We are a homeschooled family in the USA. My kid is a sophomore who is about to become a junior and he just turned 16. We are a fairly international family and he wants to focus on getting better at violin (practicing 4 hours a day) and learning German. He wants to spend the fall semester with my family in Mexico City (bringing violin to practice a lot) and then for spring semester stay with my husband’s family in Vienna. He really wants to improve his violin skills and German (he already knows Spanish.)
He is doing decent academically, he has 4.0 unweighted GPA. He uses mostly paper curriculum, so there isn’t any “honors courses” but he does take some virtual school and he only took two honors courses and that was English 4 honors and Economics honors. He isn’t planning on going to any Ivy League university, but may apply for one or two as reach colleges (he always liked Brown but knows it is a reach.) He wants to do the plan, but he is worried that this will make him look bad for college applications since he will be delaying graduation. If he does the plan, he will graduate as soon as he turns 19, but he will be 18 most of his senior year if this happens.
He has the option to travel AND homeschool because we use a mixture of a virtual school and paper curriculum. He says if he has to, he will do that but he really just wants to focus on his language learning and music playing.
My daughter who is finishing 8th grade likes the plan too and is thinking about joining his brother before she goes into high school. I don’t really see an issue with her because she isn’t even in high school yet. If I had to worry about her, it’d be that she would be 19 when she graduates but she was born in June so she would be 18 most of her senior year as well.
Anyways, how much would this hurt him in college applications? The college he is looking at is mostly University of Tennessee, but would love to apply to Vanderbilt and Brown knowing he has a high chance of not getting in. He wants to major in International Affairs and minor in music. He is thinking about majoring in music but he isn’t sure. So my son has three options, and those three options are:
- Stay home and keep going on like normal.
- Go stay with my family around the world but do his schoolwork.
- Go stay with my family and focus on his music playing and his language skills.
I really do not know what to do. My son says he would be fine with either, but would love to do the 3rd option. So my question is would this look really bad in college? Thank you if anyone answers this. I appreciate this.
It will not hurt him to take an extra year of HS, esp if he is homeschooled.
He can take as long as he wants before college. If you look at a school’s admissions page, it will help yo udefine a freshman admit vs a transfer etc. Some also have a category for nontraditional students, for those much older than the usual group. Brown has a special program for those over age 26 for example.
Admissions are fairly flexible.
If you want more assurances about your path, just email or call the admissions officers and they will let you know what to do. It’s best if the student emails them. They often keep a record of the history of student interest.
We homeschool, too, and honestly, I’d think that his plan would be so rich educationally that I wouldn’t consider it a year off of school at all. Three of the fantastic benefits of homeschooling are freedom, the ability to think outside the box, and the ability to follow one’s passions. Your son is doing all three with his plan. Wonderful! I think it’s an asset (with or without thinking of college), and, if one is purely thinking of his college application, that it can enhance his college application.
Homeschool family here, your option #3 is best. What great experiences, not to mention collecting interesting stories for college essays.
Only thought is this…can your homeschooler be trusted to stick with practice schedule on his own? Assuming he is typical responsible homeschooler who has internal motivation. If not, you may need to set up expectations and ways to verify his practice.
You might want to have him document his hours of practice, for purposes of counting it as graduation requirements for elective courses.
Why not do a program like Youth For Understanding and go to High School in Mexico (or whereever)…the classes don’t necessarily have to “count”…We hosted a German Student for a school year through YFU and because she was in Gymnasium (honors HS) the courses she took here didn’t count, but then she went back and “repeated” her Junior year. Then it looks like a regular study abroad.
From a homeschooler who has homeschooled through high school, is from an international family, and was an exchange student in high school.
I vote for a mix of options 2-3.
For his educational future (and your D’s), I would have him:
1, continue his math progression in whatever way is feasible (book, book with video lectures, online class, whatever works, even if it has to be an easy get-it-done option).
2, read good books in English (classics; he can load up a kindle with great options)
3, have him continue to write in proper English in some way so he doesn’t limit himself to text jargon for a year (it could be a diary or blog of his adventures)
I’d have your d also do the above but I might throw in something really comprehensive like Saxon Grammar which hits a lot of language skills.
I would have them do the above at least four days a week.
It would be best to have some kind of schedule of things to do most days. Violin, language tutor, volunteering. It just helps to have structure for your d and s and also for the family they will be staying with. Otherwise, they might be more likely to have homesickness and the family might feel the burden to keep them busy or entertain them.
I see advantages to post # 5’s suggestions. Being away from math and English for the year would be a setback for him. “Use it or lose it” does apply to math skills and he should be continuing to move forward with American language and literature skills as he plans to have a US college education. I also wonder about his being able to physically handle so many hours of violin practice each day. Better to plan on fewer hours of that and use a couple of hours for other academics. He should be moving forward in his knowledge acquisition as well during this time, even if not formally in any way. What about science and social studies? I’m sure his knowledge in those fields is limited thus far. Approaching European culture and history while in Germany would have a fascinating viewpoint. With so many German scientists he could learn about their activities and if he understands their works he will learn science. He can have a well rounded educational experience and his lucky you can afford this.
Is he an Austrian citizen? If not there may be a time limit on his stay in Vienna you should be aware of.
Since you will be writing the counselor recommendation in the common application and also documenting the school plan you can frame this year in the best light. I do not see this as a year off. It is part of a language intensive program. The music side of the plan demonstrates that your son has the passion and the work ethnic to pursue a long term goal. Both should be consider a plus on a college application.
However, I do like the suggestion in post #5.
I can not speak from experience since we took a more traditional approach to home schooling. However, if done right, your son’s plan sounds like it would make for a better resume for college. It would also give him a much better world view.
90 days in Austria for US citizens.
I don’t think there’s such a thing as a gap year in high school, mostly because most compulsory education laws would require him to be in school or homeschooled. However, he could do the trip for credits in music, Mexican culture, and German (or some such “classes”). Then he’d do a 5th year super senior year to get all the standard classes he skipped.
I don’t think you need to be as structured as in post #5, but some kids have a very hard time retaining math, so you may want him to continue math in some fashion while still having an “unschoolish” sort of year.
Presumably one of the reasons you chose to homeschool was the flexibility it would offer you.
I think you can do,what you want to do…any of the choices…and it will be fine.
There are some situations where this wouldn’t work, but I don’t think you have an athlete (NCAA rules will only accept 4 years of courses), a state where homeschoolers are required to have certain classes or hours, or maybe a scholarship that limits the number of years of courses you can include in the application.
I’d do as suggested above and take a ‘light’ academic year with writing and math, and then the music and language unless your state doesn’t allow you to have others teaching him or doesn’t allow a light course load. Why wouldn’t he get music credit for violin or language credit for German?
I love the idea! Go for door #3. If you all are inclined, throw in post #5’s ideas. Your counselor letter and his essays will tell the story.
I worked with a student, homeschooled through 8th grade, and then did online school in 9th and 10th, who did a year of dancing in NYC (was accepted to a 9 month pre-professional program) while doing online school. She needed to see if she wanted to become a professional dancer. In the end, the answer was no, but it made a compelling story, and didn’t hurt her at all in admissions; in fact, it helped.
Consider: If son is not used to practicing violin 4 hours per day, he might need instruction on how to avoid injuries. My daughter is a cellist who went through an injury as an undergrad, and then learned a lot about prevention. She went to therapists who specialize in working with musicians, read a lot, and talked to a lot of knowledgeable people. Consider the resources your son would have at his disposal, or prepare him ahead of time to avoid injuries.