Hello all,
I'm a high school senior graduating in a few weeks. I've been homeschooled for 12 years. My mom thought it might be helpful to other homeschooling parents if I shared some of my thoughts on my highschool experience. So, here are the dos and don’ts of highschoool homeschooling, in my opinion.
Online classes
· Do use Wilson Hill Academy. They have wonderful teachers that care about their students and teach their subjects well. (My favorite teacher ever is Mrs. Chen from WHA. 😊 )
· Do try The Art of Problem Solving even if your kid is not scoring a 1500 on the SAT at 13. I’m not a math genius. I’m bright, but I’m not a genius. Taking AoPS classes was incredibly challenging (and time-consuming) but it boosted my confidence and helped my overall math skills.
· Do use Well-Trained Mind Academy. I feel like Well-Trained Mind Academy has found the perfect balance for more independent students. The teachers are all amazing (shoutout to Mrs. Baker) and use their class time well, but the fact that they only meet once a week leaves a lot more room for flexibility.
· Do try to get your kid their own computer. I had to share a computer with my siblings one year, and while it’s doable, it’s very frustrating having to wait your turn just to be able to do school.
· Do aim to get morning classes. I’d say ideally, 8:00am to noon. Having late afternoon and evening classes is not fun, especially for STEM subjects.
· Do affirm your kid’s grades. If this is the first time they’re receiving letter grades from someone who isn’t their parent (or the first time that they’re receiving letter grades at all), they are probably going to be a little stressed about it. Give your kid something more than “Oh, that’s nice” when they tell you they did well on that test they studied really hard for.
· Do use Khan Academy if your kid is struggling to understand something. Khan Academy has saved me so many times and I am so grateful for it.
· Do let your kid join the class chat groups. Teachers aren’t supposed to encourage the groups since not all parents approve. Many classes will make a group chat anyway. Every group I’ve been in has been 100% G-rated. The groups are also just plain helpful when it comes to homework and projects.
· Do be mindful of your kid’s eye health. With online school, you can easily spend 7 hours on a computer. This is not counting any socialization or other free time activities that also involve a screen. I remember that there would be days where my eyes would hurt so much after school that I just wanted to hide under the covers from any and all light.
· Don’t use Pennsylvania Homeschoolers. Their classes have caused me so much unnecessary stress and frustration. I could rant about the million reasons I hate Pennsylvania Homeschoolers but for now, just trust me and please don’t, don’t, make your kid take any of their classes.
· Don’t assume that because your kid doesn’t have a class one day, it’s a free day. I never had live classes on Fridays, so my family often made plans on Friday mornings/afternoons. Except, Fridays were the days I had all my tests, experiments, and projects. This made quite a few frustrating weekends for me.
· Don’t have your kid take completely asynchronous classes. I have discovered that with most of these types of classes, you’re paying $750 for a course you could have done as an independent study.
· Don’t have all your kid’s classes on one day. Online classes tend to be 60-90 minutes, and when you have classes back to back, the time spent staring at a screen builds quickly.
APs Dos and Don’ts
· Do get an actual class, if you can. I “self-studied” for AP English and it was very stressful because I didn’t have any guidelines to go off of. I think the exam ended up going well (I don’t get my scores until July), but I definitely felt more confident about my AP classes where I had a teacher.
· Do check college websites before picking out AP classes. If your kid is a junior or senior and already has an idea of which colleges they’d like to attend, check the colleges’ rules about transfer credit before you enroll in an AP class. I took AP English Literature and discovered after the fact that the college I’ll be attending only gives writing credit for AP English Language.
· Do make friends with a local school. AP registration is much easier if people know you and know you’re a nice kid.
· Do use the internet for resources. It is insane how many resources are just on the internet. Flashcards, practice tests, diagrams, videos, you name it.
· Don’t have your kid take 17 APs. Colleges have a limit of how many credits you can transfer. I have exceeded my college’s limit with 9. (1 in Freshman year, 3 in both Sophomore and Junior year, 2 in Senior year.)
SAT/ACT/Testing Dos and Don’ts
· Do take the SAT and ACT. As homeschoolers, it’s a way to show that we do indeed, know things. It’s also how some colleges calculate academic scholarships.
· Do talk to your kid when coordinating test dates. My mom told me to sign up for the ACT, so I picked a date and did. Neither of us realized she had scheduled my wisdom teeth removal for the day before. Not a fun testing experience for me.
· Don’t take the CLT. Yes, it is the test specifically designed for homeschoolers. But my gosh it’s not worth the pain. Especially for those taking it remotely, it’s just too much frustration. They expected me to upload a 2-hour long video of myself to satisfy proctor requirements. And I'm sorry, but with my rural Mexico internet, that's not happening.
These are just the things that first came to my mind and I hope they can be helpful to someone. If there are other specific things you'd like me to address please let me know.
Happy homeschooling! 😊