Considering Home Schooling...Seeking Advice

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
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<p>Although most colleges today are receiving more applications from home schooled students, the prejudice is still out there to take students from bona fide, accredited high schools. However, the home schooled population of applicants is rising, therefore, there is a stronger sense of familiarity with the preparation of the home schooled student. </p>

<p>The flip side to this argument is that high school also develops social skills of students. I tend to err in the middle! Delving into particular topics is a positive thing and shows a true interest in learning, the social skills learned at the high school age is important for college success.</p>

<p>The best way to have the best of both worlds is to home school then be active at the local high school in clubs and activities and/or participate in community activities and be a leader in those organizations.</p>

<p>Mark Corkery</p>

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<p>Lots of great info here. I will only reiterate that ECs and community service are two areas not to be forgotten. Soooo important in terms of scholarship opportunities. My D never had issues with the socialization. She was not a fan of online courses, preferring face to face discussion. We figured that out quickly and made adjustments. She had a tutor in languages (being a classical music student) and that was marvelous. There are so many resources, local and national, to help you with your curriculum choices now. Each local affiliation can give you different options about how you pursue homeschooling. I have about 6 different groups in my county and I looked at each one before deciding who I wanted to charter myself through. I do think it’s a great idea to sit your child down and each of you write down your expectations of the school year so that there are no bad surprises. Some kids are used to a certain level of schedule and you need to make sure that the lack of a “bell ringing” doesn’t mean they lose accountability.</p>

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<p>I home educated for a number of years.</p>

<p>My eldest was home educated through the 9th grade. For her Sophomore and Junior years she home educated half time, while attending public school the other half. Her Senior year she attended public school full-time and earned a public school diploma.</p>

<p>On her acceptance letter to Colgate, the admissions officer hand wrote in the margin that they were impressed with how she moved so well from being home educated into public education.</p>

<p>Good luck with your decision!</p>

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<p>So my perspective is a bit different (being a home schooled student, not a parent), but I can tell you about my (and my sister’s) admissions success.</p>

<p>I started home schooling in the fourth grade, and my sister started in the seventh, so obviously not as late as your situation, but here is how it worked for me.</p>

<p>In ninth grade I began taking classes at a local community college while also working with my parents on other material. By my junior year I was taking a large portion of classes at the community college, and now, at the end of my senior year, I have finished math through multivariable calculus and differential equations, as well as calculus-based physics 1 and 2. This is giving me a really great head start going into college as a lot of my classes transfer. </p>

<p>Specifically regarding admissions for home schoolers, it does seem that some schools are prejudiced against home schooled students, but my sister and I have had great success. My sister was admitted to every school she applied to and chose to attend Vanderbilt.</p>

<p>I was admitted to UA (full ride), UTK (full ride), Case Western (half tuition), Duke, UPenn, and WashU (full tuition with research grant), and I will be attending WashU. So really I don’t think anyone would be at a great disadvantage by home schooling as long as the student finds ways to be involved outside of the home. Also, as a parent it would be to your child’s benefit to write the counselor’s letter and explain why you chose to home school when applying to colleges.</p>

<p>Some schools (such as Northwestern and Columbia) will request extra SAT II scores to prove that the student is well rounded. Keep that in mind. Home schooling has definitely worked for me, but it certainly is not for everyone.</p>

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<p>My kids, both in college now, were homeschooled from the beginnnig. However, once they reached high school age they took classes in a variety of settings; the nearby state univ, community college, a few classes at the high school, small group tutorials with a private teacher, distance learning, and of course the independent/home-based studying they did.</p>

<p>I understand your concern about the appearance of leaving his current school, and how that may be interpreted by someone looking at his transcript. But if it isn’t working for him there, and you and he feel pretty certain that it’s not going to improve, then you’re better off getting out sooner rather than later. I think the thing you’d want his homeschool transcript to show from here out is his deeper, more self-directed engagement with what it is he’s studying. That might involve selected college or community college classes, it might be field work, it might be a kind of internship, it might be any number of creative things. What form it takes will likely be determined by the subject matter itself.</p>

<p>Look to see what sort of things the colleges he’s interested in expect in terms of college prep; math, science, English, social science, foreign language. Try to meet those things, but being creative in how you do it, and giving special focus to those areas he is most excited about.</p>

<p>Some colleges look a bit more to test scores for homeschoolers, so make sure he prepares well for those. Check to see what the testing requirements are. Most colleges want the SAT or ACT, but some also want 2 (sometimes more) SAT Subject Tests.</p>

<p>The way you combat that possible concern as to why he left school, is to let him pursue his education in a way that is obviously better, more individualistic, more creative, more in-the-world than school could ever be.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone for sharing your wisdom and experiences; I am definitely learning a lot.</p>

<p>Although my son has clear ideas of what he wants to do in math and science, I want to make sure that he is exposed to subjects which do not interest him as much. I am not giving up on the notion of him discovering and becoming engaged in the areas of English and History. Did any of your kids come to enjoy the humanities after learning from a certain program/course/book? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am seeking to find material that may positively alter his view on these subjects. Thank you so much.</p>

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<p>Okay, something of your experience in the reverse.
My daughter was a humanities oriented ballet dancer whose Subject Tests were Literature, World History, and American History.
She worked as a volunteer three days a week taking apart carcasses in the Mammal Department at the Field Museum here in Chicago, and reclassifying the collection in terms of a new system.
She was admitted to and is attending Princeton (and is actually in the midst of doing two terms at Oxford).
If your science and math oriented son took part in acting in a local Shakespeare troop (for example) with enthusiasm, it would be a combination pretty rare in the college admissions pool.
I’m not advocating “playing the system”. I just want to point out that your son doesn’t have to prove his academic bone fides in some course or testing way, if that is not where his strength lies. One of my very big beefs with formal schooling through high school is that school professionals tend to focus on your weaknesses. In adult life if you are good at one thing (let alone two!), that is considered to be one terrific accomplishment. You are going to be be success in life.
I’m sure that to some folks, “going naked” without courses, grades or outside validation is a risk. But I’ve had two kids who thoroughly enjoyed the trip and who did who not suffer in college admissions.
What might your son enjoy with Shakespeare or some other humanities involvement? It would likely be unpredictable. For my part, second hand through my daughter, I wonder why the internal organs of mammals are such vivid colors. What’s the purpose of that? I’m sure I have no idea.</p>

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<p>Agreed with both these points. I had my oldest son in a start-up online high school, and that had some good courses, but just how good the courses were was unknown to college admission offices, and the busyness caused by that choice and the lack of in-high-school extracurricular activities ended up being a poor college admission trade-off. My son was smart enough to pursue a personal interest of his own, off-transcript and hard to document on a college application, that should produce some good work opportunities for him during and after college. For my younger children, I will emphasize even more building the program of courses and activities around their interests rather than building their schedules around some one-size-fits-all school schedule. I will further make sure that their local in-person team activities don’t get crowded out of their schedule–that’s an important element of preparation for being in a college community. Live and learn. The best strength of homeschooling is FLEXIBILITY–take full advantage of that.</p>

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<p>I took my son out of public school in 3rd grade. He started taking college classes at age 12. And at age 14 he won a full scholarship to a college that is known to dislike homeschoolers. Today, at age 16, we got a notice from Cornell that he has accepted as a transfer student. We have always just gone day by day trying to do what we needed from him on that particular day. Everything has worked out perfectly.</p>

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<p>My kids found a sport they all loved (I’ll let you guess which one by my screen name), a sport which is uniquely suited to homeschooling families, since everyone can do it! Also, from age 11 on, my kids had a daily paper route every morning from 5:30-7a which got everyone up and running early. Each child “graduated” high school with 40+ college credits, and lots of local community service (REAL service, not the make-work service one sees in schools sometimes).</p>

<p>What did they miss by not going to high school:
Drug/drinking culture (our p.s. is REALLY wretched)
school lunches
Band - we made up for this by private music instruction in piano, flute, and tamboritza (eastern euro stringed instrument like a mandolin), guitar.
School clubs - so they joined those available in the community: art, theatre, poetry, astronomy, soccer, etc. which suited their interests, time, and wallets
Dances: yes, they missed the dances. And the “whore pits” </p>

<p>If you live in a neighborhood, or can get to one, with an active homeschooling community, you will find your child misses none of these (except the school lunch program). There are many around here - religious based, age based, geographically based, “tolerant” groups (though I haven’t been to any in 20 years of homeschooling which were intolerant), politically active groups, etc. It may take some legwork on the parent’s part to help their child find a niche.</p>

<p>What happens to homeschoolers later in life? I have two sons at a US Service academy, one son who will be going to pilot training in the Navy, and a dtr who at age 19 is assistant manager at a Chick-fil-A restaurant when she’s home, and doing very well at a respected LAC. </p>

<p>The two most important factors in your and your child’s success in homeschooling: your child’s desire to learn and the parent’s desire to guide, assist, and support the child.</p>

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<p>Many high schools allow home-schooled children to go to school dances as if they were students and participate in school sport teams. Moreover, you should make sure your son has a group of friends he can hang out with. I completely understand why any parent would want to homeschool their children- some teachers are just atrocious and teenagers can be vicious monsters (I’m one, I should know). One thing he might be missing, that I would keep in mind, if I wanted to homeschool my kids, is that, you should expose them to as many different people and things as you can. That is one thing that a public education actually offers that sometimes homeschooling can take away.</p>

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<p>My 8th grade dd wants to be homeschooled for 9th grade and maybe all 4 years of high school. My ds, who is a h.s. senior, is receiving $2500 per year for college through the KEES program, which gives students money for every “A” they earn in high school, no matter which subject. It will be hard to give up KEES money if I homeschool my dd. Can anyone here give me a pep talk to go ahead with it?</p>

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<p>I actually really liked going to public school, and I thought I gained a lot from it. Learning how to work the system a bit and how to handle different kinds of people is a valuable skill. I’m not saying that homeschooling is terrible, but it seems rather over-hyped to me.</p>

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<p>Doesn’t KEES mostly restrict a student’s choices to colleges in Kentucky? </p>

<p>[Kentucky</a> Educational Excellence Scholarship :: Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority](<a href=“http://www.kheaa.com/website/kheaa/requirements?main=1]Kentucky”>http://www.kheaa.com/website/kheaa/requirements?main=1)</p>

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<p>Being employed in public education for 25 years I can tell you that where you child receives their education isn’t nearly as important as the home they grow up in. Yes you have much more control over curriculum and the quaility of teaching by homeschooling (if the person doing the homeschooling is a good teacher) but you can’t possibly duplicate the variety of experiences (good & bad) presented through schools. Tolerance for differences and the experience of being under the power of someone you may not respect or like (coach or teacher) can be invaluable later in professional life. In our state homescholers are not allowed to play on school sport teams. A bad teacher or a couple of bad kids aren’t going to ruin your childs educational experience if the homelife is strong…in some cases it can be benifical.</p>

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<p>This is the misconception that is often presented in regards to homeschooling. There seems to be the idea that homeschooling consists of sitting down with mom (and dad) and learning from a textbooks and lectures. This may have been true at one point, but certainly isn’t the case today. Homeschooled students play on sports teams (there are sports teams outside of high schools), join clubs (and start them), volunteer in community organizations, hold down jobs, and apply themselves to the same or more extracurricular opportunities as their traditionally-schooled counterparts. I used to be an opponent of homeschooling, but as a virtual student constantly in touch with other homeschoolers, I have learned so much about what homeschooling really is. For the parents that are both able and capable, I might even recommend it.</p>

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<p>“Capable” is the key word …at the districts I’ve worked for (3 in 25 years), in most cases it was done for the wrong reasons without a good network & opportunities like those offerred through schools. If what you are describing in available and the parents are vigilant in getting their children well rounded experiences I wouldn’t be oppossed to it either.</p>

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<p>“My 8th grade dd wants to be homeschooled for 9th grade and maybe all 4 years of high school. My ds, who is a h.s. senior, is receiving $2500 per year for college through the KEES program, which gives students money for every “A” they earn in high school, no matter which subject. It will be hard to give up KEES money if I homeschool my dd. Can anyone here give me a pep talk to go ahead with it?”</p>

<p>Hi, sorry to be coming in late. I assume you are talking about the Kentucky KEES program, correct? If so, I believe you may have some misinformation. There are two components to the KEES program. One part is based on GPA. It is correct there is no way for homeschooled students to qualify for the GPA portion of the scholarship. However this award does not “pay for every A”. Rather, the part of the award is based on overall GPA. If your school attending child earns a 4.0, straight As, in high school they will receive $500 per year for college for a total of $2,000. [Kentucky</a> Educational Excellence Scholarship :: Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority](<a href=“KHEAA”>KHEAA)</p>

<p>The other half of the award is based on ACT or SAT scores. The top award is for students who earn a 28 or above composite on the ACT. That award is worth $500 a year per college for a total of $2,000. Homeschoolers are eligible for this part of the award.</p>

<p>So, the absolute maximum amount your student will lose out on for college is the GPA portion of the KEES money and that adds up to at most $500 a year or $2,000 for all of college. Sure, that sounds like real money, but sadly in the scheme of what college actually costs it is nothing!</p>

<p>I would not hesitate to give that up if homeschooling is a better fit for your child. Ultimately, as a homeschooler, your child may have a better ability to develop his or her talents and have more possibilities of qualifying for scholarships. If you are primarily looking in state in Kentucky you might want to start now and take a look at the scholarship sections on the websites of the schools your child may consider. If your child tests well National Merit is currently the ticket to major scholarships at UK and U of L. If your student is strong academically or in the arts, it may also be worthwhile to look at the Governor’s School and the Governor’s School of the Arts as these programs are free and provide guaranteed large scholarships to in state schools including a full tuition scholarship at UK. Homeschoolers are eligible for these programs.</p>