At the age of 18, Nadine Lauffer has become a member of the homeschooling movement, breaking stereotypes surrounding homeschooling. Through weekly podcasts, she has been helping teenagers fearlessly homeschool during their high school years.
Nadine currently works in Pennsylvania. She lived in the Netherlands and Florida for many years due to her father’s job in chemical engineering sales in those areas.
She began her education at a Dutch-speaking school at the age of 3. However, when her family moved to Florida, she had to start kindergarten all over again without knowing English, but successfully overcame that challenge.
Nadine attended a public school until fourth grade when her parents decided to switch to homeschooling.
When sharing the reasons for the change with Epoch Times, she mentioned, “Firstly, our school was overcrowded. We lived next to the third-fastest-growing community in the country at the time, so they couldn’t build schools fast enough to keep up with the number of students moving there.”
With the increase in class sizes, Nadine and her sister couldn’t receive enough individual attention from teachers.
Through their church, the Lauffer family met another homeschooling family, whose children were described as having positive personalities.
“These teenagers,” she said, “were very different from the teenagers I met from the public school system. They were more focused, knew how to converse with adults, and were happy.”
So, when their church created a co-op for homeschooling families, the Lauffers gladly joined, bringing a turning point in their children’s education.
Initially, Nadine, who had just started fifth grade, wasn’t very interested in homeschooling. She looked forward to many exciting things, like being with her friends at school.
However, she did not oppose her parents’ decision because she knew they had her best interests at heart.
Upon embarking on the homeschooling journey, Nadine noticed significant benefits, such as spending more time at home. She could interact with her younger sister more than ever before, who was three grades below her and didn’t have much chance to connect with her at public school.
In addition, through the co-op, Nadine made new friends within her community, and she enjoyed having her mother as her teacher.
Over time, Nadine’s passion for learning and self-improvement naturally grew.
“As you mature, you see the true benefits of what you’re doing,” she said.
As time went on, she and her sister had various opportunities to engage in activities like music competitions, athletics, soccer, volleyball, and more.
Besides extracurricular activities, homeschooling shaped Nadine’s personality and altered her view of the world.
She became more independent. Learning to study on her own, she discovered that self-learning was a tool to help her think independently.
“We weren’t always told what to do every second by a teacher, so we had to take responsibility for our own success and failures,” she said.
Another quality she developed was resilience. Homeschooled students often had to start from scratch in many aspects.
“To accomplish this, we had to be patient with ourselves,” she said, having learned to tackle tough problems and find solutions independently.
Homeschooling also helped build her confidence.
“The environment we’re in understands us the most, loves us the most, and wants the best for us,” Nadine said, “If you grow up in such an environment, you see opportunities everywhere, you have confidence in yourself because you know you can go far, and when you fall, it won’t hurt too much.”
Apart from her personal development, homeschooling also reinforced her faith, something she is grateful for.
“I could see God in everything I did, especially in my education and the whole world,” she shared.
However, Nadine’s homeschooling journey wasn’t always smooth. During ninth and tenth grades, she was afraid of being forgotten by society and friends, and therefore didn’t quite enjoy homeschooling.
During that time, Nadine pondered what her life would be like if she attended public school. However, two experiences changed her perspective and made her happy to persist with homeschooling.
The first was interacting with six girls from public schools during a youth camp, who shared their daily struggles with Nadine.
“They talked about everyday struggles at school and bullying they witnessed,” she said.
Nadine was shocked upon learning about the rising rates of depression and disruptive behavior in schools.
This led her to reconsider her education. Compared to her peers in public schools, homeschooling students had to focus more on learning rather than just getting through the day.
“This is not to say that we shouldn’t learn how to face difficult things,” Nadine remarked, “As homeschool students, we experience many challenges. We don’t disappear from society. But I feel many of these challenges are unnecessary.”
The second experience was listening to a speech by Andrew Pudewa, the founder and director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing.
“He talked about homeschooling in a way I’d never heard before. He said homeschooling shouldn’t be similar to public schools,” Nadine shared, realizing she had fallen into the same patterns in the past two years.
However, after hearing his words, Nadine felt encouraged. She completed her high school studies in a way that suited her, focusing on her love for learning rather than trying to mimic the public school system.
During this time, she also started her podcast titled “How to Homeschool in High School.”
Her audience consisted solely of homeschooling teenagers, where she focused on encouraging them while dispelling stereotypes about homeschooling.
Through her podcast, she interacted with many homeschoolers and their families, gaining a good understanding of the direction of the homeschooling movement.
While Nadine has completed her homeschool education, she will always be an advocate for homeschooling. This high school graduate is now preparing for her freshman year at Grove City College.
In sharing her story, she hopes to encourage others to embark on their own homeschooling journey. She earnestly says, “You are not alone.”