Homeschooled since kindergarten, Olivia Jordan isn’t the typical graduating senior, but she does bring a lot to the table with her passions, talent and intelligence.
Jordan has been involved in multiple activities and organizations throughout her life. Her mentors and parents say she is an outstanding student and has made astounding accomplishments.
“Homeschooling has really opened a lot of doors for me,” says Jordan. “It has given me a lot of opportunities to do service for my community and excel academically.
Along with her schooling, Jordan has been involved with Ohio State Swim Club for nine years, the Grove City High School team for three years and the speech and debate club as well.
“I started on the local Y team, the Columbus YMCA Swim Club, and at first I didn’t like it,” says Jordan. “I tried soccer and I realized I liked swimming much better. From that point forward, I chose swimming.”
Jordan’s daily schedule as a homeschooled student is very structured, but she still leaves room for free time and extracurricular activities.
“When I was younger, school didn’t take very long at all, I could get it done in the morning and I would get to play in the afternoon,” says Jordan. “But now, I’ve been starting school about 8 a.m. and then I usually go until I get everything I want to get done, which is around 4 or 5 p.m.”
Although it seems like homeschooling would provide for more free time; it requires much more discipline as there are no classes or periods.
Nevertheless, Jordan says that she does find a lot of structure with homeschooling.
“It’s so much more personalized and I have been able to find classes that fit my needs,” says Jordan. “I’m not much of a fan of science or math and homeschooling has let me take online and college classes so that I can test out of everything. I should be able to completely test out of math and science when I go to college.”
As a homeschooled student, Jordan doesn’t have daily tasks and instead completes a lot of self-study sessions. She says there are three distinct categories that she follows to accomplish the curriculum. Those include lessons from her mom, online providers and college classes.
“Through sixth grade, my mom taught me from a book that outlined a specific curriculum,” says Jordan. “However, once I got into seventh grade, I took high school Latin through an online provider and we had a weekly online session where I would do my homework and tests.”
It’s evident that Jordan’s homeschooling experience has prepared her for the future and college courses. And loving a challenge, Jordan says she enjoys AP classes.
“Currently I’m taking AP literature and composition,” says Jordan. “We have book clubs and there are a lot of different people. It’s also a great atmosphere and we get to meet people from all over the world.”
Homeschooling has not set her back socially, Jordan has found a great group of friends and praises homeschooling for all the opportunities and advancements it has given her.
“I wanted to go somewhere away from home, and I wanted to be on my own and figure life out." - Olivia Jordan
“You have to be more intentional about getting involved and making friends,” says Jordan. “I was able to make friends through swimming, my church and I’m in a speech and debate club specifically for homeschoolers.”
More importantly, Jordan says that homeschooling has given her more time to pursue other interests and service in her community.
“For a long time, I have worked at the Stowe Mission Center of Central Ohio where I assist with teaching Sunday school, volunteer for toy giveaways and work at soup kitchens,” says Jordan.
Jordan has also traveled across the Midwest for speech and debate competitions.
“We go and we compete once a month,” says Jordan. “This year, specifically, we have gone to Kentucky and Indiana.”
Jordan has gone on several mission trips to Mexico and considers herself a creative person who enjoys painting and playing the ukulele.
“With all the hard work in school, it is nice to sometimes just relax,” says Jordan. “I had to finish all my work ahead of time, but homeschooling gave me the opportunity to go to Mexico three different times on mission trips.”
Jordan owes much of her diligence and future aspirations to her faith and community.
“I met most of my friends from church and they are some of my best friends,” says Jordan.
After graduation, Jordan will attend Union University in Tennessee and major in teaching English as Second Language and Spanish.
“I feel like homeschooling has really prepared me well for college,” says Jordan. “I have learned how to study well and I want to use my language and teaching skills to go on more mission trips.”
Union University is a four-year, liberal arts, top-ranked and private Christian university in Jackson, Tennessee and boasts robust ESL teaching and Spanish programs.
“I actually applied to 10 different schools, which was a lot of work, but it gave me lots of options,” says Jordan. “I wanted to go somewhere away from home, and I wanted to be on my own and figure life out. Something about Union just felt right and I fit in well. I really like their program, especially for ESL, and they have a great program for missions.”
Marissa Smithinsky is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
