Tag Archives: Homeschooling

Homeschooling the College-Bound Student

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Making the decision to homeschool your child throughout high school with an eye towards college is a rewarding and challenging task. Here are some things to consider:

Choices for fulfilling college requirements

One of your first decisions will be to consider how you want to prepare your child for college. The choices generally consist of using a portfolio or using an umbrella/distance school. With the portfolio approach, you will be responsible for making sure all requirements for college entry are met and documenting all of your child’s work with relevant samples to present to a college admissions representative. There are several books and e-books available to help you self-prepare impressive high school transcripts and portfolios. The other popular approach is to use an umbrella school or distance-high school that is responsible for monitoring your child’s academic progress and providing a certified transcript. You should make sure that your distance program has a National Accreditation and will provide good personal recommendations for your child.

Fulfilling Requirements

Every state has requirements for entry into their state colleges or universities. If you think that your child will probably go to an in state school, then you need to know from the beginning of high school how to meet those requirements with your homeschooling education. If your child has some special skills or interests that are not recognized by your state colleges, then you will need to look at those schools and talk to an admissions representative early on to determine what that specific college requires for admission to the school. Most colleges will also require that your child take the SAT or its equivalent for college admission. However, there are some schools that do not require this form of testing. Prepare your child well in advance for the test, so you he achieve a good score. Visit collegeboard.com to receive information and helpful advice on all testing for college bound students. This site also helps student consider colleges that might be a good match for them and discusses topics like financial aid.


Going Beyond the Basics

A homeschooled high school student will want to have something that helps them stand out from a crowd of applicants. One of the things that you and your child might want to consider include achieving college credit while still in high school. This is generally done in the junior and senior years of high school through an Open Admissions program at a local junior college or university. You will also want to have your child take honors level high school courses that substantiate accelerated learning and will prepare him to take Advanced Placement (AP) tests. You child may be able to earn college credit based on the AP score. Homeschoolers can register for these tests at various testing sites along with public school students. AP prep books in various subject areas are available at your local bookstore.

Community Service

Every college-bound homeschooler should do community service work. This is not only for her own good as a citizen, but also because it will be a distinguishing factor on a college application. College applications will generally ask you to list any awards and honors that have been received. Homeschoolers can earn awards such as The Presidential Service Award or the more demanding Congressional Award by displaying consistent public service throughout high school. Your child might also want to consider some form of volunteer apprenticeship or internship where she can learn about a possible career path by mentoring with an expert in the field.

Developing Interests and a Sense of Focus

Homeschoolers are often more focused on their career goals because they have had more time at home to develop their interests. Make sure that your teen has the opportunity to focus and develop interests and skills. Not every child will have chosen their career path upon graduation from high school, but interests can certainly be developed and broadened by things like travel, service work abroad, and stimulating extra-curricular activities

Challenge and Communication

Challenge your homeschooler to do independent work, to think deeply about goals, and to keep communicating dreams and goals; even if those might not be the same ones you hold for the child. By continuing to truly claim their high school education, they will learn more deeply and be more willing to do the work necessary to secure entrance to a college that is in line with their goals. Perhaps they may even decide to continue on with distance learning throughout college.

It will take real commitment and follow through to help your child achieve entrance into a desired college. Make sure that your financial plans for a college are thought out carefully as well. Research scholarships for outstanding students and apply for them. There are many scholarships available that people are unaware of. Ask about them. Prepare your child to do excellent academic work, meaningful service work, and participate in extracurricular activities so that he or she will be both distinguished and well-focused on the goal of college and career. Help your child to make career exploration truly meaningful so that they will continue to pursue learning with eagerness and consistency throughout their college years and into adulthood.



Homeschooling vs Public School Can We All Get Along?

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Homeschooling vs Public School Can We All Get Along?

Homeschoolers and the public system can (and do in many communities) comfortably and successfully work side by side and in the best case scenarios, these two entities actually become benefactors of each others time and talents. As homeschoolers, having the respect of a local educational community is an essential factor in this co-existing equation and is readily achieved by following three very basic, yet vital, steps.

First homeschooling  parents make a point of meeting and talking with the local school  principal. Explain to him or her why the family has chosen homeschooling vs public school and discuss any long term educational goals which may eventually include entering your child into the public school arena.

This would also be a good time to inquire about other homeschoolers in the area, their relationship with the school system, their successes with re-entry, and their possible participation in public school activities such as band, chorus, art programs and physical education. The conversation will also give the principal an overall view of your genuine commitment to homeschooling and the education of your child. Secondly, make friends with the school librarian. He or she can be one of your child’s greatest allies in learning resources! A librarian who is happy to teach a homeschooling student how to use the school library is generally also willing to keep the family informed of new book titles that become available for a particular area of study as well as any upcoming book fairs, clubs, and so forth. This relationship could provide your child with regular access into the school building itself, thus allowing him or her not to seem isolated from the school, but instead befriended by it.

Thirdly, participate in an active, visible homeschooling group. If there isn’t one, consider forming one. The obvious reason for homeschoolers to get together with other families who are homeschooling is to provide support and camaraderie for both the children and the parents, but a secondary and no less valuable reason is the public image the group will no doubt choose to put forth. Providing the public with the opportunity to see a group of conscientious mothers, raising respectful children who are active in community events, charitable causes and educational endeavors, speaks volumes. Homeschooling vs public school – It’s your choice.

As the number of homeschoolers throughout the United States continues to grow, the public school system is being forced to consider the opinions and needs of homeschooling families but how much nicer it is to meet out of respect rather than force, to find a common ground rather than a source of contention and to build a sense of unity in education through mutual understanding. Tested and retested, the steps presented offer tried and true techniques that will assist homeschoolers and the public school system in achieving a successful working relationship in which all those involved benefit. And that’s education at it’s finest! Homeschooling vs Public School- It’s a Choice.

For more information and resources on homeschooling vs public school visit http://www.homeschoolingvspublicschool.info

 

Who Said Homeschool Is For Kids Only? It's For Highschools Too!

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They say homeschooling is only for the younger kids in the elementary or lower levels but highschool homeschooling is also a very popular educational choice. Only this time, the decisions are most probably through the convincing power of the students themselves.

Most that do homeschooling are those teenagers who cannot take the pressures at school, especially those of peer pressure and bullying. Others cannot catch up with the lessons and curriculum programs of regular schools or would like to start early in life through training, internship and community volunteering jobs that would help them be knowledgeable and prepared for the struggle outside the four walls of their school.

This is why choosing the suitable curriculum for teenagers or highschool is very important. There are a lot of materials or support they can get especially on the Internet. They can talk to other homeschoolers in established groups through message boards, forums and chats to build a network. Homeschooling sites are also all over the net; they can browse through these sites, find an established support group in their area, get some catalogs and enroll in a curriculum or they can create their own study program.

This is good for those students who have very supportive and open-minded parents. But in case there are none and the student is left to carry out his curriculum by himself, homeschooling helps students to stand up and depend on themselves because one thing that is developed within is good independent study skills and more as they engage in continuous studying on their own.

In choosing the homeschool curricula, it is best if teenagers are present and take an active part in deciding which curricula to choose that would best apply to their learning styles and abilities. Better for teenagers is to create their own course of study. In this way, students will have good choices of activities which develop every aspect of their personality instead of just choosing a fixed program. Anyway, there are different approaches to choose from and combine that would help in the holistic development of the student.

For highschool, homeschooling can help them start in life, make a step forward through practical trainings and internship programs depending on the specialization they like to pursue. Computer based jobs like developing software, designing a web, database administration, graphics and multimedia designs, repairs and troubleshooting are very popular among the choices of training and specialization. These are the jobs that most students who hate school like the most.

So, why force them in fixed school curricula when they can actually be successful in what they want and might do best in the future.

Why A GED Is Not Such A Great Option

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Many individuals may feel that high school is not for them and they would prefer to get a GED and enter the workforce early. After all, a GED stands for General Equivalency Diploma, meaning it is equal to the high school diploma and it takes less work. The GED may seem like the easy way out for many, but the fact is a GED is not such a great option.

The unfortunate thing about the GED is that it does not allow you to get a full education. Yes, you have to pass a test to get it, but the individual misses out on too much information that would be taught in a high school class that is not on the test. Of course, the student may think that most of it is useless information, but the fact is it makes you a person with a more rounded education.

The GED also does not teach you self-discipline. It is, as stated, the easy way out, but in the end will make things much more difficult. When you have to attend classes on a daily basis and pass in homework on time, it teaches you self-discipline. Not passing in homework and being late or absent to classes does not hurt anyone but the student and their grade. A person that is getting their GED misses out in this important life lesson.

Another reason a GED is not such a great option is if the individual is going to apply for college, they may have a difficult time. Colleges will want to see the student’s high school transcripts and when they see they dropped out and received their GED, they may look a little harder at their potential student. Will the student be able to get through the classes without dropping out? Will the students fully apply themselves? The colleges will look at this GED student closer than others.

While the GED will allow you to get a job and even go to college, it does not provide you with the full education you deserve. A high school diploma requires you to complete a set of courses designed to give you an education in several subject areas, as well as allowing you to enhance them with enrichment classes and extra-curricula activities. By getting your GED, you’re missing out on a lot of great information and experiences.