Homeschooled Sophomore who really needs help with understanding basically everything

Applying to College
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<p>Will your parents pay for Stanford? Or anywhere that isn’t a Texas state U? Will they let you go to UT? </p>

<p>A good point made up stream about how you can use your homeschooling state to pursue your own interests, to be more of an autodidact. Weak in History and English? Nothing is stopping you from filling in those holes, and if you find a certain topic interesting, going more in-depth. Don’t think about just checking the boxes of what you need to do to get into college; get out there and learn about what interests you. </p>

<p>I like the idea of you taking more math at a CC, but if that won’t work, there are free online sources of math like Khan Academy and patrickjmt. Harder to demonstrate on a transcript, but your math-iness can be shown on the SAT and SAT subject matter tests. And it would be worth it to show that you are out there looking for ways to learn more math. </p>

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<p>If you like math, try to accelerate. That’s something you can easily do with Homeschool: you can control your pace.
Are you saying you didn’t take any Composition, Literature, or History class?
Where are you with Foreign LAnguage? How do you do science - do you use your local HS’s lab?
If your parents are homeschooling you for religious reasons, you must have a thorough grounding in the Bible. USe that to your advantage: read classical texts in English translation.
Try to see if you can learn Latin and Classical Greek and try to read the texts, then compete in translation competitions. This would “make up” for the lack of foreign language if you don’t have one. If you need to learn one from scratch, you can start with Italian (the easiest), or French (among the easiest), plus in Texas you have Spanish (harder than French, especially conjugation, but you’d get more practice).
As a homeschooler, you must frequent the library: they must have a list of “summer reading” for grades 6 to 10. Ask if you can borrow these lists and check whether you’ve read 2/3 of these books (or at least half). Then set yourself on a pace to read a lot of them. By 10th grade, you should have read novels such as A Separate Peace, Pride&Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird, Anne Franck’s Diary, as well as some poetry and plays such as Romeo&Juliet or A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Take the Math2 test in the Spring, along with a test in a subject you feel comfortable in. Present as many test results (AP, SAT Subject) as you can, and/or community college classes (as long as you can get B and higher in them) to legitimate your grades.
You have plenty of unstructured free time: use it wisely. Borrow How to Be a High School Superstar, by Cal Newport to see what that means.
Also, you may want to borrow a book such as “Fiske Guide to the Colleges” or “Insider’s Guide to the Colleges” or “Princeton Review’s best Colleges”, along with “The College Solution” and/or “AdMission Possible!”</p>

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<p>Also do some reading in the homeschoolers forum here, there are discussions and advice about how your parent/teacher/advisor person should prepare your transcripts.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/home-schooling-college/”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/home-schooling-college/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I agree with the last post about as a homeschooler you have an advantage in NOT looking like everyone else. There are a lot of good points in this string of comments. You need a good college advisor soon. </p>

<p>Based on what you say on English and history, IF I WERE YOU I would read a lot of books to compliment what you have listed. This helps writing also. Read a whole lot of books in one area and then move to another. Read say half a dozen about WWI, then read a whole bunch of American Plays. The read a bunch about mountain climbing…something like that.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the stats - good info to know. Yet, I still differ a bit in terms of the OP, as the OP is applying for computer science. Therefore, what needs to be asked is what is the level of math for people in that field.</p>

<p>I went to the schools the OP is interested in and majored in the sciences, but not computer science (some 30 years ago). None of us started any low-end math. In fact, we had to take a test prior to signing up for classes as to the level of math and all the people in my majors were in the top 10% of math skills. I suspect computer science is equal or even more demanding in math skills today.</p>

<p>The stat you post makes tons of sense given the fact that only 15% major in the sciences overall and much less major in computer science as a subset. It is that smaller subset that the OP is competing with in terms of math level, not english and history majors etc. And Stanford being the #1 computer science undergrad dept (along with Carnegie Mellon). the math level must be tops in those fields going in.</p>

<p>Additionally, from my experience with homeschoolers, I do not think the OP has any leeway to be like other students who is limited by the courses their schools offer. A homeschooler is expected to show something more expansive given the freedom s/he has to go outside the standard school curriculum. Applying like the standard student shows little external and unique drive in my book.</p>

<p>Overall, I agree your assessment IF the OP were not going into computer science, math, physics, engineering, or chemistry. </p>

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<p>Cool suggestion and the reading advice is dead on, but do not forgot to develop your own voice. To take this one set further - choose something you are interested in and literally immerse yourself in it and show yourself very learned in it in your college app. </p>

<p>Literally, the top schools want top people in “whatever,” not very close to the top people good at a lot of things. Focus… focus… focus and present yourself very clearly in your app as awesome in something. Good luck!</p>

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<p>I have been homeschooling my kids for over 20 yrs and have graduated 4. OP, unless something radically changes in your approach to education and personal responsibility, you are an unlikely candidate to be accepted into Stanford. Homeschooling does give you huge advantages over ps counterparts bc YOU have the ability to drive your education. I have children that have completed multiple math/physics courses at the university 200-300 level during high school. My math abilities end at alg 2 and I only have basic physics understanding. My current 10th grader is taking pre-cal, 3 foreign languages (none of which I have any proficiency), Etc for a total of 8 credit hours. Their motivation for their levels of achievement comes from them. I do not require 3 foreign languages. I did not require my current college freshman to graduate with 11 science and 10 math credits. They have goals and they set their sights on accomplishing them. I provide them with the opportunities to accomplish those goals. There is a world of opportunity out there via Skype, MOOCS, online classes, DE through local universities or CCs.</p>

<p>kids with internal drive, self-guidance, and love of learning can and do shine in the homeschool environment. Start investigating what opportunities you can create for yourself if your parents aren’t doing it for you. Lacking in history and English is completely unacceptable, especially if you are even contemplating a top school. MOOCs are free. You can get feedback on your writing. You can be exposed to professors’ opinions and POV. AoPS has online classes and forums. You could be challenging yourself in math way beyond Saxon. </p>

<p>There is a homeschool to college yahoo loop you could join and ask questions. Search homeschool forums where kids are aiming for top schools and see what they are doing. I have a homeschool friend whose dd just graduated from Stanford. Her dd did shine, went to math competitions and camps, had awards for foreign language exams, took multiple APs (which are accessible for homeschoolers to self-study at home and just pay for the exam), etc. CLEPs are not going to serve you well for top schools. APs and SAT subject tests are what you need to be taking.</p>

<p>Sorry if that is too abrupt, but that is reality for top school admissions.</p>

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<p>It sounds to me like OP is being homeschooled for religious reasons and not to take advantage of an intellectual curiosity or ability that could not be met in traditional school. </p>

<p>My comment about not really being advanced in math was in the context of being HS and aiming for Stanford. Because of the relative lack of objective measures, like class rank etc I think a HS student would have to demonstrate a pretty high level of math to convince Stanford. </p>

<p>I am also concerned that OP parents may not be in favor of him attending this school if they limited his high school experience for religious reasons. </p>

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<p>I work with some recent graduates from various schools, some of which are considered top end schools for CS. Some of them started in first semester frosh calculus when they entered college.</p>

<p>Colleges’ CS departments are not especially concerned about where students start in math compared to their ability to handle the more advanced math needed later on. In any case, the OP should be on track to complete almost all of the frosh/soph level math courses needed to major in CS before high school graduation. So the idea that the OP is “behind” or “uncompetitive” in math is silly.</p>

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<p>An 800 on the SAT math level 2 after this year, a 5 on AP calculus BC or A grades in college calculus next year, and A grades in the next level of college math courses should be sufficient to indicate stronger math ability than what most applicants to super-selective schools bring.</p>

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<p>Any student who wants to be accepted into Stanford is going to have to exhibit a high standard of academics, homeschooled or not. The OP’s current level of academics is not Stanford competitive, not due to math level, but over all level of academic rigor. No history and only some English is just not going to be competitive in general. What is missing is a passion for learning and excelling academically due to that passion. That doesn’t need to come from the parents. That can come from the student. </p>

<p>Your avg state university…being an avg student is fine. Getting into a tippy top school…being an alg student won’t work for anyone.</p>

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<p>We don’t know that the student himself/herself is not driven… we don’t know what obstacles s/he has met. </p>

<p>OP: reading in-depth - both fiction and non-fiction- from the public library (for English and History), accelerating yourself in math, using your free time wisely to do things that only homeschoolers can do - those are things you can try and do without disrupting your parents’ belief system.
Are you willing to do it?</p>

<p>If you want rigorous evangelical Christian schools: look into Wheaton (IL), Hope, Calvin, Point Loma Nazarene, Pepperdine.
If you want good Christian schools but not too conservative, you have Notre Dame and Holy Cross (if your parents consider Catholics Christian), St Olaf, Illinois Wesleyan, Ohio Wesleyan. </p>

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<p>Yes, if humanities and social studies (English, history, foreign language) appear insufficient, then the OP may need to take some action in those areas. That can mean studying those subjects at home and then confirming knowledge with SAT subject and AP tests, or completing course work in those areas at a local college, in order to present some external verification of the achievement level. But being “behind” in math is not the problem, since the OP is actually ahead in math, even by the standards of admitted students at super-selective schools.</p>

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<p>This student is not in an educational vacuum. </p>

<p>He/She (not sure which) posted that older siblings attend Texas A&M.

I believe that indicates that higher academics does not disrupt the parents’ belief system.</p>

<p>He/she took the PSAT recently as a 10th grader and prepped for the exam (that is not the sign of parents that are completely disconnected with academics. I didn’t even have my own 10th grader take the PSAT this yr. :wink: ) </p>

<p>The student is working through Saxon Advanced Math as a 10th grader (I am assuming that is the book they are in since they stated trig and Saxon does not actually have a trig text.) Again, not a sign of parents disconnected from academics.</p>

<p>The student states that he/she knows that he/she is lacking in English, lit, and writing. If a student KNOWS that and wants to go to a tippy top, highly competitive school, blaming the parents for not registering them for a class is, for me, a sign of lack of passion for learning b/c of all courses that people can push themselves academically to complete independently, history and lit would be near the top. (The student also posted having access to Teaching Company lectures. It is VERY common amg homeschoolers to use TC lectures to supplement history and lit courses. We do ourselves.) And the options for opencourseware/MOOCs available for lit and history are numerous. <a href=“Search | MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials”>http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/history/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“Search | MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials”>http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/literature/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If the student is serious about Stanford, they need to get serious about academic rigor across the board. It is no different than if a ps wanted to attend Stanford. </p>

<p>It sounds like the student is getting a decent college prep education. Whether or not it is Stanford prep is the only question.</p>

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<p>As a homeschooler myself, I was curious to see the content of this thread. </p>

<p>Firstly, I would like to just clarify that while mastery (what people consider giving all A’s) may be a method of education used in homeschooling, it is not “common practice” for homeschool parents to simply give their children all A’s. Mastery is a process where, if students get problems wrong, the teacher shows them the problems they answered incorrectly and shows them how to do it correctly. Once they get it right, they have ‘mastered it’. </p>

<p>A lot of people assume that homeschoolers get all A’s because their parents are biased. However, they receive those A’s because many homeschoolers are academically-driven students; sometimes (with some exceptions) the reason they are being homeschooled is that they are academically gifted. Their families want to be able to offer more for them that they feel the public/private schools cannot offer. The fact is though that not all homeschoolers get 100’s and 4.0’s; it just looks like they do because their intelligence is a very possible reason they are being homeschooled in the first place. </p>

<p>OP, I feel like you’re throwing your parents under the bus a little bit. From a homeschooler, I know the different curricula. Saxon Math is one of the best math curricula and is in no way hindering or holding you back. For a CS major, that’s a good thing. Your only drawback is that Stanford won’t know what Saxon is. In that case, you just do course descriptions. Google them and you’ll find they are very informative and impress a college (even top tier ones) with the amount of detail in them. </p>

<p>Not signing you up for a course is vague. Not everything has to be online or “conventional”. Use some textbooks. Buy history curricula from homeschool catalogs. Make up your own program. It’s neither difficult nor impossible. If money is a factor, there are cost-friendly curricula for history, literature, and writing. You want to read books and write interpretive essays for all of them? Go for it. The whole POINT of homeschooling is that you’re not doing what the school is. You may think that you have a disadvantage because you don’t go to regular school. Think of it this way: how many people go to regular school and do the same things and submit them to colleges? Homeschooling is a unique method of education and you stand out because of that. You may not like that you’re being homeschooled and I’m sorry you feel that way. Homeschooling isn’t for everyone, but you have the potential to stand out in the adcom’s eyes. Don’t waste that potential if Stanford is really your goal. </p>

<p>There is no drawback with CLEP’s either. CLEP’s are equal to college level work (like AP) and passing them would give you college credit and possible class exemptions. It is false to assume CLEP’s are worthless. They are actually commonly used for homeschoolers to gain college credit and demonstrate academic rigor to universities. Returning learners and our nation’s veterans take CLEP’s to gain college credit and work towards a degree. Even though CLEP may not be as common as AP, it is still very effective. You don’t need AP’s when there are other ways of showing the strength in your curriculum. For top schools though you will need SAT Subject tests. It sucks frankly but it’s true. </p>

<p>If you looked on Stanford’s website, you would see that they have a homeschooler page on their admissions section and are very friendly to homeschoolers. You would not be at a disadvantage. Your PSAT score is decent but you need to focus on studying if you want Stanford status. You’re still a sophomore though; you have plenty of time to work at it. You have plenty of time to worry about everything and focus on what you need to focus on. Just work on it. If you spent as much time on your academic rigor as you did on revealing personal information, posting your transcript to complete strangers, and bashing your parents on a public internet forum, then you’ll be at Stanford for the class of 2017. </p>

<p>For the others reading, I hope you don’t walk away thinking all homeschoolers are inadequate academically and get free A’s. There’s a reason homeschoolers statistically do better on standardized tests. Don’t let one example serve as a representative of all.</p>

<p>Not all homeschool students write their own transcript without parental direction. </p>

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<p>Excellent point, TheDidactic. I didn’t address those issues, but you are correct. My own kids have had Cs on their transcripts if that is what they deserve. They also do not write their own transcripts or course descriptions. I actively teach. But, my kids are also highly motivated and design independent coursework or work with me for top quality resources for areas of passionate interests. </p>

<p>My kids are held to very high standard. </p>

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<p>Exactly. </p>

<p>The typical homeschool stereotype is the unsocialized student who has “immoral”, hand-out grades. Immoral in quotations because someone literally told me to my face that my grades (he didn’t even know my grades) were illegitimate and immoral. All because I told him I was homeschooled. Just like the random waiter who attacked me when I was hungry and wanted to eat dinner (I’m tempted to use the 'I came out to have a good time and I’m feeling so attacked right now"), many people assume the fallibility of homeschooling without realizing the positives. </p>

<p>In my observations, I have noted the exact opposite. Many homeschoolers–such as your own children–are actually very motivated and dedicated students, who are capable of tackling on collegiate courses and have no difficulty adjusting to whatever life hands them.</p>

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<p>Just for a laugh… from a fellow (former) homeschooler.
<a href=“Messy Mondays: Seven Lies about Homeschoolers - YouTube”>Messy Mondays: Seven Lies about Homeschoolers - YouTube;

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<p><a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013028/tables/table_08.asp”>http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013028/tables/table_08.asp&lt;/a&gt; lists important and most important reasons that parents gave when surveyed about why they home school their kids.</p>

<p>Some reasons, with percentage of parents saying “important” and “most important”:</p>

<p>91% / 25% / concern about the school environment, such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure
74% / 19% / dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools
64% / 16% / desire to provide religious instruction
77% / 5% / desire to provide moral education
44% / 5% / desire to provide a nontraditional approach to child’s education
15% / 5% / child has a physical or mental health problem
17% / NA / child has other special needs
37% / 21% / other reasons</p>

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<p>In terms of Stanford, as a group, homeschoolers have higher acceptance rate. Something like 15 - 20% compared to the standard 5 - 6%. Stanford admin actually had an article about that about 10 years back. </p>

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<p>Agreed - and the key word is “some.” </p>

<p>At my school though, back then the math test was the differentiator for the sciences. Interestingly, my one DS, had a similar math test prior to signing up for any math and science courses as well. And everyone in his first CS class are all in multivariable calculus and beyond. </p>

<p>I do understand that schools differ, but as a homeschooler I would not take the chance of being just the basic student going in, not matter how great my grades. One needs to be in the top 25% as a homeschooler to have a descent shot and that means having the more rigorous classes on the transcript.</p>

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<p>Being in multivariable calculus as a college frosh typically means just having completed calculus BC or college frosh calculus while in high school (which is not that unusual – probably about 3% of HS students take calculus BC, with half of those getting 5 scores on the AP test, and the plurality of Harvard 2013 frosh at that level). The OP is already a year ahead of that.</p>

<p>It seems unlikely that the level of math would be the OP’s problem. English, history, and foreign language appear to be more likely areas that the OP needs to at least get to baseline levels expected by the target colleges.</p>