<p>For colleges that require a LOR from a school counselor, if you're homeschooled, who writes it? I (the mom) would rather someone else write it. My son is a junior so I'm looking ahead right now. I'm thinking for his LORs, he has a math prof, a physics prof, an honors English prof, and for the counselor, I was thinking of asking friends, either the mother or the father,(mom's a teacher, dad's an engineer) that he spends huge amounts of time with and can speak of his strengths and his character. Is this a good choice?</p>
<p>If you are his home education supervisor, you write the letter because you ARE his guidance counselor. Letters of recommendation from professors, teachers or coaches or supervisors or others are another component of the college application.</p>
<p>I do realize that but I was just wondering if having someone else write it-someone that knows him well and acts as his mentor-would carry more weight.</p>
<p>And if I am the one to write it, what exactly do I say? Do I speak to the rigors of the curriculum, his work ethic, his accomplishments, his character? Are there examples of counselor letters somewhere?</p>
<p>
I doubt it, because they know and expect you to be doing it. You might ask the colleges if you can have an additional letter - in my experience, they’re happy to have more for homeschoolers.
Yep!
Mine was "Here’s why we homeschooled: blah blah blah…</p>
<p>This is the story behind his grades. He has personal qualities A, B, and C, and these combine to form this kid. An example of A is… An example of B is … An example of C is… A project that tied them all together was… I’m sure he would be successful in and an asset to any school.". </p>
<p>I kept it to one page (my own requirement), but I believe someone on this forum said he wrote a 7-page letter. Both were successful. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>This is truly one of the benefits of homeschooling and college applications. No one knows your child/teen the way you do - both strengths and weaknesses. Keep it balanced. In some ways you are the best and worst judge of your teen’s abilities and use examples to illustrate competency or qualities or characteristics.</p>
<p>I’ve had two go through the college application process and my letters for each one were very, very different. I also kept my letter to one page for my first, but for my second it turned out to be two full pages. (I can’t say yet whether this was detrimental or not since my son is still waiting for decisions, but he has already been accepted at two colleges.) What I have heard from admission officers repeatedly stresses a desire to understand the homeschooling program, so I erred on the side of being a bit longer than might be ordinary. Just be careful not to repeat information an admissions officer might glean from other parts of the student’s application.</p>
<p>If you “google” around the internet there are sample guidance counselor letters of evaluation. They may help you set the “tone” of your letter or you can discard that format. It’s up to you.</p>
<p>
I disagree. I didn’t lie about his doing more wonderful things than he really had, but I didn’t say that he gets rude at times and has to be nagged to do his chores and homework (he’s a pretty good kid - that’s as bad as it gets in his case). If there are actual problems with the law or such, you have to report them or it’s fraud, but you don’t need to be “balanced”. I would imagine most “real” guidance counselors aren’t balanced for their favorite kids either.</p>
<p>I did use the opportunity to explain his lack of many ECs.</p>
<p>This is very helpful! I’ve kept good records: transcripts, booklist, course description (this is long, about 17 pages), and I’ve begun to compose a homeschool philosophy. It sounds like this might morph into a counselor letter or are they two separate things?? I will begin working on the counselor letter since I’d rather start now and work slowly rather than try to do everything in the fall.</p>
<p>Did you all submit more than 3 LORs? I can think of many other people who’ve worked with my son for a number of years that know him well and can testify to his strengths; or, do we just use academic LORs? I’m thinking about the professor that he co-teaches violin with or his conductor. I’m thinking of the worship leaders at our church that have worked with him for several years. These last folks can attest to my son’s strong leadership skills more than his teachers can. </p>
<p>As far as a balance of strengths and weaknesses, well, they probably don’t want to hear that my son doesn’t pick up his towel! LOL I think he’s working through many of his weaknesses right now (trying not to overextend himself, learning to say no to some of the plethera of opportunities he has, being gracious to siblings, learning to be more organized) and I think he’s having success in some of these areas, so I think I’ll focus mostly on strengths.</p>
<p>Are admissions officers also interested in why one began homeschooling in addition to the homeschooling program? We had every intention of using our “excellent” rated, blue ribbon schools until we discovered that the main objective of our public school was to meet the No Child Left Behind requirements. </p>
<p>I have written a homeschool profile that includes our educational philosophy. I mention that our children spent 10 days in our public schools, but I don’t elaborate on why we left. Should I elaborate on our public school experience? On one hand, our experience is relevant to why we began homeschooling, but I don’t want it to come across as “bashing” our public schools either.</p>
<p>snowbeltmom - I would leave out the specifics, and instead talk about the positives of homeschooling for you. </p>
<p>In our case, we started homeschooling because my eldest had aspergers. I did mention that in both kids’ letters, but then dwelt on the positives for our family.</p>
<p>
Yes. The Common App has a form for the “Homeschool Supervisor” to fill out: <a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/HomeSchool_Supplement.pdf[/url][quote]Did”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/HomeSchool_Supplement.pdf
We did two or three academic (depending on the school) and one “client” (who also happened to be a teacher).
That will be true for most kids, homeschooled or not. Don’t flood the schools with more than they want, but many will take more info about homeschoolers just to understand them better. Look on the school’s web site; they will often have a section for homeschoolers. You can also call the admissions office to find out.</p>
<p>Differences of opinion are a great opportunity for discussion and learning.</p>
<p>Just thought I’d clarify what I meant by keeping an evaluation balanced. Of course an admissions counselor is not concerned nor wants to read about the teen who does or doesn’t pick up clothes. I also was not eluding to some sort of criminal mischief.</p>
<p>A letter of evaluation (which is what this referred to rather than a recommendation) should evaluate – meaning highlight a students strengths but if there are areas which could use improvement, those should be evaluated, as well. I meant nothing more than this.</p>
<p>My son happens to have an exceptional academic record and I have often observed that he seems, quite frankly, to succeed at everything he does. If I were to make such a blanket statement, this might diminish the value of my letter of evaluation. The reality is no one is perfect. In my son’s case, while he is a competent writer, he could work on developing a more sophisticated voice in his writing. So, to balance my evaluation I included appropriate items along these lines.</p>
<p>Homeschooling, that makes sense! Yes, I’m sure schools want to see that they are continuing to develop skills and strengths, not that they’ve already arrived and are perfect at everything.</p>
<p>Are the counselor letter and the homeschool philosophy two different documents?</p>
<p>I will look at each college my son’s interested in and see what the school requires as far as LORs and I would imagine if they have an optional LOR, we should definitely include it.</p>
<p>I wrote the guidance counselor letter for my first child and I intend to write the guidance counselor letter this fall as well. In fact, I combined the homeschooling philosophy and the guidance counselor letter into one. It’s good that you are starting this process now while your son is a junior. Fall will be here all too soon so that is one less thing to be worrying about at that time.</p>
<p>hsmom,</p>
<p>I just wrote the preliminary counselor letter and I did the same thing as you did. It just seemed to be the right fit to combine our philosophy with my son’s educational path. It ended up being 3 pages long; I think I couldn’t tell the story in any fewer pages. I’m glad to know I’m on the right track. With EA at some of the schools my son is looking at, I definitely want to be prepared to get the ball rolling during the late summer. It all comes so quickly, doesn’t it?</p>
<p>sbjdorlo,</p>
<p>It does go quickly. Don’t worry. You will probably revise the counselor LOR a couple of times. :-)</p>
<p>LOL! I already have. ;-)</p>