<p>New to the whole home schooling thing, I have some concerns about where I will be a competitive applicant. What do you do to remain competitive for highly selective colleges? In other words, what about your resume stands out, so that adcoms can't NOT admit you? I know this varies from student to student, but are there certain overlying similarities amongst homeschoolers? Do most homeschoolers possess some of the same characteristics colleges find appealing? If so, what are they? </p>
<p>I guess what I'm asking is this: What makes you different? What sets you apart from "regularly" schooled applicants?</p>
<p>You're right that every homeschool situation is different. If you were to visit my home today and Huguenot's tomorrow, you would (probably) be hard-pressed to say "all homeschoolers do X and never do Y". :) </p>
<p>One big thing about homeschooling is the ability to go off on rabbit trails when an interest is piqued. Another thing is flexibility, we often travel during the "school year" but then we also school year round. We lived in the UK for a few years which was a great place to homeschool, with all it museums, castles, cathedrals, etc.</p>
<p>My son competed in academic competitions and did very, very well. In his area, he was easily in the top ten in the nation. Take that away and he was just another kid who had high SAT scores, a good amount of APs with 5s, and a list of difficult classes he did well in. That of course, is impressive, but merely makes him one of many applying to the top colleges. The competitions were what made him stand out.</p>
<p>anotherparent, do you mind if I ask what sorts of academic competitions your son competed in? I know of many science- and math-related competitions, but I don't know of any humanities-related competitions besides a few writing awards. Care to share?</p>
<p>I would say that one of the biggest benefits to homeschooling is flexibility. That flexibility results in more time to pursue interests -- which is what will make motivated homeschoolers stand out.</p>
<p>For example -- my dd did well over 1000 hours of volunteer work related to her field of interest during high school. The volunteer work involved a variety of experiences with a variety of organizations, and some of it was done out of necessity during "school hours." The work was closely related to her field of interest so it is still on the resume she is submitting as a college sophomore for internships. </p>
<p>That volunteer work was in addition to her many other interests/extracurricular activities and a bunch of rigorous courses. But she was able to juggle it all because she had a lot of flexibility -- she was in charge of her time and how she filled it. </p>
<p>My big piece of advice to parents with younger kids who are homeschooling is -- Find your child's passions and help your child pursue those passions.</p>
<p>1) Ds2 (9th grade) spent a week in late September competing in the American Kite Association national competition. (Really -- there is a league for stunt kite competitions!) The only other teenager there was also a homeschooler. My son is passionate about kites and kite-building, and he could not have participated in this event if he weren't homeschooled.</p>
<p>2) Ds1 debated in high school. He always focused on debate quite heavily the week before a major competition. He did the school work that he HAD to do, but the rest was postponed until a more convenient time. His teacher understood! :-) (Aren't summers designed for finishing up schoolwork?)</p>
<p>3) Dd1 was a guide in a museum for a specific program that met on Wed. mornings. She also wrote up a guide for an exhibit -- and the woman who was in charge could only meet with her in the mornings. She coudn't have done either of these things had she been in school.</p>
<p>4) My kids always had a lot on their plate. Sometimes something had to give. They took a lot of online classes, and they had deadlines to meet in those classes that were non-negotiable, but they always did math at home (until senior year, when they hit calculus). Math was the subject most often put off until a better time. They did a LOT of math over the summer -- when they had more time to focus on it! Flexibility rules!</p>
<p>5) Dd2 is involved with an extracurricular that has her away from home every Wednesday afternoon and all day on Saturdays. The time will increase significantly in about a year and may eventually involve many many hours 6 days per week. I can't imagine her pursuing this interest if she were in school all day -- we want her to spend some time at home! But since she is home a lot during the early part of the day, this activity fits in well in her schedule.</p>
<p>Faransaa - I am happy to share, but it was math, math, math! AMC/AIME/USAMO USAMTS, ARML, BAMO and a bunch of local competition. I am sure I am forgetting some. </p>
<p>My daughter competed in the National Latin exam last year and got a gold. If she can get a gold each year, I think that will help. She also made it to the National Spelling Bee, and came in 34th (a tie), but that will be difficult to put on a college AP. She also does math competitions, but is not a standout.</p>
<p>My son had a lot of college classes on his homeschool transcript. He's a social science guy, so beyond the usual high school fare of US History, World History, Gov't and Economics, he had college classes (some of them upper division classes) in political science, sociology, and especially philosophy where he had numerous classes. This area of interest doesn't lend itself easily to competitions like music, math and science... and besides competitions just aren't the best mode of expression for every budding mind, especially in the humanities since it's such an experience and wisdom based realm. He did however demonstrate special dedication and talents by the level of study he pursued through his college classes. The college here allows high-school students (including homeschoolers) to take lower division classes with persmission of the instructor, but my son found that after doing well in a lower-division class he had no problem getting a special allowance to pursue upper-division classes too. One thing you learn as a homeschooler is to not let published guidelines limit you. ;)</p>
<p>My son took these college classes at the local state college, but used them as part of his homeschool/high school program. Then when he was 18 he applied as a freshman to an elite LAC.</p>
<p>My daughter is a musician and a writer, she also competed in speech & debate pretty successfully for a few years. When she's talking to college admissions people they seem quite taken by the fact that she's completed two 200+ page novels. She freely admits they're not very good (I don't know, I haven't read them -- I suspect they're better than she thinks they are), but just the fact that a student so young has started and completed such an undertaking strikes people as quite impressive. I'm not sure, had her time been filled with the usual high school time-suckers that she could have done that. Like Cockatiel says, when you're homeschooling you can stop doing math for a month to write a novel if you want, and go back and finish the math later.</p>
<p>I think the answer to your question is not so much what makes homeschoolers stand out, but what would YOU like to make YOU stand out? And how do you adapt your homeschooling to support that? It's really only a question you can answer, because you know what calls out to you.</p>