Accreditation Service, or just keep portfolio and transcript? Or something else?

[Jenny in GA]

Our oldest is still in middle school, but we're looking ahead.

My husband was just talking to someone whose children are homeschooled teens, and she said she has them in a private school "independent study" that, if I understand correctly, looks at what you're doing and what curriculum you're using and tell you what "counts" and what you "need," and then you actually get a state-accredited high school diploma from that private school.

 

I have always been a little confused about this. I have been told that in GA that you "cannot get high school diploma" unless you go through a place this either this or Bob Jones or something.

 

I have also heard people say they just write their own transcript and portfolio (and take the SATs) and college accept that fine.

 

Anyway, my husband heard about this route and got very excited. He said he can't imagine bringing a portfolio to a college admissions person and that they would actually sit for hours and carefully read everything and "grade it," so to speak, to determine if it's equivalent to American Lit, then some more stuff equivalent to enough credits for a FL, etc, and finally determine if what you did for four years "qualifies" as a high school diploma.

 

I, on the other hand, find the idea of accreditation interesting, but it doesn't really appeal to me. First of all, I would hate to lose the freedom I have now ... for example, what if they tell me I "can't" use Life of Fred anymore, and have to switch to math textbook we all hate? (The horror of having to stop Life of Fred! :))

 

Second, it sounds like a few hundred dollars a year, for them to basically tell me what to do and "approve" what I'm doing. If that's totally unneccesary (and possibly even annoying), I'd rather spend those hundreds of dollars on other things.

 

So ... here are my questions:

 

1. First of all, if anyone knows about how a homeschoolers actually gets a high school diploma in GA (or a link to that info), I would appreciate it. I have heard that many homeschool parents just write their own diploma and sign it themselves, which sounds a little odd. Really? Does anyone take that seriously?

 

2. If you've used a service like this, what made you choose to go that route, and what is it like, exactly? Do they tell you what curriculum to use? Grade everything? Was it helpful? Would you recommend it?

 

3. Do "most" people get accredited somewhere, or do "most" people just make portfolios? (Yes, I know this is a difficult question to answer, but if you have any observations to share, I would appreciate it?

 

4. Do "most" colleges require or prefer something more official like that?

 

5. If you've gone the "portfolio" route, how did that work for you? What about my husband's concern that admissions would prefer an actual diploma as opposed to having wade through and evaluate years of work? Do you wish your kids had gotten a state-accredited diploma?

 

6. Any other advice or thoughts for people like us trying to decide "which way" (and maybe there are other ways!) to go, and how to make those decisions.

 

Thanks!

[In The Great White North]

I can't answer the GA questions but I can tell you that ds was not accredited and was accepted all four schools he applied to without a problem. Dd is in the process now and it doesn't appear to be a problem for her either. They all accepted the mommy transcript without asking for any additional information, portfolios, testing, etc.

 

OTOH, we unceremoniously dumped Georgia Tech in the circular file because of their extra requirements for homeschoolers. My next dd has an interest in Emory that is rapidly waning for the same reason. Seems to be a GA thing.

[Jen in NY]

Hi Jenny,

 

I can't comment on the Georgia part, only the mom made transcript part.

 

In order for my dd to apply to college, I provided via the common app website:

A home-made transcript

Detailed course descriptions (~ a paragraph for each course listing texts, material covered, anything unusual we added)

A "homeschool philosophy" statement

A "counselor letter"

 

dd provided:

a completed common app which included lists of her outside activities

2 essays

 

also included in her applications:

3 outside letters of recommendation

Standardized Test scores sent directly from the College Board

 

 

She applied to 4 schools. None --- that's right, none --- asked for anything else. (In fairness, she was accepted ED at her first choice, so the fifth and sixth schools to which she planned to apply never had the chance to reject our materials or ask for additional info....one of them was a SUNY school, so if a school was going to be persnickety that would have been it...)

 

She had a couple of "outside grades" --- 2 from Pennsylvania Homeschoolers and 1 from our local CC.

 

Of course this is just one data point for you, but we never even considered using an outside accreditation service or umbrella school.

 

In NY, you are sometimes lucky and live in a district that will gladly provide a Superintendent's letter at the end of High School that states that you have "earned the the substantial equivalent of a high school education." This is one of a handful of ways to "graduate" in NY. I am hopeful that dd will be able to get the letter, but it does not seem to have made any difference whatsoever to the colleges.

 

You should check and see what Georgia State Schools require. They might be like the state schools here (SUNY), and require the kids to have a high school diploma in order to graduate from college, or they may be like many of the private colleges we encountered and think a mom-issued homeschool diploma is just fine.

 

Another thing you can do is download the current common-app and see what you think. You may find that you feel you can handle the record keeping on your own as many people do. My advice if you go that route is to keep detailed course descriptions along the way and help your kids keep a list of all their activities as they happen. It's much easier to make accurate comments along the way than to try and remember what you did 4 years in the past. Ask me how I know. :)

[Kate in Arabia]

I use an umbrella school (accreditation service?), we have been with Clonlara since my oldest was in 1st grade and he is in 9th this year. My sole reason for even starting with an umbrella school was because we are living overseas and homeschooling is not officially recognized here. If, for whatever reason, we needed or wanted to put our kids in a school here we are required to have an official paper trail; there is not consistency in how this is handled, so I have heard of homeschooling parents (with no official papers) who were able to work it out between the school they wanted and the education ministry, and others who were not able to and had serious problems. So to avoid any of that I went with an umbrella school, sort of like an insurance policy.

 

I don't know how other schools work, but with Clonlara there is a difference between how elementary levels and high school are handled. In elementary they require an overview of what you will be using for the school year, and you send in two semester reports to state what you have covered and give a "grade" (lower elem is more like "satisfactory", "not satisfactory", etc.). In high school you must submit a more detailed outline of what courses you will be covering, a report form for each course/credit. At the end of each semester you then send in another report -- again more detailed -- with sections for both you and the student to write what was accomplished in the semester.

 

For all levels, at the beginning of the year they send out a general guideline of topics that you could cover in the year. Me, personally, I have never looked at those because I am already set on what I want to do. They have lists of recommended/possible materials, but nothing required -- you make your own choices. With high school we had a very detailed (and long) phone meeting with our adviser and went over what all ds was thinking about for high school. There has been a lot more interaction with her this year than in previous years.

 

It is all your own choices, but you are still accountable to a degree, kwim? So it isn't as completely flexible as it would be if you were doing it on your own. I had some changes I made during the semester, and they were fine with the changes, but I still had to report to them and in the end they still have to sign off on what you've done in order to get credit, kwim?

 

This is our first year of high school so I don't know in the long run how it will work out -- hopefully ok, lol.

 

I actually think your question #3 would be interesting to see as a poll here, I don't know myself what the majority does vis a vis record-keeping.

[Jen in NY]

It is all your own choices, but you are still accountable to a degree, kwim? So it isn't as completely flexible as it would be if you were doing it on your own. I had some changes I made during the semester, and they were fine with the changes, but I still had to report to them and in the end they still have to sign off on what you've done in order to get credit, kwim?

 

This sounds remarkably like what we have to do just because we live in NY State. We are required to send a plan to the school district at the beginning of each year, send in quaterly reports, and periodically submit standardized test scores. I think if I lived in a state with very little oversight I would have appreciated the structure that a school like Clonlara would provide - or at least tried to keep similar records on my own.

 

I actually think your question #3 would be interesting to see as a poll here, I don't know myself what the majority does vis a vis record-keeping.

I agree!

 

[Parrothead]

My dd is going into high school this coming fall. I've been doing a lot of reading and I think I've figured this out.

 

It isn't the diploma that your college bound kiddos need. It is the transcript. Anyone can crank out a diploma with good paper and a computer. Anyone from the PS grad who wanted the honors diploma and didn't get it, to the drop out who wants to clean up his record a bit. The high school transcript on the other hand is what college admissions look at. But it is one of many things they use to determine acceptance at their college or university. The transcript only tells part of the story.

 

Along with the transcript the student will, hopefully, have SAT/ACT test scores, AP test scores and possibly CLEP scores to back up what is on the transcript. It isn't going to be the kid sitting around playing video games all day that scores 2400 on the SAT. Also along with scores many, many homeschooled high schoolers take duel enrollment or outsource a bit of their education so there are secondary records without being tied to a accreditation service.

 

It is difficult to say what most people do or what most colleges accept. If you have an idea of what your kids want to study or where they want to go to college check out the requirements for homeschoolers. Some colleges want test scores, some want to see portfolios, some don't care and some refuse to accept homeschoolers without a GED (and personally those schools can go pound sand).

 

Homeschoolers are such a wide and varied group. The government can't even count accurately how many homeschoolers there are. So there is no way to tell what most homeschoolers do for high school. You could make a poll and get a number for the members here. That might give you an idea. But if you poll another group the numbers may not reflect the same findings. From my reading I think most people here don't use a service.

 

I tried the accreditation service in 7th grade. My friend, who does use one, talked me into it. She has 6 kids and is extremely busy. For her she sees the service as a life saver that keeps her on track. For me it was a waste of money and time. It was a lot of work and hassle that I didn't need so I dropped it mid-year. I have only one kid and am perfectly capable of keeping up with her. My plan is test scores, and keeping a small portfolio. Nothing that would take hours to go through. I'm cheap that way and don't want to pay someone hundreds of dollars to do what I'm perfectly capable of doing.

[Nscribe]

It may help your husband a bit if you pull up the Common Ap online and let him see. If he were to look at it and then look at the homeschool applicant sections of colleges the two of you think may be contenders. He will see that it really is not only possible to be accepted to college without an accredited diploma, but homeschooling at this point is established enough that colleges have their own processes.

[Jenny in GA]

It may help your husband a bit if you pull up the Common Ap online and let him see.

 

Could you explain what and where this is?

[Jenny in GA]

 

OTOH, we unceremoniously dumped Georgia Tech in the circular file because of their extra requirements for homeschoolers. My next dd has an interest in Emory that is rapidly waning for the same reason. Seems to be a GA thing.

 

 

Uh-oh, it sounds like my husband might be right, then, about needing accreditation. Do you remember any details about this? GA Tech is definitely one of the main places we're considering, as my daughter wants to be an engineer for NASA!

[hsbeth]

So ... here are my questions:

 

1. First of all, if anyone knows about how a homeschoolers actually gets a high school diploma in GA (or a link to that info), I would appreciate it. I have heard that many homeschool parents just write their own diploma and sign it themselves, which sounds a little odd. Really? Does anyone take that seriously?

 

2. If you've used a service like this, what made you choose to go that route, and what is it like, exactly? Do they tell you what curriculum to use? Grade everything? Was it helpful? Would you recommend it?

 

3. Do "most" people get accredited somewhere, or do "most" people just make portfolios? (Yes, I know this is a difficult question to answer, but if you have any observations to share, I would appreciate it?

 

4. Do "most" colleges require or prefer something more official like that?

 

5. If you've gone the "portfolio" route, how did that work for you? What about my husband's concern that admissions would prefer an actual diploma as opposed to having wade through and evaluate years of work? Do you wish your kids had gotten a state-accredited diploma?

 

6. Any other advice or thoughts for people like us trying to decide "which way" (and maybe there are other ways!) to go, and how to make those decisions.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

We are in GA. My oldest is an 11th grader who is doing dual-enrollment at a local state uni. We are actively starting the college search and app. process, but I've not completed it yet- so take my advice with a grain of salt.

 

First, I'll try to answer your questions:

 

1) Yes, if you don't use an accredited program you would issue your own diploma. This sounds like a really big deal, but it isn't. College acceptance/app. doesn't require a copy of the diploma, just a transcript. Potential employers rarely ask for them either. Have you ever had to submit one? I haven't. If a child goes to college that will be the diploma/transcript that folks will be interested in. High School diploma becomes even more irrelevant then. I suppose you could use a GED if you preferred.

 

2) We've gone back and forth about this, but are currently using one. We don't need their services (dh is actually a high school teacher in GA) so we are totally up on all of the current requirements, etc. We are confident in our ability to navigate this process alone. There are a few reasons that we are participating in a program though.

 

*As an insurance policy of sorts- I think this varies a bit from county to county w/in GA but we've known several families who for one reason or another endured drastic changes that caused them to enroll their child into school at some point during the high school years. Locally our schools will not accept grades earned while in an unaccredited program which can create huge problems for the student family. They will allow them to test for individual credits, but it's a really stressful and pretty unfair process. PM for details if desired. Because we use an umbrella our students could be accepted as transfer students at a moment's notice with no issues. The school is bound to accept their transcript and credits as issued. I call it an insurance policy b/c we don't plan to utilize it, but it's there in an emergency.

 

*We wanted to access dual-enrollment ACCEL funds. Again this is GA specific, but until last year homeschoolers were not able to access any funding for dual enrollment. This did change in July 2012 though. Still the umbrella streamlines the process for us and the uni.

 

*It will streamline certain parts of the college app. process. Research the requirements that many GA publics have and you'll quickly see that most expect some major hoop-jumping from non-accreditted students.

 

*Immediate access to HOPE funds. I haven't checked w/in the last 6 mths or so, but last I knew homeschoolers still had to complete initial college credit and could only qualify for HOPE funds retroactively.

 

If you want specific details on the program that we use feel free to PM me. To answer your other questions they provide us with a list of required courses but do not choose or recommend curriculum to me. I've had no issues at all with any of my choices (we are also a LOF family). They do not grade anything, but I am required to send them my grades each quarter as well as send them monthly attendance records. We are required to do a standardized test each year and save a portfolio of work. They've never asked to review it.

 

No, I wouldn't say they are particularly helpful, but they aren't difficult to deal with either. Again, I think of it like insurance. I wouldn't say my home owners insurance is particularly useful on a day to day basis either, but if something happens I'll be glad for the coverage.

 

3. More and more folks locally are beginning to use a service. There has been some folks here who are strongly for or against, it's a bit political. I would guess that locally we are approaching the 50% mark.

 

4. I don't believe any colleges locally "require" it, they just have 1 list of requirements for traditional students (public, private, some form of acc) and another set of requirements for non-traditional folks. I don't know if they necessarily prefer one over the other. The homeschool bias is becoming less of an issue I think.

 

5. Can't answer that personally, but we know several who have gotten into college easily. Most of those we know personally though were honestly way above average academically. They had stellar SAT scores and many college credits already earned through dual enrollment. If a student had less outside course work and test scores below the 50th percentile I'd imagine it's much more difficult. Those students might benefit even more from an outside acc.

 

6. PM me with any questions

 

 

Although our agency charges a yearly fee, the savings we've realized make it a wash financially (ACCEL, HOPE, less SAT subject testing, etc.). The paperwork I am required to give to them for our records is only slightly more than what I would need to do for the state of GA.

 

You could also get your individual school acc. by the GAC, a few here on the board have done that.

[Parrothead]

Could you explain what and where this is?

The Common App

[Ellie]

Our oldest is still in middle school, but we're looking ahead.

My husband was just talking to someone whose children are homeschooled teens, and she said she has them in a private school "independent study" that, if I understand correctly, looks at what you're doing and what curriculum you're using and tell you what "counts" and what you "need," and then you actually get a state-accredited high school diploma from that private school.

 

I have always been a little confused about this. I have been told that in GA that you "cannot get high school diploma" unless you go through a place this either this or Bob Jones or something.

 

I have also heard people say they just write their own transcript and portfolio (and take the SATs) and college accept that fine.

 

Anyway, my husband heard about this route and got very excited. He said he can't imagine bringing a portfolio to a college admissions person and that they would actually sit for hours and carefully read everything and "grade it," so to speak, to determine if it's equivalent to American Lit, then some more stuff equivalent to enough credits for a FL, etc, and finally determine if what you did for four years "qualifies" as a high school diploma.

 

I, on the other hand, find the idea of accreditation interesting, but it doesn't really appeal to me. First of all, I would hate to lose the freedom I have now ... for example, what if they tell me I "can't" use Life of Fred anymore, and have to switch to math textbook we all hate? (The horror of having to stop Life of Fred! :))

 

Second, it sounds like a few hundred dollars a year, for them to basically tell me what to do and "approve" what I'm doing. If that's totally unneccesary (and possibly even annoying), I'd rather spend those hundreds of dollars on other things.

 

So ... here are my questions:

 

1. First of all, if anyone knows about how a homeschoolers actually gets a high school diploma in GA (or a link to that info), I would appreciate it. I have heard that many homeschool parents just write their own diploma and sign it themselves, which sounds a little odd. Really? Does anyone take that seriously?

 

2. If you've used a service like this, what made you choose to go that route, and what is it like, exactly? Do they tell you what curriculum to use? Grade everything? Was it helpful? Would you recommend it?

 

3. Do "most" people get accredited somewhere, or do "most" people just make portfolios? (Yes, I know this is a difficult question to answer, but if you have any observations to share, I would appreciate it?

 

4. Do "most" colleges require or prefer something more official like that?

 

5. If you've gone the "portfolio" route, how did that work for you? What about my husband's concern that admissions would prefer an actual diploma as opposed to having wade through and evaluate years of work? Do you wish your kids had gotten a state-accredited diploma?

 

6. Any other advice or thoughts for people like us trying to decide "which way" (and maybe there are other ways!) to go, and how to make those decisions.

 

Thanks!

 

Check out this information from Georgia Home Education Association (GHEA).

 

Especially notice that it is NOT necessary to use an outside organization to decide when your children will be graduated.

 

I am pretty darn sure that there is no such thing as a "state-accredited diploma" in most states (PA offers that, but I believe it is optional; Pauline would know this), certainly not in GA. And yes, the majority of homeschooling parents issue their own diplomas and transcripts. Why would it be otherwise? It is they who have done the teaching and planning for their own children.

 

Some distance-learning schools, such as Clonlara, have regional accreditation. Some states' homeschool options include enrolling children in such regionally-accredited distance-learning or correspondence schools. GA does not. That is, you can do it if you want to, and many people find the services of such schools very helpful. But you don't get brownie points in GA for doing so.

 

Some colleges require portfolios as part of their admissions, but not all of them. It is pretty common for all applicants, not just homeschooled grads, to submit transcripts and SAT/ACT scores; portfolios, if required, usually come later in the application process. It isn't usual to request a copy of the diploma. And most homeschoolers have not found it necessary to have a transcript from an accredited school.

[hsbeth]

Uh-oh, it sounds like my husband might be right, then, about needing accreditation. Do you remember any details about this? GA Tech is definitely one of the main places we're considering, as my daughter wants to be an engineer for NASA!

 

Our dd will apply to GA tech as well and plans to study engineering. Here is a link to their current info.:

http://www.admission.gatech.edu/homeschool

#4 can be the tricky one

[Lori D.]

Our dd will apply to GA tech as well and plans to study engineering. Here is a link to their current info.:

http://www.admission....edu/homeschool

#4 can be the tricky one

 

 

 

Because GA is one of the "tricky" states about diplomas, accreditation, and specific scholarships to specific GA colleges, it's best if you can get someone locally, or someone on this board from GA (like hsbeth above) to help walk you through this process.

 

I just wanted to throw in there that Bev in B'ville on this board lives in GA, and she went through a pretty painless process and had her own homeschool accredited, which allowed her all the advantages of accreditation (getting HOPE $$ for example), while using all her own materials. See her post here on the steps to the process: "Bev in B'ville: ? about your accreditation". She also has more info on the accreditation process in her post (#16) in this helpful thread: "Homeschooling in GA", and even more helpful specifics in posts #6, #8, #10, #12 in the thread "GA community colleges and universities causing me confusion". She also mentions the limitations of accreditation benefits when applying to other universities in posts #10, #14, and #17 in "What states will accredit a homeschool? and how hard is it?"

 

And in "Georgia high school homeschoolers", she outlines which tests are needed/desired by colleges from GA high school students. And in "Any idea how to obtain an SAT code for your own "school"?", in posts #5, #8, #10, and #12, she outlines getting a CEEB code for dual enrollment purposes in GA, and again mentions another benefit of having gone through accreditation for her homeschool was to be eligible for the ACCEL program which = $$ to pay for some dual enrollment.

 

 

From hsbeth's super helpful posts above, it sounds like regulations in GA have eased in the last 2 years, so while Bev in B'ville needed to do the accreditation route in order to access the ACCEL and HOPE $$ several years ago, it may not be needed now. The *only* reason I can think that you might still want to pursue accreditation is that there are a few unusual colleges or special programs that require accredited diplomas. But again, I stress that those instances are rare.

 

 

BEST of luck as you begin your high school planning -- and the extra research of the intricacies of homeschooling in GA! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Muttichen]

My dd is going into high school this coming fall. I've been doing a lot of reading and I think I've figured this out.

 

Along with the transcript the student will, hopefully, have SAT/ACT test scores, AP test scores and possibly CLEP scores to back up what is on the transcript. It isn't going to be the kid sitting around playing video games all day that scores 2400 on the SAT. Also along with scores many, many homeschooled high schoolers take duel enrollment or outsource a bit of their education so there are secondary records without being tied to a accreditation service.

 

 

 

 

 

This is exactly right! We've always made our own transcript and none of our kids have had a diploma, but we had lots of objective measures to back up our grades: AP scores, SAT subject tests, PA Homeschoolers and CC courses. We've never had a problem and our first four have all been accepted at top schools, including Emory.

[Kareni]

Two of the colleges to which my child applied asked to see a portfolio of high school work which she submitted in addition to other documentation. Some of the things she included:

 

graded papers from outside classes

a quiz and lab report from a community college science class

Latin translation assignment from her AP Latin class

a picture of a page from a Latin picture book that she wrote and illustrated

photos of a couple of art pieces with the ribbons they won in the County fair

 

I'd recommend keeping ALL papers (I refer to essays, research papers, etc.) as well as lab notebooks and a sprinkling of your child's best work from a variety of subjects; one of my daughter's 11th grade essays became fodder for her college application essay.

 

Here is a copy of a cover letter which indicates what exactly I sent.

 

"Application materials for Student's name

 

Applying Regular Decision for admission to XX College as a first-year student and requesting consideration for scholarships

 

Materials enclosed:

 

Secondary School Report

Official Homeschool High School Transcript

Counselor Letter

Homeschool Profile

Course Descriptions

Reading List

Textbook List

Letter of recommendation from AA (student's employer for several years)

Portfolio of supporting materials with explanatory cover sheet

 

Materials being sent separately:

 

Common Application and Common Application Supplement were submitted on-line

Transcript from BB Community College

SAT scores from the College Board

Letters of recommendation from:

CC (Instructor), submitting on-line

DD (Instructor), submitting through the mail"

 

Those schools which did not request a portfolio (the majority of the schools to which she applied fell into that category) received all of the above save for the portfolio.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[hsbeth]

Because GA is one of the "tricky" states about diplomas, accreditation, and specific scholarships to specific GA colleges, it's best if you can get someone locally, or someone on this board from GA (like hsbeth above) to help walk you through this process.

 

I just wanted to throw in there that Bev in B'ville on this board lives in GA, and she went through a pretty painless process and had her own homeschool accredited, which allowed her all the advantages of accreditation (getting HOPE $$ for example), while using all her own materials. See her post here on the steps to the process: "Bev in B'ville: ? about your accreditation". She also has more info on the accreditation process in her post (#16) in this helpful thread: "Homeschooling in GA", and even more helpful specifics in posts #6, #8, #10, #12 in the thread "GA community colleges and universities causing me confusion". She also mentions the limitations of accreditation benefits when applying to other universities in posts #10, #14, and #17 in "What states will accredit a homeschool? and how hard is it?"

 

And in "Georgia high school homeschoolers", she outlines which tests are needed/desired by colleges from GA high school students. And in "Any idea how to obtain an SAT code for your own "school"?", in posts #5, #8, #10, and #12, she outlines getting a CEEB code for dual enrollment purposes in GA, and again mentions another benefit of having gone through accreditation for her homeschool was to be eligible for the ACCEL program which = $$ to pay for some dual enrollment.

 

 

From hsbeth's super helpful posts above, it sounds like regulations in GA have eased in the last 2 years, so while Bev in B'ville needed to do the accreditation route in order to access the ACCEL and HOPE $$ several years ago, it may not be needed now. The *only* reason I can think that you might still want to pursue accreditation is that there are a few unusual colleges or special programs that require accredited diplomas. But again, I stress that those instances are rare.

 

 

BEST of luck as you begin your high school planning -- and the extra research of the intricacies of homeschooling in GA! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

Yes, GA is different from most other states and it can be confusing. Bev did answer some questions for me about accreditation a few years back and it certainly might be a great option to consider. Lori pointed you towards some great resources above.

 

We are far outside of Atlanta which makes the process more time consuming and expensive. If you are in or near one of the major cities it is easier and cheaper to go this route (you have to pay trans. expenses for representative visits, etc. plus an hourly rate). We obtain this much less expensively through the umbrella, who really doesn't bother us at all. I know locally some are philosophically or politically opposed to it, and I respect that BUT it does have its advantages and significant financial implications for older students.

 

If you are not lived in GA or had a child apply for college in GA please be cautious about giving blanket advice.

 

Oh, and FWIW I would see no reason at all to affiliate with an agency or seek to be acreditted before 8th grade. I keep my younger students separate and report them to the state via the traditional methods.

[Mouseketeer67]

The link for the following article may be helpful.

 

http://www.examiner.com/article/homeschoolers-can-get-into-ga-state-colleges-without-an-accredited-diploma

[Kimm in WA]

Most colleges have a lot of extra hoops they require homeschoolers to jump through. My kiddos have gone through North Atlantic Regional High School, started mainly to show "proof" that they did high school level work while in middle school. The oldest son had no problem, with this diploma, being accepted to public and private universities across the US. The first problem I had with it was this year: I currently have 2 seniors (and one in his 2nd year in college). My seniors, who will graduate from high school with an AA degree thanks to dual-enrollment were told by a public university in Oregon that they have to have "X" number of SAT II test taken or else they are not eligible because their "diploma" is not REGIONALLY accredited in Oregon. There WAS a way to get around this and that is that our community college now offers an option for dually-enrolled students to receive a high school diploma through the community college. The nice thing about my kiddos' diploma is that it is a "private school" diploma which (despite how much we don't like the idea and principle that "mommy diplomas" aren't taken as seriously) was accepted by all (save one) college. It shows someone else looked at the work and deemed it high school level. We could check, in the box on the application, "private school diploma", but then in the essays and supplemental info tell them that they were homeschooled.

 

I know that colleges have differing ways of handling homeschoolers, so your best course of action would be to check with the schools to where your child may apply, but that can be hard to know in 8th or 9th...or sometimes even 11th...grade. My thinking was that I wanted to prepare my kiddos for whatever they wanted to pursue and not limit them. I am seeing this with a friend whose son got his GED. He thought he was interested in one thing, but now that he's 19 he wants to be a police officer but they don't accept GEDs; they must have a high school diploma.

 

FWIW,

Kimm