<p>Does anyone have any experience--direct or anecdotal--about kids who went from homeschooling to private school/boarding school? I'm particularly interested in any hurdles faced in the application process. My child was in GT/public school magnet programs through the middle of 7th grade, when she started homeschooling. Am wondering if it's important to be in school for 8th, when she would be applying to schools, or if homeschooling would be viewed negatively.</p>
<p>Most of these schools want students from an array of places. I don't think homeschooling would be viewed upon negatively because they list that they have a small percentage of students that came from a homeschool background. The reason it is probably a small percentage is because the majority of kids these days actually go to a public or private school. As long as he/she is strong in academics, extracurriculars, and has a good personality, there is no reason why your child should be discouraged from applying. Good luck. =]</p>
<p>Our daughter has homeschooled for the past 3 years and has applied to boarding schools for next year. There is a little more work putting together a transcript and deciding who does letters of recommendation, but we have not met any significant obstacles. In the parent interviews, the reception has been very positive, with one admissions director saying they find that parent homeschool teachers often give much more insightful information about their children's abilities and needs than the more generic teacher recommendations.
We did utilize some online instruction through Johns Hopkins CTY and Stanford EPGY which gave some outside grade evaluation, but this was certainly not necessary. You may want to start thinking now about possible sources of letters of recommendation (atheletic coach, music instructor, or other mentors) who can supplement what you provide. The schools generally ask for the letters from your child's math teacher, english teacher, principal and often another supplemental recommendation. Since you may be the english/math/principal for your child, it is helpful to talk directly with the admissions office at each school to see who else they will accept them from.</p>
<p>idk id agree w/ sierradoc- see my democratic school thread for more info, but yeah. just keep on persisting and pushing- and always, always, think about what ppl u could ask for recs because the recs give u credibility and of course the more credible u seem, the better. good luck w/ that! :)</p>
<p>Hi. I went to boarding school after being homeschooled 3rd-8th grade. I remember being very encourged by the entire application process. Instead of being viewed as the freak whose parents had taken her out of school (as many adults in our home community chose to believe), I got a very positive reception from the admission officers at the boarding schools. I submitted extra writing samples and a portfolio of my artwork. My mom wrote a letter about why she had chosen to homeschool me and what type of curriculum we had followed, but my actual letters of recommendation were from my math tutor, language instructor, music teacher, and a community leader who I did volunteer work for. I also submitted lists (perhaps more in depth than the average applicant) of all the extracurricular things I did to show that I was socialized and could contribute to boarding school life outside the classroom. Please feel free to PM me if you have more questions.</p>
<p>What boarding school did you go to?</p>
<p>I'm not a home-schooler, but I, too, had the sense from several admission offices that homeschooling was regarded not as some freakish obstacle that must be explained...but, instead, I had a sense that it was looked upon as an aspect that actually adds to the diversity of the school community. There may be some challenges in terms of documenting and papering the application relative to traditionally-schooled applicants...but I didn't sense a bias or negative perception in the instances where the topic was (indirectly) broached. By way of example, one school's AdCom referred to home-schooled students in a long laundry list of ways demonstrating that the school had done an excellent job of bringing the best and the brightest together in one place to create an exciting learning environment.</p>
<p>one of my floormate was homeschooled 3rd to 8th grade and he's doing extremely well</p>
<p>We've home-schooled since kindergarten, and my 9th grade daughter is applying to prep school this year. We've received a pretty warm reception from the schools.</p>
<p>hey, I can put you in contact with my homeschooled whom I just mentioned if you want. PM me if interested</p>
<p>My son attended a very small (<4 kids in 5th grade) montessori school til 5th grade then got into a local independent day school. I imagine, that your child might have similar issue to my son. The amount of homework was overwhelming. Testing took a while to get used to, getting it right the first time and not being able to go back and correct was also an issue. By 7th grade though he was in the groove as far as academics. I would definitely start doing graded testing at home if possible. Although on standardized testing my son usually ends up with 99% scores on in school testing he does less well. He was just used to being able to go back and correct his work. </p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>Wouldn't homeschooling suck? </p>
<p>---Not too social---just you mostly!</p>
<p>I'm homeschooled, and I was accepted (academically) to Choate. But they didn't have enough financial aid for me so I couldn't attend.</p>
<p>Just make sure that you try to take as many challenging classes as you can in the 8th grade. The classes in the 8th grade will set the foundation for the next 4 years of high school. Take advantage of this time and try to make it the most productive year.</p>
<p>And no, I don't think homeschooling is viewed negatively. It is a little unique, and I think that it might even add a little diversity to the applicant.</p>
<p>I met a girl who is being homeschooled and applying for freshman year. she is very nice and obviously artsy and intelligent, but when my mom asked her if she had ever been away on her own before she said that she went to her aunt's house last summer foor 2 weeks</p>
<p>she didn't seem super social, so I imagine that if she goes it will be a big transition from spending her entire life with her family to seeing them only during vacations. and going from little to no independence to complete independence</p>
<p>Bumping this old thread because I think it’s relevant. Our dd was homeschooled the year we were applying to boarding schools. It was generally not an issue; for some schools it was even a “hook.” But dc was qualified in all ways for the schools to which “we” applied. Now a freshman, dc’s study habits and self-organizational skills developed during homeschool years rival those of much older students. </p>
<p>As for the transition to living away, it depends. In our case dc had spent the past few summers at residential camps. In our opinion boarding school offered a great combination of academic options and a wide social circle. Contrary to what some folks believe, not all homeschoolers are socially or academically isolated.</p>
<p>For families of homeschoolers who are looking at boarding school I would be happy to answer specific questions about how the process worked for us. Start a new thread or PM me!</p>
<p>We have twins who we have home schooled starting in 6th grade. Their love of learning was being compromised so we removed them from public school after 3rd grade. They attended private school for 4th & 5th grade but they weren’t being challenged enough & the school was combining 6, 7, 8th grades into one classroom which I didn’t agree with. So we started with homeschooling through K12 in 6th grade. The twins won’t be applying till next fall so we have a year to prepare their application. Don’t know what strengths or weaknesses our application will have but our twins have some atypical activities which make them unique. Just don’t know 1. how the admissions committee will look upon homeschooling even though it is through an online educational program 2. the feasibility that they both will go to the same school. Even though there will come a time when they will have to lead separate lives that time is not now and we will not separate them or force that upon them.</p>
<p>My son homeschooled through eighth grade with a couple ps classes in junior high and is now in his third year of boarding school. We didn’t use an online program–that may be different. However, my sense at the time was that, while all schools are receptive on the surface, some schools were more open to homeschoolers than others. One way to discern this is to simply ask how many homeschoolers they have accepted in the past few years. Another is to look for special instructions for homeschoolers on the admissions page of the website–most colleges have these now, and some schools are following suit, which I think signals more openness.</p>
<p>Hello everyone, I recently saw that this thread had landed back on the first page, and thought that I’d report in, almost 5 years, and two kids in boarding school, later. </p>
<p>Short answer: no, it wasn’t a negative. DD#1 spent two years at a local public magnet high school after homeschooling for half of middle school, and then transferred to PA as a new upper, where she thrived–she’s now at Oxbridge. DD#2 homeschooled for almost all of middle, was waitlisted at two GLADCHEMS schools and attends Miss Porter’s. (At the time I told her that as an East Coast girl needing FA, with an “unusual” transcript, she could be proud of those two waitlists.) While the transition was bigger than reentering “regular” school, DD#2 is thriving and was well prepared. Looking back, homeschooling in middle school was the ideal time to do so. We gave them a lot of intellectual freedom within broad parameters (EPGY for English, and a tutor for math…everything else was more or less self directed). It kept the flame for learning alive and afforded them the time and space to explore interests, to dig deeply. That intellectual, curiosity, engagement in learning and the self-discipline needed to be a homeschooler made them stand out, and also contributed to their success in BS.</p>
<p>It’s certainly been an interesting trip, and one I would never ever have predicted…</p>
<p>Winker, thanks for sharing your experience “from the other side.”</p>
<p>SeeingDouble, with one or two exceptions, we did not find that schools considered homeschooling to be a negative in our dd’s admissions process. Some schools were clearly intrigued. And one or two seemed to consider it a “hook”. Our homeschool approach was eclectic — some online courses (history and science), an online school for Latin, mom-taught French and English/LA, AoPS for math… </p>
<p>The hardest part for us as parents, since we did not just use a single system, was that we had to write progress reports for each semester. Sending in transcripts/grades would have been much easier! But it was also helpful to reflect upon what our dd was doing and learning, which, as “eclectic” homeschoolers, we did not always stop to quantify along the way. Strong standardized test scores and solid grades from a previous school were also part of our mix. Atypical activities and skills also added to the package. </p>
<p>One thing I will note, since the applications process is increasingly done online, is that when it comes to that end-of-process checklist, some of your homeschool information may not align exactly with “what’s required.” As homeschoolers you will want to keep in close contact with your admissions rep at each school to which your twins apply, to ensure you and the schools are on the same page as far as what you do and do not need to send in.</p>
<p>well, i was homeschooled for 8th grade, and then when I went to prep school, i had an absolutely terrible year, after which i left. but hey, maybe it was just me.</p>