<p>This was news to me but perhaps not to home-schooling families who have examined their future options carefully: </p>
<p>Education</a> Week: Military Leery of Cyber School Grads</p>
<p>Frankly, I think a lot of top schools are leery of cyber school grads. They just have a feel of illegitimacy about them, even if they are accredited. Remember that there’s still this perception of homeschoolers as hippies or radicals even though many of us chose to homeschool for academic reasons, so we have to fight to prove that we had a legitimate education experience which prepared us for top schools. Also keep in mind that many colleges have only a handful of homeschoolers apply each year so they have little guidance about what it’s like to work with homeschoolers. I’m glad I’ve had a chance to work with the Admissions office at my college to work on homeschooler policies, that were somewhat antiquated.</p>
<p>My parents worked with me and my brothers to develop a curriculum each year, complete with syllibi, and based on texts that reputable high schools were using for their honors and AP classes. We also took classes at a local state college and took AP exams. Yes, it’s time-consuming and expensive, but I think it prepared us better than high school in a box.</p>
<p>I’d like to think college admissions professionals and the U.S. military base their acceptance (and other!) decisions on something more concrete than whether a school has a “feel of illegitimacy” or not!</p>
<p>Then you haven’t spent much time actually trying to apply to college as a homeschooler. The good schools all require something additional: detailed curriculum, SATIIs, etc. And can you blame them? In the school system teachers have to be certified, in homeschooling, you can be a high school dropout. Even I, as a homeschooled student, would question homeschoolers’ scores without some tangible proof of legitimacy.</p>
<p>So unfortunately, we HAVE to prove ourselves.</p>