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.
