farm and lots of friends referred to it as the "six flags" house because of all the crazy and fun contraptions my dad would build for us.

There was really no lack of social life for myself or any of my sisters. In fact, there were plenty of times my parents would ask us to please not make plans with friends for at least one day so they can just rest haha.

The only time I ever felt isolated was when my mom was going through chemo and we couldn't be around people for long periods of time. But that is a highly unique situation and certainly not just because of homeschool. So, no, I wouldn't say I ever felt isolated or uncomfortable in social situations.

But, you have to create a social life for yourself or your kids.

You can't keep them at home 24/7 and expect them to have a thriving social life with lots of friends.

Put them in sports, extra circular activities, etc.

The school system has come a long way even since I graduated and most schools now allow homeschoolers to partake in sports if they take a class or two at the school.

So that would be my biggest tip for having a social life.

Homeschooling curriculums can vary. Did you have a structured curriculum, or did you have more freedom in choosing what you learned?

There really are endless curriculums out there. We tried many different ones throughout our years of home schooling.

Sometimes there's a trial and error period, and that's okay!

For math it was always Singapore or Saxon in elementary and middle school, those two words haunt me to this day haha I did not like math.

Once we got to high school, the accredited co-op we went to used curriculums so we just went with that. Although not all of them, a lot of curriculums were Christian based. I think having some freedom with the curriculum you learn from is amazing because not all students learn the same way. Some require more assisted curriculums while some need more advanced options like honors and AP classes.

Many homeschool graduates worry about college admissions. Did you face any challenges applying to your dream college?

 I will preface by saying my college admission process is going to be a little different from the typical home schooler. Since I went to an accredited home school program for all of high school, on paper and college applications, I was considered a private schooler. Although we only went to class once a week the program was accredited with the state as a private college prep school.

So, I do believe this had a positive impact on my college application since I was applying from a very small and prestigious high school that offered an abundance of AP and honors courses. I was accepted into my dream university as a freshman and attended college there all 4 years.

I unfortunately graduated high school and started college in 2020 during covid, so my experience and social life starting out in college were greatly affected.

But once things started opening back up again I had the traditional college experience; lots of friends, joined university clubs, attended spots events, had countless socials and event opportunities. I never felt like being home schooled set me back in college, if anything it set me forward.

I will say my older sibling graduated high school in 2018 as an unaccredited home schooler and had a little bit more trouble with college admissions than I did.

Although I think it's come a long way since then, colleges were just a little more skeptical of homeschoolers and although we still took the SAT and ACT like everyone else they usually withheld scholarships like HOPE and ZELL until she had completed her first semester of college to prove she actually was that smart.

She still graduated from her dream university and had fun in college like everyone else.

But I would say if you want a much easier college admission process, find an accredited home school group. Although this certainly isn't a requirement and I promise if your kid works hard they can go to any college they want.

Oh, another big tip would be to start preparing for the SAT and ACT early!!

Public schools teach towards this but most home school curriculums do not, so we have to do a little extra.

Looking back, what would you say are the biggest advantages of being homeschooled?

Time and freedom, for sure! I was able to play travel sports and focus on my training a lot.

I was also able to travel a lot of the world and gain priceless experiences.

It is really quite ridiculous to expect kids to be in school for 8 hours a day, go to extra circular practices, then come home and do homework.

That's just not necessary.

Were there any challenges you faced while being homeschooled? How did you overcome them?

Time management is something you really have to work hard at and manage well to succeed at home schooling.

Would you recommend homeschooling to other families? What advice would you give to parents considering homeschooling their children?

Yes, yes, yes!!! Especially with the way the school systems are looking these days I can't recommend home schooling enough.

My biggest tips and advice would be to let your kids join things outside of school. Put them in rec or club sports. Join a musical theatre group, church youth group, etc. This will really help their social life.

I'd also recommend if it's an option for your family, find an accredited home school group or even just a co-op to send your kid to for a couple classes, especially in middle and high school. Home schooling require learning and patience from the parents and children, so remember to give yourself grace, parents!

What role did your parents play in your homeschooling journey? How did they support your academic and personal growth?

My parents obviously played a huge role in my homeschooling journey! My mom was pretty much my teacher (minus a year or two when she had cancer) until late middle school and high school.

They created a healthy yet competitive environment that helped my strive to achieve high grades.

You've accomplished so much! Did homeschooling allow you to pursue any unique interests or learning paths that wouldn't have been possible in a traditional school setting?

Yes!! Because I was homeschooled I had so much more time to pursue other interests.

Like I've stated previously, travel soccer was a huge one! But I also was able to spend a lot of time volunteering in areas that mattered to me.

Foster care is a big one so I spent a lot of time working with pregnancy centers, foster care organizations, etc. I was also able to work and save money to help more with college. It also gave myself and my family a lot more freedom to travel!

I have fallen in love with traveling and I know that had a huge part it in.

I will actually be living in Europe for the next two months and will be doing lots of traveling.

These are the experiences that truly matter and effect people, not sitting in a classroom for 8 hours everyday.