Should we stay or should we go; a homeschooling WWYD

[Aras]

Hello, longtime lurker here.

 

We live in a state that gives you the option to do our high school studies with some teacher oversight and eventually get a state-issued high school diploma. 

 

So far, the teacher input has been pretty minimal, they haven't bought us any curriculum because I bought it all myself, and they don't pay for any of the outside activities that we want to do. It is really just a half an hour of Skype a week where he writes down what my son is doing. 

 

I feel it is a waste of time, and none of the engineering colleges we are looking at for ds seems to care about a state-issued diploma. My husband wants us to stick it out for the "just in case." 

 

This kid has vowed never to go back to public school and I have promised that his grandpa would take over homeschooling if anything ever happened to me. It's in the will  :lol:

 

Is there a reason not to quit that I am overlooking? I am inclined to quit, but maybe I'm not seeing the whole picture.

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by Aras

[OneStepAtATime]

Are you paying for this service?  Is it literally only half an hour Skype session each week where you just share what your child is doing?  You don't have to provide paperwork or examples of work or whatever?  And they provide a state certified High School diploma?  Do they also provide a transcript?

 

It doesn't sound like you get much out of it BUT it also doesn't sound like you have to do much to actually get that diploma.  If it includes an official transcript, too, it might be worth that half hour a week.  That doesn't seem bad, honestly.

[J-rap]

I think you could go either way and be fine.  We had a somewhat similar experience, in that our local public school allowed us to graduate with their class and get a diploma through them, as long as we met their course requirements with our homeschooling and also took at least a couple classes there during their senior year.  My kids were already planning to take classes there -- choir and foreign language mostly.  We decided that since they were making it so easy for us, we'd do that.  Several of my kids had expressed interest in studying (for college) overseas, and we thought it might be easier to have a PS diploma.

 

In the end, one of my dd's DID study overseas, and I do believe it was made quite a bit easier to have a PS degree.  But, I know that's an extreme case.  It probably made applying for colleges in the States easier too though.  They (my kids) could still emphasize the homeschool aspect.

 

But, I know many, many homeschoolers who didn't have any problem at all getting accepted at the college of their choice with a homeschool degree.

[Jilly]

I would feel fine leaving. Today a state issued diploma is not necessary for most homeschoolers. If there was a specific school or program your son was thinking about that did want to see a diploma I might stay with it but otherwise I'd leave.

[MarkT]

I think if you listed your state of residence you may get better advice.

[Aras]

Are you paying for this service?  Is it literally only half an hour Skype session each week where you just share what your child is doing?  You don't have to provide paperwork or examples of work or whatever?  And they provide a state certified High School diploma?  Do they also provide a transcript?

 

It doesn't sound like you get much out of it BUT it also doesn't sound like you have to do much to actually get that diploma.  If it includes an official transcript, too, it might be worth that half hour a week.  That doesn't seem bad, honestly.

 

 

It is free and considered an alternative public school. I provide a syllabus, materials list, and samples of his work every so often.  They do provide a transcript which was one of the original reasons to do this program. Theoretically they could purchase our books, but the process takes a long time and we didn't want to wait 4-6 weeks for books. 

 

Maybe I am at the 8-week blahs. It seems like just another thing to do. 

 

ETA: I'm in WA if that changes anything. 

 

The school seems like it prefers kids to take online classes through them, and we don't have any interest in those. 

Edited November 8, 2017 by Aras

[regentrude]

I do not see any benefit of staying with this program. None of the (14) colleges my children applied to had any issues with a parent issued transcript. 

 

[Matryoshka]

Post-high-school venues of learning I've heard of that have a stick up their butt about homeschool transcripts vs. 'official' ones:

 

- UMass Amherst (will now take 27 credits of DE instead, but if you're not doing DE, they're still a pain).  Other MA state universities (and private, of course) are fine; it's just the flagship.

- NY public universities (private are fine as far as I know).

- Universities in Europe, especially Germany, not sure if others are as picky.

- Cosmetology schools 

 

If you're not planning on any of those, not sure it's worth the hoop-jumping.  In all the years I've been reading on these boards, the places above have come up repeatedly, but I really can't think of anywhere else that anyone's had a problem.

[MarkT]

It is free and considered an alternative public school. I provide a syllabus, materials list, and samples of his work every so often.  They do provide a transcript which was one of the original reasons to do this program. Theoretically they could purchase our books, but the process takes a long time and we didn't want to wait 4-6 weeks for books. 

 

 

If you sent it in earlier would they get you the books in a timely fashion? 

Textbooks can be pricey would they provide them at no cost to you?

If so I would recommend staying.   1/2 hour Skype does not seem like much to me unless it was with each student and not the parent.

Maybe they could change to a weekly email with an occasional Skype.

[Lori D.]

Post-high-school venues of learning I've heard of that have a stick up their butt about homeschool transcripts vs. 'official' ones:

 

- UMass Amherst (will now take 27 credits of DE instead, but if you're not doing DE, they're still a pain).  Other MA state universities (and private, of course) are fine; it's just the flagship.

- NY public universities (private are fine as far as I know).

- Universities in Europe, especially Germany, not sure if others are as picky.

- Cosmetology schools 

 

I believe you can add Penn State (? -- one of the big PA colleges) to that list -- I know Creekland and several other WTMers met with a lot of hoops and resistance in trying to apply and finally dropped the school from their list.

[MerryAtHope]

30 minutes a week X 36 weeks X 4 years is 72 hours--that's way more time than it takes to keep up with record keeping and creating/updating a transcript. I'd probably want more out of a service than that to make it worth my while (especially since you still are doing the record-keeping along the way--I'm assuming the service doesn't do any type of grading...)

 

If they would purchase the materials (or even a good portion of them), then it might be worth considering. 

 

Are you getting any other benefit out of it?

 

Personally, I enjoyed the freedom of doing things myself.

[plansrme]

Any chance he might want to go into the military?  Isn't the military still problematic with a home-issued transcript?

[happypamama]

I believe you can add Penn State (? -- one of the big PA colleges) to that list -- I know Creekland and several other WTMers met with a lot of hoops and resistance in trying to apply and finally dropped the school from their list.

That would be the big PA college. I talked to one of their admissions counselors two years ago (since DH and I are both alums, so it would be natural for our kids to consider it), and she said that their website didn’t reflect changes, but that they’re happy to have a parent-issued diploma. PA changed its Homeschool law in October of 2014, so that the parent-issued diploma carries all the same weight as one from the public school or diploma program. My oldest is only tenth grade and doesn’t know what she wants to do yet, so I don’t know how it might work in practice, but that’s what the admissions counselor told me.

[chiguirre]

Since you're in WA, does this impact his ability to do Running Start if he wants to? I don't know much about it other than the name and that it's two years of free CC during high school. It sounded like a nice program.

[MarkT]

Since you're in WA, does this impact his ability to do Running Start if he wants to? I don't know much about it other than the name and that it's two years of free CC during high school. It sounded like a nice program.

https://www.sbctc.edu/colleges-staff/programs-services/running-start/

 

http://washhomeschool.org/homeschooling/running-start/

 

http://www.k12.wa.us/SecondaryEducation/CareerCollegeReadiness/pubdocs/RunningStart-FAQs.pdf

see

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Homeschool/Private School Students

[Lori D.]

Any chance he might want to go into the military?  Isn't the military still problematic with a home-issued transcript?

 

No, NOT a problem at all.

 

While some individual recruiters may be behind the times so that you have to help walk them through the realities of it, all branches of the U.S. military accept parent-awarded diplomas as equally valid as public school diplomas. Initial "break-through" was in 2003, with more recent updated policies in 2006, 2012, and 2014 -- all were still positive acceptance of parent-awarded diplomas, just tweaking to make policy more clear.

 

What you absolutely do NOT want to do is get a GED if wanting to go into the military, as all branches of the U.S. military have drastically reduced, to the point of virtually not accepting ANY, GED holders as enlistees.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Lori D.

[Lori D.]

That would be the big PA college. I talked to one of their admissions counselors two years ago (since DH and I are both alums, so it would be natural for our kids to consider it), and she said that their website didn’t reflect changes, but that they’re happy to have a parent-issued diploma. PA changed its Homeschool law in October of 2014, so that the parent-issued diploma carries all the same weight as one from the public school or diploma program. My oldest is only tenth grade and doesn’t know what she wants to do yet, so I don’t know how it might work in practice, but that’s what the admissions counselor told me.

 

:hurray:  That's great to hear! They have been so stinky in the past.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Very interesting. I have never heard of a online public school program here in Washington that allowed you to use your own materials. But then the only one I know uses K12.

 

Actual homeschoolers can do Running Start with no problem.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ellie]

Any chance he might want to go into the military?  Isn't the military still problematic with a home-issued transcript?

 

Not so much any more.

[Aras]

Very interesting. I have never heard of a online public school program here in Washington that allowed you to use your own materials. But then the only one I know uses K12.

 

Actual homeschoolers can do Running Start with no problem.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

I can pm you a link to the program if you are interested. They have online classes if we want to take them, but we are doing all DIY classes. I gave them a syllabus and list of materials for each class and they approved or asked more questions about the class I wanted ds to take. I can submit a materials request form by late August, but it has taken 4 - 6 weeks to get the books in my hand. This isn't an issue for the kids taking online classes because they get their support materials online. I knew about the turn-around time so I bought ds his books so that we could start on time, and if we withdraw I don't have to return anything. 

 

I think most kids leave this program by the time they are eligible for Running Start. 

Edited November 8, 2017 by Aras

[Jean in Newcastle]

I can pm you a link to the program if you are interested. They have online classes if we want to take them, but we are doing all DIY classes. I gave them a syllabus and list of materials for each class and they approved or asked more questions about the class I wanted ds to take. I can submit a materials request form by late August, but it has taken 4 - 6 weeks to get the books in my hand. This isn't an issue for the kids taking online classes because they get their support materials online. I knew about the turn-around time so I bought ds his books so that we could start on time, and if we withdraw I don't have to return anything. 

 

I think most kids leave this program by the time they are eligible for Running Start. 

 

Thanks, but I am past where I could use such a program since the one I'm still homeschooling is now in tenth grade.  I had checked out the K12 one for ds but was told that because it was public school, he would have had to go back and start high school from 9th grade no matter what courses he had already taken.  But we are looking at Running Start for next year!   So now that I think of it, that is a point towards staying with the program.  If you stop doing a public program and then decide to go back, they will not accept any non-acredited homeschool credits. 

[HSmomof2]

Nm

Edited November 13, 2017 by HSmomof2