Many people ask me about homeschooling all the way through high school, how do you do it? Where do you start? How can I be sure my child gets into college? What do I save? Do I need a diploma? What about a GED?
I am by no means an expert, but I will share with you what I have done and what I have learned. My name is Dawn and I am one of the Board Members at LEAP. This information is my personal suggestions to you. Enjoy.
First, as I state in my 12 years of homeschooling testimony, if you can teach your child to talk, walk, tie their shoes, make their beds, you can teach them to read, write and disect frogs.
A friend of mine, who homeschooled her 5 kids for 8 years, shared with me a fact that really took the burden off of so much that we do. Having or not having a diploma for high school is not important once your child has even one semester of college. Wow, Think about it. Say your child is filling out paper work for a loan or a part time job. They are asked about their school experience, well they answer homeschool and you have no accredited diploma, you could be challenged some day, right? But, once they have even one semester of any accredited college, you are not circling the little 12, but rather the 1, 2, 3 and so on for college. What you did or didn’t do for high school doesn’t matter any more. Once you have college, no one cares where you went to high school. That really was a big relief; and as I speak my oldest is in her second semester of college, whew!
Now, you can spend all that money on one of those fancy diploma earning schools. If you have the money, it will definitely help if you are say in New York State and want your child to go to a school in New York State. If not, you may be spending a lot of money for a fancy diploma when my “mommy” diploma looks just as special. There was another exception that if your child finished high school and wanted to go directly into the military they may need a GED, but according to this HSLDA Newsletter, that isn’t even true. There are other choices too that I will discuss later.
So, what did I do. Well, I prayed and looked into a few of the programs such as NARHS, Crossroad Christian, Abeka, CLASS and so on. All very nice programs but a little too pricey for our budget. I chose to follow many of the principles in the NARHS handbook in case we did wanted to use them if funds became available. Their system of helping you decide whether a course is 1 credit or 1/2 and how to document it was very helpful. This documentation can be in the form of saving every thing, to just saving the tests. The save just the tests method works well for a textbook style Math or History course; just keep a folder of all the tests from the course (throw out all the busy work of the daily lessons, just keep the tests). A science class with labs may need a larger folder with all the write ups of the labs, photos or your child doing the labs and maybe even a CD with video footage of your child doing the labs. An English course may be done in true textbook style or can be as simple as 12 novels read and 12 decent size essays written about each novel that clearly proves your child read and understood the novels. There are ideas for documenting job internships and homemade curriculum and more. NARHS recommends those large according folders with 13 folders. One slot for each class, plus room for small art work, certificates from extracurricular things and so on. I could go on and on about how many ways there are to teach a subject and document what you have done, but please visit the NARHS downloads and download their catalog or you can have one mailed to you. I have one and have tons of areas highlighted. Great resource even if you don’t pursue their diploma.
Besides just the “mommy” diploma, GED, or an accredited online school what else is there? Well, many colleges will accept students who have about 20 college credits earned during high school (this differs per state and college, so do your homework) Hold on, they are in High School, how do you get college credit without going to college? There is dual enrollment, or there are clep tests, College-Level Examinination Program. Basically, you “test out” of a class without having to take it. The benefit is similar to taking an AP class that a student might take in a public high school, only you are probably not certified to administer one. With a CLEP test, you can purchase a study guide from any book store like Amazon or CBD, you sign up for the test at a local testing center – probably your local community college. The test is $60 plus a fee of around $15 to the college itself. Voila, if you pass you have the equivalent of a 3 college credits or more. For instance, my daughter was very good in math, she was 2 years ahead in her math books. She finished the advanced trig/geometry/algebra book in 10th grade, so for 11th grade she studied the study guide and took the CLEP test at our local community college and now is exempt from having to take the class and has 3 credits transferred in (there was a fee to do this) But, she doesn’t have the hassle of taking the class, sitting in the class, paying for the book and risking not doing well. She has already received her credit. She also did this with the English Composition with Essay Exam. This test earned her 6 college credits for the same $60 test. She doesn’t have to take two stressful College Research classes that most of her peers have to take. So, my daughter started college with 9 credits after taking just 2 tests. A few more tests and/or a summer class or on-line class at a local college and we could have had 20 if we needed it. Please check with your prospective college ahead of time, not all colleges accept CLEP, but you can look into dual enrollment at a local community college also.
There is also PENN Foster. With this program, you complete a series of workbook style classes, return them for grading and can earn a high school diploma. You have seen this and ones like it on T.V. You know “get your degree at home in interior design or paralegal or earn your High School Diploma.” One LEAP mom used it for two of her children and found it very affordable and easy to use.
Now because my daughter went to a Christian College, they were very favorable toward homeschoolers. They accepted my transcript with no questions. They said that so long as her SAT scores were in line with her grades, they had no reason to question them. She even received a partial scholarship based on her decent SAT scores alone. While her friend who went to a local public school and attends the same college had to be judged on her GPA and her SAT scores and received a lower scholarship amount. Yahoo for homeschooling. I did have to create a transcript to submit and I used the samples on DonnaYoungs.org She has sample transcripts, how to figure a GPA (just for fun or if you do need it), beautiful diplomas you can print and so much more.
CollegeBoard.com is a very helpful site. You and your children from 9th grade on should sign up and use it often. They have info that makes the next 4 years tolerable. They send you email reminders of when things need to be done, you can sign up for the question of the day to practice for tests and more. Tests, when do I take them? SAT or ACT what is the difference. This site explains that too. Some families do a practice of the practice and have their child take the PSAT in 10th grade and then again in 11th. 11th only is fine or in 1oth too, it doesn’t matter, it is up to you. Then you take the SAT in 11th in the spring and again in fall of 12th. Just in time to fill out all those college applications. Just follow the CollegeBoard suggested calendar.
College applications? How many? When? To where? Well, that is between you and your child too. During my daughters junior year she was sure of one college, then switched to another and we ended up only applying to that one. She got in. Pray about it, you will know. There is also a fee some $50 or higher to apply, so you will think long and hard before applying to twenty colleges.
So what do I teach for the next 4 years? Well, there are lots of site like CollegeBoard, DonnaYoung and even HSLDA that have lists of recommended courses, but ultimately it is between you, your child, your state, your prospective college and Jesus. For the most part you need 4 years of English & Gym, 3-4 years of Math, Science, Social Studies, 2+ years of the same language, 1 year fine arts and a partridge in a pear tree– no, and a whole lot of electives that set your child apart from the rest.
Know what requirement there are for certain scholarships too. Wow, that is a whole ‘nother ball game. We found out the hard way. My daughter had 2 colleges in mind and both only wanted 2 years of math and science. Well, my daughter had plenty of math but only physical science and biology at the time, so we didn’t pursue chemistry. She was going to use the time to work on her music, song writing and guitar playing. Well, when it came time for filling out paperwork for scholarships and grants, we lost out on $750 because she had all the requirements except another science with labs. Guess what, my second daughter, who is a senior, took chemistry!
Well, I can’t think of anything else right now. Have a question or suggestion, email me at leaphomeschool@gmail.com
