We moved to India couple of years ago, and thinking of homeschooling our daughter who is finishing 9th grade now. We looked at several online options and most online schools with good reviews seem to be very expensive. She is interested in Science. She is very organized and motivated , but has issues with anxiety, so we do not want her to overload herself, but be adequately challenged. Will she have trouble getting into college if she did not take too many AP courses and be homeschooled? Are there any international homeschoolers here, especially in India? Are all in one online schools better than many different courses from different schools when it comes to managing transcripts and college applications?
I know a homeschool family in India. They have done a lot of self-study with AP exams. They’ve also done some online courses through vendors such as PA Homeschoolers. The challenge might be in getting letters of recommendation from teachers. I think the goal is to get at least one online teacher to give a recommendation and perhaps a local tutor/mentor.
If you want to PM me, I might be able to put you in touch with the family.
Thank you @sbjdorlo I will pm you
My kids did Connections Academy in the US but it originally was an international private school and it is not very expensive compared to other private schools - maybe $5,000 per year? I really liked the program but we never did high school. Friends like it. https://www.internationalconnectionsacademy.com/
@Smithfamily Your question is not a simple one. Do you have to enroll in an online program to comply with India’s laws o rules can you just do your own thing? Is she an international student or a US student living internationally? (That will make a significant difference.) Whether or not you need to enroll or have APs will also depend on the universities your student will be applying to.
The majority of schools are going to be satisfied with a homeschool transcript and test scores. I have had kids accepted with top competitive merit scholarships with only a couple of outsourced classes and everything else done at home with me as the primary teacher. My kids, however, have not applied to elite schools (unless you classify URochester as elite).
But, to answer your question generally, no, you do not need to have either online all-in-one or even any online courses to be accepted to college. (My current college student took zero online courses except for an online DE stats class spring of sr yr, so not taken before app season. She had 2 private tutors for foreign languages and those were her only outsourced classes.)
Thank you for the responses.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek she is a US student living in India now and wants to go back to US for college. She doesn’t know what kind of college she wants to go to, or what subjects she is interested in yet, so I wanted to keep the options open. Right now, she is taking some online classes, one AP class also online, and pursuing her interest in other areas. Her anxiety has come down, and she is generally enjoying her classes at home, online and her EC’s. I do worry about recommendation letters though, if she decides to apply to colleges where those are required because none of her teachers know her in-person.
@CCtoAlaska Thanks! I will check this out. Right now she is enrolled in some classes at Keystone and those seem to be going well.
@Smithfamily, I’m also a US citizen who moved to India, albeit many many years ago. (In 1st grade, to be exact.) I went to regular school here (Being of Indian origin and having virtually grown up here, this wasn’t really a challenge for me) until 10th grade. After that, I decided to self-school myself because I didn’t like the Indian system for 11th and 12th grade. (In my state, there are ‘junior colleges’, full of unmotivated students and perpetually absent teachers.)
But I didn’t want to have no objective evaluation of my learning, so I’m taking the A-levels exams through Cambridge International Examinations as a private (home-schooled) candidate. You might want to look into A-levels for your daughter once she reaches 11th grade. (Or even before, since there are also 10th grade equivalents offered) You can choose all your own subjects and basically craft your own curriculum, and it’s also challenging. They’re also very well regarded abroad and will give you a competitive edge for US College admissions. And of course she can use the time saved (by not having to do the ‘donkey-work’ so typical of Indian education) to follow her passions.
I’m currently a senior and applying to colleges (as a homeschooler) in the US, and it’s gone well so far.
I don’t feel comfortable saying much more on a public forum but feel free to PM me to know more, especially about A-Levels and the overall experience of applying to US universities as US citizen being home-schooled in India.
Oh also, I can’t really help you with recs either since I just got them from the teachers from my old school. (the one I attended up to 10th grade)
I haven’t taken any AP courses either, but my A-level grades are equivalent, and do affect the weighted gpa positively.
@DodosAreDead Thank you very much for the detailed post. That was helpful. Glad to know other students also pursuing different paths, your experience will definitely help me and my daughter.
I have gotten some really good advice on the recommendation letters part, so I am not so worried anymore. Good luck with your applications!