Another in our Authoritative Guide Series: Transitioning to Homeschool High School. The Authoritative Guide series shares in-depth guidance on how to homeschool high school.
Authoritative Guide to Transitioning to Homeschool High School
It is becoming more popular to start homeschooling for high school. Families who have had their children in traditional school settings are switching to homeschool high school for several reasons:
- Opportunities to develop a talent or interest
- Locally, we have worked with teens who transitioned to homeschooling at high school level so that they could spend more time out of a classroom and into developing those interests. For instance, some of our teens have been dedicated goals for college-level:
- Swim
- Dance
- Educational interest (such as an interest in robotics that would not be able to be explored fully in a traditional setting)
- Locally, we have worked with teens who transitioned to homeschooling at high school level so that they could spend more time out of a classroom and into developing those interests. For instance, some of our teens have been dedicated goals for college-level:
- The largest percentage of families who are homeschooling (this includes high school) is concerns about school environment: safety, drugs, negative peer pressure, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.
- On the other hand, some parents are not satisfied with the academic instruction at the local schools.
- Some parents that we know start homeschooling at high school level so that they can spend educational time in unique settings:
- World schooling
- Missions work
- Health concerns. The pandemic’s homeschooling experiences inspired many families to keep homeschooling, even after schools opened up.
Thus, a number of people are transitioning to homeschooling high school, either for one year or for the entire run. 7Sisters is here to help.
(BTW- there are six of us 7Sisters, so who is the 7th Sister? YOU are! We are all in this homeschooling adventure together.) In this post we are going to help you get started with the homeschool high school adventure with these topic:
- What is the right way to homeschool high school?
- How do you start the process?
- Define Post-Graduation Goals
- Trade-Bound Teens: Planning Next Year
- College-Bound Teens: Planning Next Year
- Check out these two Homeschool Highschool Podcast episodes:
- You will also get some good ideas from our *temporary homeschool* post
Transitioning to Homeschool High School: What is the right way to homeschool high school?
You might hear lots of opinions on the right way to homeschool, but we would like to assure you that there’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school! One of the beauties of homeschooling is that you can tailor the course of study to meet your teens’ and your family’s needs. Therefore, we invite you to explore the posts on this site and lots of our friends’ sites for ideas. Then, feel free to contact us with questions.
Transitioning to Homeschool High School: How do you start the process?
It is wise to follow your state guidelines for officially pulling your teens from the local system. If they are transitioning from a private school, it is usually as simple as notifying the principal. On the other hand, they are transitioning from a public school there may be a little red tape. The best thing to do is check the state requirements at Home School Legal Defense’s website.
Next, take a few minutes (you’ll be glad you did) and listen to this advice for moms of new homeschoolers.
If your teens will be starting their sophomore, junior or senior years next fall, you may want to request their records. The rules for record requests vary from district to district. Remember, those records belong to you, so even if you run into an obdurate administrative assistant you may persist. However, you can usually reconstruct the credits and grades your teens have earned by looking at their report cards.
For help on creating your own transcript for this year, refer to our helpful advice:
- Authoritative Guide to Homeschool Transcripts (includes a free editable template).
- Detailed post with step-by-step instructions for creating transcripts
- Transcripts for Transfer Students
- This Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode interview academic advisors on how to create a transcript for teens who are transitioning to homeschooling.
Take a look at the records or report cards with your teens. Have a discussion about their goals for:
- After high school
- For the next year
Transitioning to Homeschool High School: Define Post-Graduation Goals
While teens often are not clear about their post-graduation plans, it will help if you can have a general idea up front if your teens are:
Planning on training for a trade
- If they will most likely head for a trade, you may adjust the academics to more average high-school level and concentrate on finding trade preparation opportunities and apprenticeships. We will discuss this further below.
- Here’s a timeline for non-college-bound teens (and trade school bound teens)
Planning on college
- If they will most likely head for college, then they will be wise to pursue a college-preparatory level of academics. We will discuss this further below.
- Here’s a timeline for what to do each year to prepare for college
Planning on military
- One of the best things you can do is visit your local recruiter. They will give your teens advice on what they are looking for in upcoming high school graduates.
- Many recruiters will offer teens a chance to take the ASVAB vocational abilities test.
- They may even have other opportunities for your teens such as camps.
- They may encourage your teens to get involved with Civil Air Patrol.
- You will enjoy this Homeschool Highschool Podcast interview with a mom with two homeschool grads who joined the military.
Transitioning to Homeschool High School: Trade-Bound Teens: Planning Next Year
Now, give yourself a treat and listen to these Homeschool Highschool Podcast interviews:
- Helping Non-College Bound Teens Find Success (Interview with a mom whose two sons are working happily in their trades.)
- Enjoying Being Mom of *Just-Average* Teen (Why all teens are awesome.)
Planning the year:
Next, concentrate on life preparation, job skills preparation and less-rigorous academics. You will need to cover basic academics.
(Note: 7Sisters Psychology and Human Development courses are created at Average Level- Level 2 and all our Literature and Writing Guides, Health and Financial Literacy courses include instructions for adapting for an average learner.)
Language Arts
- Here are some suggestions for reading material for teens who do not love reading:
Math
- If you are intimidated by high school math, check out: Math for Math-Impaired Moms
Social Studies
- 7Sisters’ History and Philosophy of the Western World is a popular course (despite the stuffy-sounding name) with students of all levels. Here is a how-to post for average-level teens to earn their World History credit (and some thinking skills at the same time).
Science
Fill out the year with apprenticeships and life preparation courses.
For teens with special needs, here is a post on creating meaningful out-of-the-box electives
- Here are some favorite curriculums for teens with special needs
You can also find online courses with our friends at:
- FundaFunda Academy (lots of courses, especially for tech-interested teens)
- True North Academy (courses at all levels, even special needs)
Remember: You can’t fit everything in but you can be creative so that your teens has the academics they need and the extracurricular experiences they need. Here’s a post to help figure out how to fit things in for homeschool high school.
For parents interested in unschooling their teens, here’s an interview with Julie Polanco to help.
Choosing curriculum: See this section later in this post.
Transitioning to Homeschool High School: College-Bound Teens
Planning Next Year
Sometimes parents who are starting to homeschool their high schoolers worry that their teens might not be able to get into college. No need to worry. Homeschoolers get into college all the time! In fact, Khan Academy points out (exactly what we have found in our local area) that colleges are often seeking out homeschoolers.
College-bound teens need to build a college-attractive transcript. This involves:
- More rigorous coursework
- Investment in interests and talents
- Involvement in community and/or service
- Ability to compete (for competitive colleges)
- Choose and develop college-attractive electives
- Check out this post for more on developing college-attractive transcripts
The type of college your homeschoolers are aiming for will determine the types of courses and transcript that they will work on:
Community college
- Most community colleges are not going to check the rigor of your teens’ transcripts. However, there are some courses that they might be able to test out of if they have high enough SAT or ACT scores or have had an Honors-level credit in that course.
- Dual enrollment in high school is often easy with the local community college.
- Here’s a post that helps evaluate the pros and cons of starting college at community college.
Local, small college or small, private college
- The colleges are often less competitive for admissions than larger colleges. Check out their websites to see what they are looking for with incoming Freshmen. This will help you and your teens build a transcript that is most attractive to that college.
- Your teens will probably need at least one Honors credit per year, most likely more. Choose courses for Honors credits that prepare them for their college major. If they do not have a major chosen, check out this freebie from Vicki Tillman Coaching.
- You might enjoy a post by our friend, Betsy. She describes homeschooling high school with her teen as she prepared for college.
Large state college or competitive college
- For these colleges your homeschool high schoolers will need rigorous course work in the area of their major as well as other core academic areas.
- They will also need to really concentrate on developing a well-rounded transcript with sparkle.
- Transcripts that sparkle have:
- Courses that show your teen explored an interest
- Courses that are out of the box, not just generic
- Transcripts that sparkle have:
For more ideas, check out these interviews with homeschool graduates who went onto Ivy League colleges:
No matter which college your homeschool graduates choose, they will need to go into college with some solid study skills. They would be wise to develop these skills during high school.
Some of the most important skills include:
- Time management
- General life skills
- Using a syllabus
- Here’s a post on how to create a syllabus
- Advocating for themselves
- Growth mindset
- Emotional intelligence
- Download this freebie and this freebie for how-to’s
- Owning their education
- Writing skills (especially research papers and essays)
- Note that 7Sisters Writing curriculum (like all our curriculum) includes guides for *leveling up* to Honors in ways that are meaningful and useful to teens.
Whether you plan to send your teens back to public or private school after a year or continue homeschooling through graduation, you will benefit yourself and your teen by keeping records. You can do this as a:
- Portfolio
- Here are detailed instructions on what to keep in a portfolio
- I would also make sure to include a syllabus for all core courses for college-bound teens
- Many 7Sisters’ e-textbooks and study guides have an optional suggested syllabus that you can download
- It is also useful, but not necessary (unless you may have a teen aiming for a competitive college) to include a course description.
- Or just keep everything in a crate (hopefully with dividers)
- Use the same instructions as the portfolio
- Transcript
- You will develop your own transcript for this year. You can follow the instructions and use the template in this post.
- Here’s all you need to know in our Authoritative Guide post on Record Keeping for Homeschool High School.
Choosing curriculum
There are many choices for curriculum for homeschool high schoolers. With that in mind, here is a post to get you started and a downloadable “How to Choose Curriculum” guide.
Now that you are homeschooling, you even get to choose the format of your high schoolers’ courses. Here’s a post on choosing formats.
It might be helpful to decide if you have an educational philosophy that you would like to follow. Here are a couple of posts to help you clarify (do not get too hung up about this):
- Sarah Avila’s Quick Guide to Homeschool Methods
- Homeschool Highschool Podcast’s Discussion of Different Homeschool Philosophies
- Or look at their learning styles with this post from our friend, Susan.
We, of course, are fans of 7Sisters curriculum since teens have been vetting and field-testing it for years.
All 7Sisters curricula is adaptable to different levels so that teens with high goals earn powerful credits for their transcript in a no-busywork, meaningful way. We offer:
- Literature Study Guides
- Writing Guides
- Financial Literacy
- Health
- Psychology
- Human Development
- World History
- Career Exploration
- Early Childhood Education Elective
- Philosophy Elective
- Free unit study on Black History Month
We also know that there is not ONE right way to homeschool high school or ONE right curriculum. Take some time and enjoy exploring the many choices.
There also are many digital courses available, for instance:
You may also join a supervising organization.
Most of these will help with the advising, record keeping and transcripts. Some can help with college recommendation letters if your teen has attended group classes.
Supervising organizations take several forms:
- In-person, college-model/hybrid schools. They may be called umbrella schools or charter schools. (Of course, the formats may be different for the upcoming school year, but traditionally these organizations offer classes one or two days per week, with homework and assignments for the rest of the week- just like a college would do.)
Online schools:
- These organizations sometimes handle advising and record-keeping. Sometimes only offer classes. Here are some of our favorites:
- True North Academy
- FundaFunda Academy
- Dreaming Spires Homeschool (for higher-performing teens)
- Stanford University’s Online High School (for very high-performing teens aiming at Stanford or similar colleges)
- These organizations sometimes handle advising and record-keeping. Sometimes only offer classes. Here are some of our favorites:
You can do this! Hey, please join our Facebook group. We share ideas, ask questions, encourage each other.
AND when someone asks you “What about socialization?” Here’s how to answer.
Need a little more encouragement? Check out these posts from our friends:
- Keep up with legit homeschool research at National Home Education Research Institute.
- Start out your homeschool well, with our friend, Marcy, at Ben and Me.
- Our friend, Christine, at This Bit of Life has a Get-started Guide
- Our friend, Sarah, at Freedom Homeschool offers tips for easing into homeschooling
- Also, check out this episode with Sabrina (sharing the things she has learned about homeschooling high school): If I Could Talk to My Younger Self.
- If you are a single parent who is homeschooling high school, click here for a post with advice from single parents who have homeschooled high school! You can do this!
- If you are wondering how long it takes to homeschool each day, check out this post.
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