Homeschooling Highschool
Ah! So you've decided to do it! You're going to continue through, protecting the investment you've already made in your child. You'll guard their hearts from the wayward ideals and peer-centered, hedonistic values prevalent in youth culture. You'll shelter them from broken hearts, broken dreams, from the wide road that leads to compromised standards, and from the ruin and devastation of what should have been.
The most beautiful part of homeschooling through high school is watching your child bypass the immaturity and juvenile childishness that dominates today's youth (but was unheard of 200 years ago when our founding fathers graduated from law school at the age of 17) and seeing them blossom into wise and winsome adults in their teen years. As a side note, we can't judge the kids of today for their undeveloped and infantile ways. If I spent as much time in an artificial, unrealistic environment with my peers, being given little to no responsibility, I'm certain that I would lose my focus and sense of judgement as well. Imagine spending four years on the beach alone with your friends. You might become slightly irresponsible too.
But, I Don't Know Algebra!
Thankfully, by the time our children enter high school, they can read. Since they can read, they can teach themselves most everything they need to know. Homeschool curricula are not like "school" curricula. They do not depend on a teacher to teach the subject matter. The books are the professor, teaching your child. Everything they need to know and understand on a subject is written in the lesson. A traditionally schooled teen has only half the information in their textbook. If they don't understand, no one can help them but "the expert" teacher or a tutor. Not so with homeschool curriculum. You don't need to know the subject matter because your child will learn by reading. This is superior to being dependent on a teacher or lecturer. Homeschool courses benefit a teen, teaching them to be independent learners, just as they will need to be in college.
Frankly, I think it would be helpful for a student in public school to purchase a homeschool course to help them when they can't understand the teacher's explanation (or they were day dreaming when she was explaining it to them).
However, there are many curriculum providers that also offer video based lecturers for their courses, especially in the arena of math. I will list optional courses below, indicating which are video-based.
What Do I Teach?
I think every child, whether you plan for them to attend college or not, should seek to develop a college-bound transcript. You, the parent, will issue your child's transcript, creating it to reflect the courses, grades and credits your child will receive. If you've never given grades before, it's time now. Click here to see a good example of a high school transcript.
Each year-long course is given one credit. Half year courses are given 0.5 credits.
You will need four years of English that includes Composition and Literature. You can mix and match different courses to create one English credit. You may want to include a brush up course on Grammar before your child takes the SAT. You will need three years of Science with at least two labs. Apologia courses are college preparatory and the labs are easy to do at home. You will need two years of History and one year of Government. Some universities only require three years of Math, others require a Math course above Algebra 2 and Geometry. Electives are up to you. I recommend a few Public Speaking courses to help your child have successful college interviews. Physical Education classes are generally counted as half a credit, even if you think they're worth more. A Computer course is recommended along with a Fine Arts course. The number of credits your child needs to graduate is up to you. The colleges are looking to see that the core requirements are fulfilled before they even notice the electives. If your child has an abundance of electives, that's fine as long as they've completed the core requirements. You can list extra-curricular information on a separate sheet of paper, or on the backside of your transcript if you use card stock.
You can calculate your child's cumulative GPA using this site's calculator. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
Portfolios
Many universities now require a portfolio. This is simply a large three ring binder with information about all your child has done, both in and outside of the typical academic load. This will include course descriptions, sample tests, awards, special classes, reading lists, special internships, extra curricular, volunteer activities and certificates. Start compiling this early, either by keeping it all in a box, or by adding it to your three ring binder. I recommend using page protectors into which you slip all the data. If you've been notebooking, the portfolio will be an easy thing for you.
Recommended Curriculum Publishers
English Composition:
Put That in Writing
Writeshop
Writeathome.net
Institute for Excellence in Writing College Composition
Writeguide.com
Potter's School
ScholarsOnline.com
English Literature:
Lightening Literature
Sonlight World, American or English Literature
Scholarsonline.com
Potter's School
James Stobaugh
Math:
Video Text Algebra (Video-based teacher)
Math U See (Video-based teacher)
Teaching Textbooks (CD ROM-based teacher)
APLUS www.aplusses.com (Textbook-based)
Chalkdust (Video-based teacher)
Bob Jones (Textbook-based)
Saxon (Textbook-based)
Science:
Apologia
History:
Tapestry of Grace
Sonlight
Veritas Press
Notgrass Company
Trisms
Dual Enrollment
At first blush, Dual Enrollment (taking a college course to earn both high school and college credit while still a high school student) may seem like a great way to jump start your child's education and increase their odds of entering a good university. However, there are a couple of things you should know and consider.
First, Dual Enrollment can actually harm your child's college success in certain fields of study, like Science. This is because the professors are looking at the top freshman students in their classes and making plans for them to be involved in projects and research. If your child CLEP'ed or Dual Enrolled those freshman courses, they miss out on the opportunity to be the top student in those courses, winning the hearts of the professors in that school of study and nullifying their chances of being picked for special privileges. If your 19 year old placed out of freshman Biology, Chemistry or the like, and entered sophomore or junior level classes as a young inexperienced student, they will be "keeping up," not shining. However, there are some fields of study where this is not a problem.
A second problem with Dual Enrollment is that your high school student is no longer homeschooling. They have left home to get an education, sitting in a class with other students and professors that you don't know. This scenario may influence your young impressionable high schooler in ways that you are not aware, and can't even discuss because you aren't seeing the subtle innuendos that are popping up.
CLEP
A better option for a child looking to get college credit in high school is CLEP. It's faster and less expensive than Dual Enrollment (even if Dual Enrollment is free, you have to pay for gas). Again, if your child is going to go to college and major in Science, Engineering, Communication, Business or some other field of study where being noticed and being a star student will benefit them greatly, enabling them to be the "chosen" one for certain jobs or careers, it's important that they do not CLEP the courses in their area of expertise, the area in which they will major if they plan to attend a university in person. If they plan to get their degree online while they pursue their interests (ballet, riding, running a business), or they plan to go to graduate school and get their baccalaureate degree out of the way, CLEP is the best way to earn hundreds of credits without having to step foot on a college campus.
Use the Rea's study guides as your spine to study for each CLEP. You can even build your high school courses around the Rea's guides. However, the best way to handle most of your CLEP exams is by studying for the test after you have finished the high school course. For example, after you finish Apologia Biology, study for and take the Biology CLEP. Make certain that the CLEP courses you take are accepted by the university your child plans to attend.
Once your child has CLEP'ed enough courses to be a college junior, they will no longer need to submit a transcript (or SAT in some cases) to the college in which they want to attend. They enter as a college transfer student.
There are some accredited universities that accept a huge number of credit by exams so that your child never has to step foot on campus and can CLEP their entire baccalaureate degree.
