Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Questions about homeschooling for high school

I am considering some version of homeschooling for Dd in high school. She's in 7th grade right now in a private gifted K-8 school. My choices for pubic high schools are both suboptimal by a long shot and private school for high school is running about $40,000/year in this area. That is completely out of my ballpark.
I would love to hear from others who are hoomeschooling for high school. Is it difficult to meet college requirements and how do you document meeting them? What online learning do you use? How much time do you spend transporting your child to various classes/events (I'm a working mother)? How has the experience been for you and your child?

I'm interested in hearing both the good and the bad. Dd is a DYS and is mainly interested in science and math. She also plays soccer at a very competitive level and that would continue through high school at the club and state level.

Thanks in advance for any information!

I anticipate that you will hear a wide range of experiences. Here's ours:

We are relatively early in our experience with homeschooling through high school, but currently use minimal online programming (other than Rosetta Stone). Our plan for next year is to introduce some MIT OCW online classes. OCW Scholar classes are complete with lectures, recorded recitations, textbooks, problem sets, exams, and solutions, and designed for independent use as an independent study course. Online or blended courses offered by local community colleges may also be options for us.

Based on counsel we have received from other families:
How difficult it is to meet college requirements will depend largely on

1. where you live (state high school grad and college entry requirements--not always the same, btw)
2. where she wants to go to college.

Standardized test scores tend to be more important for homeschooled applicants (SATs, ACTs, subject tests, AP exams, etc.).

Also, homeschooled students have great opportunities to play up deeper involvement in extracurriculars, especially at a leadership or elite level. And generally, the independence and student initiative involved in homeschooling are viewed favorably by college admissions.

For documentation, so far we have used an umbrella school, and its online gradebook. We may or may not continue that in the future, as others we know who are ahead of us in this progress have reported few difficulties with colleges accepting homeschool transcripts. Again, that depends significantly on the target schools.

We try to minimize the ferrying around, as there is plenty of running involved with just extracurriculars and multiple children. So far, we have participated in one homeschool co-op, used mainly for lab courses and general social and enrichment activities. We may add another class next year, because of changes in the lab offerings in our existing co-op.

There are kids who have been admitted to MIT who were homeschooled through a combination of MOOCs, MIT OCW online classes, and presumably some standardization testing (SATs). Often, these kids are not from wealthy families (or could afford $30-40K for private school) and are homeschooling on a shoestring budget. I'm not sure how much standardized testing they do either. The good news is that it's entirely possible to gain entry into a prestigious school through homeschooling and not spending a fortune or going totally insane doing so.

Some MOOC classes you could pay for a certificate - $50+ to document for a transcript. Also, some MOOCs have tests and offer certificates for free or have test scores recorded for future documentation.

Lee Binz has a website and book on how to document things for college admission. Also, Cafi Cohen has a book, though it's a bit dated now. The key is to have a record keeping system and document everything. Some photocopy the table of contents in a textbook, for instance, for documentation and keep copies of some written work.

It's a good idea to check out websites on the colleges you're thinking about as places like MIT have web pages dedicated to homeschool applicants. You also could always ask someone on the finer details if necessary.

Thanks aeh and cdfox for some great information. I'll check out the Binz website. We're in CA so I'll have to check out the local regs. I know there's a Bay Area Gifted Homeschooling group that I also need to connect with.
Thanks!

I just did this research recently. The bad news is that homeschooling through high school is not as easy as it once was. If you are looking to keep open the possibility of competitive college admission, you must find a way to have externally validated grades in every major subject area. This could be from Stanford Online High or from community college. If you are going for really top tier schools, cc won't be enough. So it does depend on what the end goal is, or the way I think about it, what options we want to leave open for now. I did a consult with Homeschool Success to find out what might be involved in homeschooling through high school. The information was really helpful.

Info on admissions to UC colleges for homeschooled students:

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/homeschool/index.html

Admission by examination (SATs, ACT) may be the simplest route:

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/examination/index.html

But this only works if an applicant hasn't taken a college-level course in the examination subject.

MomC, if you're in the Bay area, has your daughter considered Middle College (MC)? MC is a free dual-enrollment program. My son attends our local program, and he loves it. He'll probably end up with an Associate's degree when he graduates from high school (note: the nature of these programs is such that the kids still apply to college as incoming freshmen; class status is adjusted after enrollment). PM me if you want more information (anyone can PM me).

As for homeschooling, my son homeschooled in 9th grade. He lost a lot of credits when he went back to school because the courses weren't given by accredited organizations. Be very careful about checking to see that any course your daughter takes will gain credit.