I will start homeschooling myself for 11th grade(next year) Please HELP!

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
21

That’s kind of the point of home schooling. We want our children to invent their own version of education instead of trying to fit into someone else’s. If a family is committed and the home school program is well planned, college admissions aren’t a problem.

Home schooled students can submit much more information than what’s required on the Common App supplement. We sent a school profile, our home school philosophy, a course catalog, a grading scale/grading philosophy, and a description of the ECs and volunteer activities available in our community with an explanation for how we chose what we did.

Credibility has never been an issue with home school families in our community. Students don’t need to take courses at local (community or 4-year) colleges to validate their grades. The results of standardized testing (such as OPs excellent SAT scores) will suffice. A letter of recommendation from sources outside the public school system, such as those @TheDidactic listed above, are perfectly acceptable to colleges. Most home school guidance counselor letters come from the parents because we’re the GC as well as the teacher. I’ve never heard it questioned.

If OP plans well and follows his state regulations for home schooling, there’s no reason he can’t get into excellent colleges. I don’t believe paperwork is due in VA until August, so he and his family have plenty of time to plan. To get more information and support from the VA home school community, @Kdkhan, you can visit http://heav.org/

22

Homeschooling in VA is very easy. Depending on the county, they superintendent’s office might have a homeschool liaison. My kids participated in Math Counts through a ps, took funded AP exams, etc. (some counties are not so nice, though. We chose are county bc of their receptiveness toward homeschoolers.)

College admissions has not been a problem for my children, either. They received acceptances from “lesser homeschool friendly universities” like GA Tech. (GA Tech had a lot of extra hoops for homeschoolers until recently.) Most of the tippy top schools are homeschool friendly. (A couple less so than others.)

23

If this is what you are looking for in 11th grade:

  1. English
  2. Biology
  3. Geometry
  4. History
  5. Latin
  6. Independent study in Politics
  7. Independent study in Religion

esp with Bio (assuming an intro course, not a secondary high school course) and Geometry, you’re going to be a bit behind many public schooled students and a fair number of homeschoolers - meaning - if you are serious about wanting to “up” your education, it would help if you got started quickly to catch up. The beauty of homeschooling is you can work at your own pace and on your own hours.

I’ll mainly recommend that you google The Well Trained Mind and pick up a copy in your library to get an idea of how the mind develops - just skim the parts that apply in your situation as you’ve already outgrown a bit of it. Then look online at the forums by that name - the high school forum - and do some searching on the topics to get a plethora of curricula options to check out. Many are rigorous, some not so much. Pick and choose what suits you.

Speaking of just Bio, if you are looking for a book used in many AP classes, go with Campbell’s Biology, but realize that many (not all) take this as a second high school Bio course - not an intro to Bio course.

If you have not already had Alg II, take that with Geometry to work on catching up in math. Many (again, not all) elite school juniors are doing Pre-Calc, but that comes AFTER a solid foundation with Alg II and Geometry. There are many math options. I had my kids use Teaching Textbooks, but not everyone likes that. Mine did well though and scored tippy top on SAT/ACT and moved easily into Calc (after Pre-Calc), so I’ve no complaints.

For English we did a hodge podge including DE their senior year. Lightning Lit has some decent options.

For History we did Notgrass, but I didn’t really consider their English a stand-alone credit.

We did not do Latin, so I’m no help there, but the Well Trained Mind Forums would be.

Government was another Notgrass. It’s counterpart of Economics we did via a Teaching Company course that was quite good.

College acceptances are not difficult for homeschoolers who can prove themselves academically and via their extra curriculars. Mine have done well, but it doesn’t mean you need “my” path. There are many paths that work.

24

I don’t know how else to put this, but can you afford paying for classes? If your parents can pay for a couple classes, PA homeschoolers has fantastic AP courses. They range in price from I think $500-$800 per class so it is a bit steep, but they have good results and are well respected.

For biology, might I suggest DIVE biology. I took Jay Wile’s apologia science classes for all of high school, and while I don’t disagree that they are solid, the biology book especially is VERY anti-evolution. I don’t want to start and evolution vs. creationism debate, but I think that even creationist books should teach what evolution is instead of giving (in their view) information against it and never really teaching what evolution is. I took that biology in 8th grade when I was still a creationist, and even then I thought it was one-sided.

Like a lot of the people here, I did Notgrass for history/government/economics. I found it very dry, and the setup was always “read five lessons, take a quiz, read five lessons, take a quiz, after twenty five lessons take a test” etc. Unfortunately it was the cheapest, most rigorous curriculum we could find.

Math, we’ve used VideoText. These are also good, but my brothers and I had more fun making fun of the 80s/90s style the people in the videos were rocking. Many, many homeschoolers and homeschool conventions recommend A Beka for math. Do not take their advice.

Let’s talk about English. I know I just ragged on A Beka, but ONLY for grammar, I found it to be pretty good. I scored a 36 on ACT English and I owe it all to A Beka English. But for literature and composition, not a good choice.

I don’t want to post a lot of info here, but if you’re interested in more you can pm me. I’ve basically created a four-year high school plan for my little brother, so I’ve done a lot of research into many different curriculum options. Most of what I’ve chosen for him is different than what I did (which was mainly my mother’s choices) so I have experience with a lot.

25

“For biology, might I suggest DIVE biology. I took Jay Wile’s apologia science classes for all of high school, and while I don’t disagree that they are solid, the biology book especially is VERY anti-evolution. I don’t want to start and evolution vs. creationism debate, but I think that even creationist books should teach what evolution is instead of giving (in their view) information against it and never really teaching what evolution is. I took that biology in 8th grade when I was still a creationist, and even then I thought it was one-sided.”

@GB1904‌ I definitely agree that Jay Wile is creationist but I remember that the biology book explained what evolution was but constantly argued against it.

About Notgrass, my parents and I knew that the English wasn’t really good stand-alone because his English was more of a literature program (American lit/world lit) so we also used Landmark Baptist English. So my first three years of high school, I had two English credits in one year. Landmark Baptist was your typical textbook but it had a great writing regimen and it pumped the basics. When I was in middle school, I used a bunch of different English curriculums (Alpha Omega, Ace Pace, Christian Liberty Press, Oak Meadow, My Fathers World) and I feel it was very beneficial.

26

It’s possible I’m misremembering. It was eighth grade, so five years ago :wink: The reason I say so is because I realized in tenth grade that I had absolutely no idea what evolution was even about. I think I still have the biology textbook though, so I’ll read through the evolution chapter again to be sure OP has correct info

27

Perfectly understandable. I did biology in 9th grade, but that’s what I recall off the top of my head. :stuck_out_tongue:

Either way, unless you aren’t comfortable with a creationist view, OP, Apologia is a stellar science program. Jay Wile’s books are the reason I fell in love with science and now want major in a STEM field to go on to pharmacy. The rigor is definitely there and the format of the textbook is amazing.

28

Austinmshauri, for the record, I have no problem with homeschooling. I’ve been quite impressed with many (I’ve seen apps and a good friend’s daughter started with h-s.) But OP’s explanation was a lot about not finding peers so great. I do also know some who felt that way and also had some component of religious freedom- but again, as you say, it takes planning. And balance. And a good curriculum. OP should consider that.

29

I don’t see the state you are in mentioned, so be sure to look up homeschool laws in your state. Graduation requirements are different from one state to another also.

Generally, college-bound students need 4 years each of English, Math, Science, and Social Studies, and 2-3 years of a single foreign language. Aside from that, requirements vary.

In my state, homeschoolers can go to community college or a 4-year university as a dual credit student once they have completed 10th grade. All of my kids have gone to the community college starting the summer after 10th grade (apply during spring semester of 10th grade). In my district, dual credit classes from the Core Curriculum list are free. My two older girls went to college with more than 30 college credits that all transferred to the university and they were still able to receive freshman scholarships because the credits were earned while in high school.

My state has a very strong community college system and the system I am in the district for is especially strong. I know that in some areas, community college is like an extension of high school and in some it’s even a watered-down version of high school, but it’s not like that in my area.

If you are taking Biology as an 11th grader, then what science courses have you already had? I followed a physics-first program with my daughter, so she did Conceptual Physics and then Chemistry and then did a Biology course at the community college. She will be taking another science course at the community college next year.