Presidential Scholars 2009

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
1

<p>Another parent started a thread in the parents' forum about the posting of this year's Presidential Scholar candidates. What a surprise to find my homeschooled child's name on the list!</p>

<p>This is not a scholarship, but an honor, for which the winners (one male and one female from each state or district such as D.C. and Guam) are awarded a trip to Washington in June. There are also some special awards for students in the arts, but those required an application in the fall.</p>

<p>The first cut is made based on SAT or ACT scores, and students who aced one of these tests (and also indicated on their registration that they wanted to be considered for scholarship opportunities) may find that they will be receiving an invitation to apply for the Presidential Scholars honor. We're going to start watching the mail.</p>

<p>My son is listed with "Unknown High School," and there are dozens of students identified in the same way. Some of these are probably not homeschoolers, but it would not be surprising if some of them are, and they may have no idea (yet) they are eligible to apply for this award.</p>

<p>I've heard that the application process is something of a pain, but it might be worth checking out the list of candidates if your child scored extremely well on SAT or ACT. Other eligibility requirements are U.S. citizenship and 2009 graduation from high school. Here's the list of candidates:
<a href="http://www.ed.gov/programs/psp/2009/candidates.doc%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ed.gov/programs/psp/2009/candidates.doc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Main page for Presidential Scholars:
Presidential</a> Scholars Program</p>

2

<p>Wow, a wonderful accomplishment!
I know as a homeschool parent I felt that the life was a reward in itself. I also felt a terrific sense of relief and pride when the "outside world" saw the value as well. It is one thing to challenge the status quo. It is another to have your children man the ramparts and endure the consequences. They love and trust me. Did I risk their future on what seemed to make perfect sense to me? My first home schooled kid's college acceptance was an unbelievable relief to me. Not a big deal to my son. I don't think he had a sense of how different his education was.
Congratulations to you all.</p>

3

<p>Congratulations on your son's success, Quill Pen. I was a little skeptical about home schooled kids in high school, and there is some research to back up the concern. However, I have heard of and met some really exceptional kids who were home schooled their entire educational career. I think that for very bright kids, in particular, this might be the way to go if your family can manage it. </p>

<p>The summer program my daughter attended (RSI) in 2008 had a couple of what she calls "incredible" kids who were homeschooled. </p>

<p>Maybe you'll have a moment to share with the rest of us how you made this work, particularly in HS for subjects in which you / your husband have no background. (Say your son wanted to study Russian?)</p>

4

<p>R&R, I'm not Quill Pen but I can answer your last paragraph. Today there are so many opportunities for homeschooled students to take courses through online classes, dual credit with community or 4-year colleges, coops, tutors, self-study, etc. My daughter currently takes pre-calculus through a fabulous online school and will most likely take calculus next year at SMU, which has a separate application for nontraditional students.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the congratulations, but at this point, the congrats are a little premature, since all son has done is score well enough on the SAT to rank as one of the top 20 male testers in our state. That's nothing to sneeze at, certainly, but the test just gets him through the entry door. Soon the application process will begin.</p>

<p>RhineandRoses, you asked about "how you made this work, particularly in HS for subjects in which you / your husband have no background. (Say your son wanted to study Russian?)"</p>

<p>If he had wanted to study a language such as Russian, we would have looked to the community. Our local university does not offer Russian, but he probably could have found a private tutor among the graduate students or foreign students. We would have looked for online opportunities, such as distance learning classes, podcasts, etc. Our daughter finished up French through a distance learning class; the University sent her audio tapes that she used for listening and speaking. We also watch French TV on satellite. I just did a search, and you can now get Russian radio and TV over the internet. There are lots of options.</p>

<p>Russian seems like an odd example, since very few public or private schools offer Russian. It is becoming increasingly common for institutional schools to offer their students distance courses, often online, for subjects not taught at the school. Some rural schools offer AP classes this way, for example, so the schooled students are now taking some of the same courses that homeschoolers routinely take. </p>

<p>I was curious about the reference to research backing up concerns about homeschooled high school students, since to my knowledge no such research exists. A professor at Indiana University has made a study of available research, and he concludes that "The bottom line is, we can't draw any conclusions about the academic performance of the 'average homeschoooler,' because none of the studies drew from a random sample representing homeschoolers nationwide." This comment refers to homeschoolers of all ages, not just teens. Homeschoolers often cite a study that found homeschoolers out-performing their schooled peers, but the Indiana U. prof downplays this study because it was not comprehensive enough in scope by his standards. Here's his web site FAQ page:
Homeschooling</a> FAQ</p>

<p>All I know is that our children thrived by homeschooling through high school. Son was accepted Early Action at a wonderful school. His sister graduated from college last spring.</p>

6

<p>I'm a home schooled student and I made the list! So happy :)</p>

7

<p>More kudos! Good for you!
RhineandRoses...
As homeschoolers we had the advantage of living in a major city with a very deep public library. Our biggest expense over the years has literally been overdue fines. My kids haven't taken any courses , at least until college.
There is a very wide range of what homeschoolers do. Some do a curriculum at home, sometimes over the internet. Some take college courses to supplement other learning.
It's taken me a while to appreciate just how radical we have been. No courses, no assignments, no grades. Yet it has all flown fine with college admissions.
Thank you for your open mindedness.</p>

8

<p>I made the list! I was homeschooled up until my sophomore year of high school, when I transfered to public school. Both experiences were amazing in different ways. I am definitely putting my mom as the teacher I would want honored though:)</p>

9

<p>What kind of scores do you need for this?</p>

10

<p>Depending on what state you live in, perfect or near perfect SAT or ACTs.</p>

11

<p>anyone know exactly when the final results will be out?</p>

12

<p>they’re already out.</p>

13

<p>One homeschooler from Wisconsin made it. I don’t see any others but could have missed someone.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ed.gov/programs/psp/2009/scholars.doc[/url]”>http://www.ed.gov/programs/psp/2009/scholars.doc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;