Homeschooling Through High School

While many people homeschool their children through elementary school, and some stalwart souls stick with it through the junior high years, there are few crusty enough, confident enough and/or crazy enough to homeschool through graduation.

Just call me crusty, confident, and crazy, I have graduated two from homeschool so far and currently have a junior and a freshman. Not only can it be done, and done well, but it can be the most exciting and wonderful time of your parenting career.

The big S for homeschoolers is socialization. This tends to be the first question that anyone asks.

My response is generally this. How many teenagers have you met in the United States that don't have access to other people? Cell phones, telephones, chat boards, church youth groups, homeschool groups; the list is nearly endless. Normal teens have ways of getting together with other teens, and homeschooled teens are no different. Often, the parents of home educated high schoolers feel that they rarely see their children because of everything they are involved in. Socialization is not a problem.

Homeschooling the high school student is relatively easy if he has been homeschooled for a long time. Homeschool kids tend to be self motivated learners, for the most part, and by the time they are in high school the parent is more of a mentor than teacher. The high school student should be allowed to follow his own area of interest in his studies. My oldest daughter was fascinated by Marine Biology and so for four years she volunteered at the Dallas Aquarium. She learned to feed sharks, and to test the water to make sure the ph was correct. She made many friends during that time, and learned not only about the fish and marine mammals, but about book keeping, record keeping and many other things as well.

My oldest son was fascinated with airplanes from the time he was small, and when he was 14 he joined Civil Air Patrol. He learned many things during his involvement, including how to fly a plane, soloing at age 15. he learned about meteorology, military history, emergency rescue, and numerous other things. He is now a Crew Chief in the Air Force and doing very well.

The point is that there are many ways to be educated that are far superior to textbooks. Hands on learning is learning that will be remembered for a long time.

The reluctant learner is generally a student that has become bored with learning, or has been pushed to hard. Sometimes these kids need to take a few months off to reestablish their natural curiosity. Sometimes they need to be gently led back into the learning arena.

Homeschooling is best done holistically, an approach that seeks to make education part of life, rather than separate from it. In order to do this you must learn to see learning as it happens. For example, measuring a room to figure how much paint to buy is geometry every bit as much as reading about measuring a room in a text book. Knowing how to change a recipe from 4 servings to 6 servings requires the use of an algebraic pattern. By recognizing these things and teaching from life, teens, and all ages, learn to apply the things they learn to everyday life.

In most states in the United States one credit equals 180 hours. In most high schools this represents 180 days of school. When you are homeschooling the easiest way to figure credits is to record hours worked in any subject area.

For example, if my high schooler watches an episode of Nova that deals with genetics then he gets 1 hour of biology. If he researches further perhaps he will read a book on genetics, do a project on it, or interview someone working in genetic research at the local university. He will log his time in fifteen minute increments, and it will go toward his biology credit.

If he does actually interview someone then he will also be able to log that time for English class, as well as any reports that he writes. My high school students have always logged many more credit hours than they actually needed.

By homeschooling your high schooler can focus on a specialized course of study if he knows what he wants to do.

Many homeschoolers have their children work with people in an apprenticeship situation. In this way the student can learn something he may be interested in but the parent can't teach him. Apprenticeship is a time honored way of learning a skill, and by learning hands on, the homeschool teen will have not only the knowledge but the experience as well.

Community colleges often allow homeschool students dual enrollments. This means that they can enroll in freshman English and receive an English credit for both high school and college, or a math credit, or whatever. This helps the student move faster through college once he gets there, and allows him to have much of his freshman requirements finished.

The requirements for graduation from homeschool vary from state to state. In my state of Texas a homeschool is considered a private school, and as such, can write a diploma once the credit hours have been accrued, and the requirements for a passing grade have been met. Most, if not all, colleges and universities will accept homeschool transcripts. All of the military services will now accept homeschool diplomas. The Marine Corps was not accepting homeschool diplomas but recently changed their policy to include them.

Many areas have homeschool support groups and the members sometimes get together and have a graduation ceremony for their senior students. If that is not possible, a party is a fun way to celebrate the end of the school years. Many men and women who have been homeschooled have gone on to lead extraordinary lives.