Considering Home Schooling...Seeking Advice

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
1

<p>My son is a sophomore at a competitive high school. He has become very disenchanted with the competitiveness, busy work and sadly, teachers citing incorrect information. This year has been a real struggle for him and he is very unhappy. My husband and I feel that some intervention is necessary and keep coming back to home schooling. We are just beginning to research what home schooling would entail; but in simple terms, we thought that this format would give him the freedom to delve deeper into the subjects that he has passion for and maybe not dwell too much on the subjects that he doesn't have much interest in.</p>

<p>Our concern with this decision is his high school transcript. I believe his grades thus far are not competitive enough for the school that he aspires to attend and am worried that admissions will make their own impressions of why he chose to leave the school..."He couldn't handle the work; he's smart, but lazy; why would he willingly leave one of the best high schools in the country?"</p>

<p>We are really at a loss as to the best way to handle this situation and would appreciate any advice/thoughts. Thank you so much.</p>

2

<p>Hope this helps… I went to a pretty competitive private school through my tenth grade year. For my junior and senior years, I decided to home school for financial reasons (among others). It was honestly the best decision I’ve ever made. I have not been home schooled in the traditional sense; instead, I go to classes with other home school students on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the teachers assign work online. I am also under a home school umbrella (which takes care of transcripts, senior events, etc.). This schedule has given me the opportunity to participate in numerous extracurricular activities while maintaining a rigorous courseload and college-preparatory curriculum.</p>

<p>For the most part, I have found my classmates to be intellectual and not at all interested in competing with one another. Though this is a different environment than my old school, it is certainly not a less academic one. If you can find a curriculum that is rigorous enough, I do not think colleges will see your son as lazy. The colleges I applied to do not seem to have questioned my change of high school (from a well-respected private school to home schooling). I was accepted into all the schools that I applied to-- the University of Alabama, Auburn University, Troy University, and Vanderbilt University. I plan to attend Vanderbilt in the fall! Let me know if you have any further questions about my experience.</p>

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<p>

That’s a lovely reason for homeschooling. And whether he does it with community college classes or with independent study, it should make the colleges happy. However, with only 18 months before college apps come due, he doesn’t have much time to find himself before he needs to get a move-on pursuing those passions.</p>

<p>His essays should be able to talk about how wonderful the homeschooling has been, how he has learned so much about XYZ that he never would have had time for in traditional school, that it will be obvious why he left, and laziness won’t enter the equation.</p>

<p>My recommendation is 1) go for it, and 2) even if he takes college classes, call them dual-enrollment for his homeschooling, and don’t let him graduate early from high school.</p>

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<p>My friend was home schooled and then started doing college classes in a community college. He’s getting his masters degree in 2 years.</p>

<p>He’s 16.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the encouraging responses. After mulling it over and doing a little research, I feel excited about the opportunities my son could have to explore the things that he loves.</p>

<p>larsy, Congratulations on your awesome acceptances. Your post was indeed very helpful and encouraging; thank you for sharing.</p>

<p>GeekMom63, would you mind expounding a little more on your point #2? Do you mean he should use the classes for high school credit, not college credit? Does it look bad to graduate early? He may have enough credits (have to verify with our state requirements) to graduate after one more year of classes, but is that not a good idea?</p>

<p>As I begin researching, I am realizing that it is somewhat daunting with all the information that is out there (very thankful for that); however, are there any recommendations for the most useful books or websites. I would appreciate it if I could get help on focusing on the best resources. Thank you very much.</p>

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<p>Reasons why we don’t graduate our kids early: At the local university the Dual Enrollment classes cost a fraction of the full price and give students the opportunity to “try out” a college without making a 4 year committment. Doing this, D found out the local university will not make her happy acedemically. Also, a year or two longer in “high school” will give the student a better opportunity to test high, be involved in good EC’s, develop leadership skills and thereby receive better scholarship offers.</p>

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<p>And another reason not to graduate kids before they want to go away to college: the top colleges are much easier to get into as a freshman than as a transfer. Classes taken after “high school graduation” make a student a college student, no matter what the age, and the student is a transfer student if he wants to go elsewhere. If the classes are taken dual-enrollment, they don’t make the student a college student, and he can apply as a freshman and be eligible for freshman scholarships.</p>

<p>If he’s ready to go to his real-choice college early, that’s a different matter. I don’t want my baby leaving too soon! </p>

<p>Another caution, though - whatever the subjects of less interest are, make sure that you’re aware of what the colleges he wants to go to expect in those subject areas. Don’t completely drop English, for example, unless you and he are prepared to explain to colleges why it wasn’t necessary for him to take the expected four years.</p>

<p>You asked for the best resources - in what subject areas?</p>

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<p>HomeschoolingMom and GeekMom63, thank you for enlightening me. And yes, I agree that even though English and Social Studies are not his favorite subjects, he should continue in them. Which brings me to another question: Is self studying for AP tests in these subjects, a valid homeschooling curriculum? </p>

<p>Geekmom63, If you could share resources for English and History, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.</p>

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<p>D received a 4 for self-study AP English Lit in 9th grade, I am sure she would get a 5 now as a junior because her writing has improved significantly. She used PR Cracking AP Eng Lit. The PR provided reading lists, I think she picked five from each list and studied them well and practiced essays following the PR strategy. She said the PR prepared her enough that she thought the essays were the easiest part of the exam.</p>

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<p>I don’t have many resources in English and History. Mostly we just used the community college and [The</a> Teaching Company : Educational Courses on DVD, Audio CD, Tape, and Cassette - Lecture Series by College/University Professors](<a href=“http://www.teach12.com%5DThe”>http://www.teach12.com). </p>

<p>I would definitely count self-study with a good AP score as good enough - after all, one of the complaints about organized school is that they take SO LONG to do stuff that seems like it shouldn’t take as long for a homeschooler. If your child gets a 4 or 5 on the AP English test or AP USH test, I’d count that as a year of class.</p>

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<p>I’ve been homeschooling for over 18 years and have graduated 2 so far. May I suggest a school to consider that will grant your son a diploma while you homeschool him - North Atlantic Regional School ( <a href=“http://www.narsonline.com/nars/[/url]”>http://www.narsonline.com/nars/&lt;/a&gt; ). I’ve used them for my high school students and have been quite pleased. They take your work, and as long as it fits their requirements, will credintialize it and you end up with a high school diploma. It was the most flexible option that I found. On their website, you can view a video which will explain how this school works.
This is not the best route for everyone, but it worked well for us. My oldest is now in grad school so going this route, certainly did not hurt him any! </p>

<p>Yes, you can self study for an AP exam. Just be sure to register to take the exam by January as the school has to have enough time to order the test. Also, be prepared to pay for this test. Another option is to study for CLEP exams which also grant college credit. These exams are proctored at local colleges.</p>

<p>Another option is to go to community college while a high school student. This was an excellent option for my children but it is not for everyone. The atmosphere isn’t nearly so ‘drama-filled’ or as ‘catty’ as it can be at a public high school. If your child can find one or two other like-minded serious students, he should have a good experience at community college. </p>

<p>I wish you well. Homeschooling really is a wonderful option.</p>

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<p>The happy fact about home schooling in high school is that there are many, many ways to go about this.
The biggest advantage in my mind is the opportunity to do things that a young person couldn’t do if one had to stick to a high school schedule. Most communities offer opportunities to volunteer. Grace Llewellyn’s “The Teenage Liberation Handbook” is a good source for ideas.
I would also recommend the SAT Subject Tests. These are given more often than the APs and are cheaper, and thus easy to retake. Also only an hour apiece.
While I can’t see how any smart kid could be happy in high school, of course when college application time comes, accentuate the positive. If you couldn’t work with your local college Physics professor, or read everything that Dickens ever wrote, without leaving school, reason enough to follow your passion.
Love of learning is, believe it or not, a rare and precious commodity that college admissions officers don’t stumble upon every day.
bookreader is an excellent source of experience and advice, but I’ve had two kids proceed to college, and none of the universities they applied to had any interest in whether they had high school diplomas. If somebody had asked for a diploma, we would have printed out one on the computer, as a home school. I guarantee you that, with my kids’ input, they would have looked very cool.</p>

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<p>bookreader and danas, Thank you so much for sharing your experience and wisdom with me; I really appreciate it. I will research all of the resources that you cited…NARS, SAT Subject tests, CLEP, community colleges, Grace Llewellyn …it’s great to have some ideas to explore. </p>

<p>You have further confirmed my belief that homeschooling will be the best decision for my son.</p>

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<p>Look at North Atlantic Regional High School, as someone said. Check out Keystone’s curriculum, which is targeted to homeschoolers.</p>

<p>Virtual High School, Aventa, U. of Nebraska are all under “Educere.net”, and are online courses.</p>

<p>Clonlara is an “umbrella” that will do administrative stuff for you but has a lot of freedom in its program.</p>

<p>Community colleges have dual enrollment for high schoolers, often for free.</p>

<p>Other colleges and extensions schools/continuing ed. take high schoolers.</p>

<p>He can get his GED and do college early, too, depending, or study on his own. (NARHS has requirements for a diploma that are adequate, for a diploma, but it costs money, a fair amount of it, so GED is more affordable but you would have to make sure his studies mimic a diploma, I would think).</p>

<p>Also, check the course requirements for the schools he is interested in. Some schools don’t care, some care a lot. Many want 4 years of math, English, science, 3 of foreign language and history, that kind of thing.</p>

<p>One other thing: attending high school part time, doing online part time, doing community college part-time, homeschooling part time: any combination of these!</p>

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<p>You should also consider applying to Bard College at Simon’s Rock. It’s an early college for smart kids who are bored/otherwise disenchanted with high school. I’m not saying it’s right for your son, but it’s an option.</p>

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<p>Depending on where you live be careful about homeschooling through highschool. I live in CA and homeschoolers have a bit of a disadvantage applying to Univ of CA and Cal State schools. It is not impossible, just harder. The pity here is that USC and Stanford have no problem with homeschoolers, neither do a lot of other really good schools. I couldn’t afford to lock my kids into a private school or make getting into the State schools more difficult. And I didn’t want to have them start with Community College since it lengthens the amount of time for a lot of students and one of mine is looking at professional school after the Bachelor’s. I don’t know if other states have problems with homeschoolers, I only checked my own state.</p>

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<p>I know that Homeschooling now is like online school. So consider the time that your son will have to spend on computer and if he feels comfortable doing so. If you do dual enrollment with community college, then that’s different.
Good Luck :)</p>

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<p>Best thing I ever did! Teachers are sadly not up to par it seems, at least in my area of CA, its honestly ridiculous. Mocking students for misunderstanding or completely missing fundamentals of equations/formulas/formats/etc… I became discouraged with how things were so I left and excelled. my GPA exploded and I had time to do whatever I wanted. Just make sure the spare time is spent well with EC’s and youll be fine in my opinion.</p>

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<p>Hello!<br>
I have homeschool and cyberschooled my four kids for YEARS - and now have three in college (2 air force academy, 1 private LAC). </p>

<p>There are some issues with homeschooling a highschooler who has never been at home before. Depending on your child, the first issue to confront is simply “de-schooling.” Schooling at home is not like schooling in a brick-n-mortar, and there is an adjustment period which can’t be ignored.</p>

<p>Of course, the question of curricular materials will rear its ugly head, but a tough issue for both the child and the parent will be that educational buzz word “socialization.” For your child, there may be some period of uncertainty as he adjusts to not seeing his school peers every day, not being locked into a particular schedule, and since we’re talking high school here, being responsible for work with just pacing from the parent. For both of you will come questions from people formerly buried in the woodwork. The most hilarious one we encountered was “What about the prom?” We had only one of four who was interested in the prom, my d. Turns out, she just wanted the dress.</p>

<p>You can p.m. me with specific questions.</p>

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<p>Fencermother makes some great points! Our family homeschooled (4) through 8th and then transitioned to a small independent high school. They are all excellent students - still very excited about learning - we think possibly because they hadn’t been in school all those years. </p>

<p>I agree - check out what each college requires of homeschoolers - some require additional writing samples or extra testing - and definitely plan on taking the community college courses dual enrollment - you don’t want to have your son applying as a transfer. There used to be some AP courses offered online through PA Homeschoolers - also an older but useful book out there entitled ‘And What About College?’ by Cafi Cohen.</p>

<p>I also know of (through my children’s experiences) homeschooled students who have been admitted to very competitive schools. Please feel free to PM me for specifics.</p>