Home Schooling for Senior Year-How?

[M_s_Mom]

<p>Our D is a junior this year. She is a highly motivated, independent and accomplished student who loves learning, but feels that high school involves a great deal of wasted time. She has asked us if we would allow her to self-study in her senior year rather than attend our local high school.</p>

<p>In principle, we are not opposed: She is unusually mature, organized and would follow through (and if she didn't, she could re-enroll in the local high school for the last semester of her senior year). But we have no idea where to start. If she stayed on next year, she'd be taking AP courses in English Lit, Physics, Spanish, World Hist, and Music Theory. (She's already completed APs in Stat, Bio and Amer Hist, and will do APs in Econ, Calc and Eng at the end of this year.)
By the end of the year, she will also have met all the course requirements for graduation in our state except for 1 more year of English. </p>

<p>-What kind of resources are out there that she can take advantage of to help her structure her coursework? I notice in other threads here that there are 'on line high schools.' Can you do it for just one year? </p>

<p>-We have a community college nearby where she might be able to take Spanish and Music: What are the implications for enrolling in community college if she wants to apply to a 4-year college as a freshman, not a transfer student, the following year?</p>

<p>-What are the broader implications for college applications? What issues and pitfalls should we be aware of? </p>

<p>We realize that to answer all these questions would take someone hours, so what we really need is some idea of how to get started, where to find information and what to be aware of. </p>

<p>By the way, her primary concern about leaving high school is that she has friends there whom she will miss seeing-but she feels it might still be worth it if she could use her time more productively. She would also have to give up her school-based ECs, but she has other non-school related ECs that she would continue and probably invest more time in. We also want to not burn any bridges with the local high school in case she changes her mind. It really isn't about them-they do a very good job-but she's just a different kind of kid.</p>

[AT9]

<p>Alright. The biggest factor you face is most likely the state homeschooling laws that you would be under. They can have an enormous impact on how you structure her senior year. If I were you, I would look for a homeschooling support league in you area, and they can direct you to further resources from there. Chances are, if it's a decent sized homeschool group, they'll have someone who is familiar with high school homeschooling in your area, and they would probably be able to answer a lot of the questions that you'll have. </p>

<p>I have been homeschooled my whole life, and I'm a senior this year. I'll address the latter two of your main questions, because I'm right in the middle of that kind of stuff right now. I've taken dual enrollment classes at a community college since 10th grade, and I'll even have an A.A. this December. Even so, every college that I'm applying to considers me a freshman applicant, not a transfer. I have run into a few colleges that would consider me a transfer, but they are few, and it's only because I'll have an A.A. degree, which your daughter won't have to deal with. So if you're daughter took some DE courses, she would most definitely be considered a freshman at almost any college in the nation. As far as applications go, it's worked out well for me so far. I've been accepted at Covenant College and the University of Minnesota, and I'm waiting to hear back from Florida State and U of Florida. I would just advise you to have your daughter contact the colleges she's interested in, and have her ask all about the requirements they have for homeschoolers (I would have your daughter do it because it looks better when the student is the one interested). </p>

<p>Now, this is just my experience, and it really depends on where you are and what colleges she's applying to. I will say that she'll probably lose some social activity, but if you search for opportunities, you might find them. For instance, I play sports for a local high school, I'm the president of a homeschool student group, and I'm heavily involved at church... so I don't have much of a problem with socialization. Plus, it looks as if your daughter already has friends in the high school, so I would think that she'll be fine.
Overall, homeschooling has its ups and downs, but I've found it to be a really positive experience for me, and if I could go back and change it, I wouldn't. Anyway, you're daughter sounds a little like me (motivated and thinks high schools waste a lot of time), so I hope she will have a positive experience like I have had. Good luck!</p>

[tokenadult]

<p>This could work really well. I'm turning in just now, but I'll try to come back to this thread in a while and see what specific suggestions I can add.</p>

[POTO_Mom]

<p>My D is an aspiring opera singer and wants to go to conservatory. She asked to be homeschooled so she could concentrate on her career goals so here is what we did. I joined a homeschool organization that allows you to attend a school as well as be homeschooled. THIS IS AN IMPT QUESTION FOR YOUR HOMESCHOOL ASSN. Some make you do all your schooling at home. My daughter attends a Fine Arts School for voice, music theory, theatre and also takes US History there. She is tutored in German III by a certified teacher and then I teach the World Lit class, which is a "boxed set" from Modern Scholar; the vocabulary which is a program thru Sadlier, and we also do essay and SAT preparation. I had a high school English teacher help me design the curriculum. My daughter doesn't like to stare at the computer all night so we elected not to take the online courses. But there are tons of them out there to take advantage of. That is actually the easy route to take. In fact, your school district may have everything you're looking for online and could still provide a diploma that way. We have been visiting schools and asking about homeschool "disclaimers." There are various answers. Some say you have to take the GED. Some don't. Expecially if you are only having one year of homeschooling, they differ in their answers. We are planning to take the SAT as well as two subject tests also. The diploma is the real issue I struggled over, but my daughter loves being homeschooled and is progressing so much faster this way. Her German teacher has covered a (high school) year's worth of material with her in two months. Nuff said. It is worth your time and peace of mind to contact the colleges your child is interested in and ask questions. Most of them have something about homeschool requirements on their websites, too.</p>

[danas]

<p>If I were in your daughter's shoes, I would use the year as an opportunity to dig deep into a subject or subjects that excite her, and to do things she couldn't do if she had to go to school.
Just having the opportunity to read is a luxury often denied by school schedules. As to what to do without a school schedule, the opportunities are almost limitless. In my daughter's case, she worked in the Mammal Department of our natural history museum taking apart tigers, wombats, bats and bobcats and reclassified the collection according to a new system.
The colleges both my son and daughter applied to accepted reading lists as evidence of involvement, without grades or GED, backed up by standardized tests. The SAT Subject Tests work well here. If you love a subject and have the opportunity to dig in to your heart's content, the Subject Test system is like shooting fish in a barrel in competition with those poor souls who must go to school.
Good for you to trust your daughter and to entertain options to help her development.
In my opinion, a choice to forgo school senior year to pursue deep interests would be read as love of learning by any college admissions committee. Of course the most important benefit would be the experience itself.</p>