New to possible homeschooling and full of questions

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
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<p>My DD was doing great academically at her "regular" public high school but due to depression and social struggles she has decided not to continue there. I contacted our highly regarded local home school program and they are "full" this year, with a waiting list for next year. </p>

<p>At this point are we stuck with "unschooling", and if so, how will I show the powers that be that she is completing this year of school at home and keep her on track for college (she's only a freshman now)? Is there a state agency that I can tap into to get a curriculum that she can work from?</p>

<p>Thanks for any info, whether here in the thread or PM.</p>

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<p>if she's a freshman, don't worry too much. the district will provide her with all the books, and she can either teach herself or you can get tutors for a few areas. it'll be better off homeschooling if she has social struggles, but well, if she can, try to stick around a little longer. no pain no gain, right?</p>

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<p>Sushi - try the homeschooling subforum on this thread. Whew! You are new. There is so much to learn. You can't rely on other people to homeschool for you. You've got to jump in and take control. There are many resources to help you. Contact your state homeschool organization first. What state are you in?</p>

<p>My first suggestion is for your daughter to take credit by exams in the subjects she's taking right now. Have the school check the books out to her. She studies for CBE's given by a university in your state. These tests are given to public schoolers in these sorts of situations. </p>

<p>After this semester, you need to find other methods. Perhaps high school correspondence courses through a university in your state. The possibilities are endless to prove that your kid knows the work.</p>

<p>Check out books on homeschooling at your local bookstore. Watch out for homeschooling websites. I've discovered some really intolerant people on A to Z homeschooling. They seem to be only open to their method of unschooling. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

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<p>The only alternatives aren't a particular home school program or unschooling. You can do distance learning, local classes (public school if they let you in your state, privately organized, adult education, community or regular college), or regular courses at home (unschooling doesn't mean doing it yourself if that is how you are using it -- it means, oh help me out here people, letting the student follow his own interests in his own way and at his own time, with the parent seeking to facilitate the process) -- or some combination of the three.</p>

<p>BTW not all states provide textbooks to homeschoolers. I think you can probably come up with better ones yourself anyway. We used college texts whenever possible because I thought them of higher quality, higher level obviously, but also more comprehensive and less likely to be self-censored (a particular concern for history texts). We also liked the college-level Teaching Company courses -- they aren't stand-alone by any means, but they can provide the spine for a course fleshed out with outside reading, papers, and such. You don't even have to use a textbook; we had classes that looked at a variety of materials.</p>

<p>You really don't need to have your daughter do the same courses she would have taken at her local school. Colleges say they want a certain number of years of certain things but you need not do the usual, unless they say they want it. I think you can come up with a more rigorous and coherent curriculum yourself than your state will have; just look at books like "Home Learning Year by Year" and "The Well-Trained Mind." I looked at my daughter's transcript the other day. Of 31 high school credits, only 8 reflected courses that are available at the local high school. And those 8 were customized in terms of what we used.</p>

<p>The first thing to do is figure out how to comply with your state's homeschooling law and finish out this year. My daughter started homeschooling in the middle of the year, but this was in middle school so there were no complications. Other local homeschoolers should be able to better advise you about how to finish out the year. It is entirely possible to have a transcript from the public school through the last marking period and then a homeschooling transcript for everything after that.</p>

<p>How you comply with state law varies greatly by state. I gave you a link in that other post that will tell you how. Go by this and what local homeschoolers tell you. Do not rely on what the school system tells you. People sometimes either don't know (but try to tell you anyway) or try to require more than they can under the law, at least around here.</p>

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<p>Well said Diane. I just didn't have the time. What I'd say is this: Don't take no for an answer. Find a way around it. Think outside the box. Shoot higher. Ignore naysayers. Don't look for support, even from your own family. Motivate yourself. Don't rely on others or try to follow someone else's formula.</p>

<p>If you do all those things, you'll succeed as a homeschooler. Dive in and learn the answers. You'll get different answers from everyone. Make your own path and then people will ask you how YOU did it.</p>

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<p>What you choose to do may depend upon your long-term goals. Does your daughter want to return to high school later and receive a diploma? If so, you will have to check with the school district to see if that is possible and follow their rules. </p>

<p>If you don't care about a PS diploma, then the possibilities are wide open, as others have suggested. You do not need an "official" diploma to get into college, as many of us know through personal experience. You can set your own curriculum, achieve it in any number of ways, and make your own transcript upon completion.</p>

<p>Just be aware that many states and/or school districts do not accept homeschool credits of any kind, even those done through correspondence courses, so once you head out on your own, there may be no returning. (You would need to check with the school district to see what their policy is on this.) Of course, not returning to PS may be quite a positive thing, in many cases. :)</p>

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<p>Sushi, you've gotten some great advice here, so I have just one thing to add. Since you've come to homeschooling as a last resort, I think you could easily find yourselves in a frame of mind where you are just making do because you "have" to homeschool. </p>

<p>I would encourage you to keep open minds to the idea that you've happened into something that might turn out better for your daughter than school ever might have. Many people choose homeschooling because its a wonderful option, or rather because it allows so many wonderful options. If you can view this as a positive choice, rather than a defeat, it could help tremendously. </p>

<p>When I see a school student beaten down with depression and social struggles, I think her needs are not being met in the school setting. Your daughter's needs are legitimate and now she has a chance to take things into her own hands and find out how to meet them. That's very exciting.</p>

<p>You mentioned unschooling. Generally that term is used to describe an approach, where a child is given complete freedom to choose when and what they learn. (I know, I might catch some flack for that definition, but that's how I understand it.) When done well, with plenty of parental involvement and support, I've seen it turn out splendidly. When done as an excuse for doing nothing, I've seen it fail miserably. Most homeschoolers, while sympathetic to the ideals of unschooling, opt for some form of structure, although in varying degrees.</p>

<p>No matter what approach your daughter takes, she is accepting responsiblity for her education. It's not such a big deal, because that should be true whether she's in school or not. </p>

<p>Take some time, and have a look at all your options. I would simply recommend that you take a kid in the candy store approach, rather than a soup kitchen approach. So what if a particular group has a waiting list? If you're in the candy store, you'll see it doesn't matter if that particular box of bonbons is sold out for now. Look for other groups if you feel you need a group, or mix and match your own selection. </p>

<p>Trust yourselves and have fun with it.</p>

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<p>We're in California, if anyone reading has information specific to our state. Anyone know if California offers credit by exams? I haven't been able to find info regarding this.</p>

<p>The plan at this point is to figure out a way to finish 9th grade at home and to be accepted as a 10th grader next year at a different high school in our district. My daughter doesn't think she wants to homeschool longterm and this seems to be a risky way of doing it; pulling out of "the system" and then wanting back in next year. So far the folks I've talked to at the school district haven't been helpful or knowledgable.</p>

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<p>I will research it a little bit and get back to you.</p>

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<p>I have looked and it looks like you don't have the option of CBE's like we do in my state. What I did find is that you have the option to ask for independent study. </p>

<p>Independent study is administered by:</p>

<p>Mary Jones, Consultant
916-323-5034
<a href="mailto:mjones@cde.ca.gov">mjones@cde.ca.gov</a></p>

<p>For general information about this option, go to California's Department of Education website. Their website address is <a href="http://www.cde.ca.gov/index.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cde.ca.gov/index.asp&lt;/a> Once there, click on "Specialized Programs" up at the top on the right, then click on "Educational Options" tab on the left side of the page. Scroll down to "Independent Study" and click on that. Then scroll down to "Chapter 7: Home-Based Independent Study" and click on that.</p>

<p>Homeschooling is not a bad option, you know. Your daughter probably just has bad feeling about it. From what I have learned, most public schoolers only see the bad kids drop out "to homeschool" - they don't see the real side of homeschooling and the benefits of that option. </p>

<p>But to remain in the public school system, it looks like this is the way to go. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Sushi - you replied but it's not showing up anywhere but on my email notice. I wanted to tell you that I used to teach high school 9th-12th graders. 9th grade is really hard on the girls for some reason. The girls can be really vicious and they like to gang up on one girl. We personally have a friend right now who's daughter just tried to commit suicide - not trying to scare you, but you should take it all very seriously. I would suggest counseling for your daughter as well during this time.</p>

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<p>Your daughter may be able to make friends among other homeschoolers. Get plugged into the network for assorted activities. Maybe it's because they don't see each other every day, but my completely nonscientific observation is that homeschooled teens generally just aren't as cliquish or nasty. I never really ran across homeschooled teens not getting along, making fun of others, ostracizing people, or the like.</p>

<p>I'm sure there are nasty homeschoolers out there; I just didn't run across any. Maybe these are the sort that don't want to show up for the sorts of activities my daughter was interested in.</p>

<p>I'm not saying all teens in public schools are like this, clearly not. It just seems like the hours all together seems to promote this sort of behavior. Once kids get to college, everybody has their own schedule and interests and everything seems more humane.</p>

<p>There are also outside activities where friends can be made. My daughter picked up a sport, fencing, and made lots of friends there. She also participated in a youth orchestra and made friends. People in both places might have been cliquish at school -- I don't know. But with a common endeavor and only seeing each other a limited amount of time and away from their usual compadres, it seemed like everybody was nice.</p>

<p>Not trying to bash anybody here; again there are nice folks everywhere. I just wanted to give sushi some ideas. My daughter was very unhappy when she first came home and we fully expected her to go to a private school the next year, the only place we could find that would try to remediate her weaknesses and still offer a challenging curriculum. Every other private school around here seems to only want the kids without problems; everyone has a big waiting list -- why not go for the least bother and the highest achieving student body? We were upset when she didn't get in (the school also had lots of applicants for each slot). But then, we found she liked homeschooling, she made friends, and not getting into that school was probably the best thing that could have happened.</p>