<p>My daughter attended a local private school grades 9 and 10 then a boarding school last year as a junior. She missed nearly 2 months of her junior year due to sickness and is still not well, so we have withdrawn her from school and she will be completing senior year as a homeschooled student with a mixture of online and local college classes. Her school granted her an extension over the summer to complete junior year work and she has managed to make up 3 subjects (math, spanish, art) but is currently not well enough to work. It seems unlikely she will make up biology, english or US history by the school's deadline. I could ask for an extension or for "incomplete" or "withdrawn" on her transcript on these subjects.</p>
<p>We are trying to piece together a senior year that will meet the necessary requirements for LAC admissions but take advantage of the homeschool freedom and let her follow her interests. How important is it for a homeschool student to have biology (she has physics and chemistry) and US history (she has 2 years of word history). Could she take economics and philosophy and no science and still be competitive? Could she do psychology as a science? Can more experiential learning count as a high school course?</p>
<p>I have homeschooled my elementary school daughter but have absolutely no experience at high school so would greatly appreciate advice. She is looking at LACs like Kenyon, Macalester and Grinnell.
Thanks!!</p>
<p>For such a specific question, it would probably be better to talk to the admissions departments of the schools in question, sorry. I would think that having the other sciences helps with the biology, but I’d also guess that US history is a necessity. But definitely, experiential learning could count - you just have to figure out what to call it on the transcript.</p>
<p>The usual requirement is “lab science,” but you need to check with the colleges to see if 2 is sufficient. </p>
<p>The issue is that plenty of competitive kids will apply to that level of school with the whole picture, including home schoolers. And, you are asking if an ill student can somehow be allowed exceptions. Remember that they are projecting college freshman year and beyond- they may be uncomfortable with incomplete prep, what it represents.</p>
<p>You are leaving her open to the question of whether she can handle freshman year- both in terms of her physical situation and her actual breadth and depth in hs academics, as a platform for college work.</p>
<p>You could do bio and US History through something like The Teaching Company, or using a combo of some free internet resources such as Hippocampus, Coursera, EdEx. It doesn’t have to be extensive. Linwood Thompson has some great history videos through The Teaching Company.</p>
<p>I understand about health issues. My rising homeschooled junior has had more than most children ever have. We have made the best of it. He’ll be dual-enrolled for his last two years, taking stuff that he likes (architecture, intro to engineering, game design, etc) but we’ll still hit all the “required” courses somehow. (Like he’ll take one semester of Russian at the CC and remarkably, that counts for two years of high school f. language)</p>
<p>Thanks for this advice. I am interested to know how you construct a course around as Linwood video. ie how many assignments beyond watching and discussing the vidoes are needed?</p>
<p>You may want to make sure that your child covers HS graduation requirements in your state to be even considered for admission to any 4 year colleges.
Requirements for college admissions is not always the same as HS graduation requirements and colleges usually expect any students to be done with HS graduation requirements. Colleges may give exceptions for homeschoolers but it’s still better if your child covers all the subjects required by your state, I think. Biological Science, US history and 4 years of English are usually part of the requirements in many states. I am not familiar with Linwood Video but if your child wants a year worth of a credit, she is supposed to spend at least about 150 hours a year on the subject.</p>
<p>It really does depend on the school. More selective schools are going to have higher criteria. For reference, my son enrolled at College of the Holy Cross (pretty selective), and he was required to have three years of science, two with labs. (We had to quickly create an astronomy course when he decided to graduate a year early.) He needed four years of a foreign language and four years of math.</p>
<p>In contrast, as I look at schools for my rising senior, our local University requires only one lab science, two years of a foreign language and three years of math. So, it can vary greatly by the school.</p>
<p>It would probably be helpful, therefore, to get a handle on the type of schools to which your daughter expects to apply. You may already have a list. You can usually find the info on what they require on the website, but it’s perfectly acceptable to call admissions and ask as well. That will give you a better idea of what you want to cover.</p>
<p>Other alternatives include doing another year of high school (certainly not a problem given the medical circumstances), considering what she did manage to get done her junior year in the classes she hasn’t finished and then flesh that out to finish it and claim it as a homeschool course. In your course descriptions, you can explain part was done in public school and part at home.</p>