Will you/do you homeschool for high school?

[I.Dup.]

I'm new here and have awhile before I need to handle high school, lol, but my mind is spinning after reading some high school threads here. I tried searching for a thread similiar to this one but couldn't find anything.

 

I'm under the impression after reading some of the high school threads that many of you will no longer homeschool when your children are high school age- is that right? It seemed from the threads I did find, that many people decided to stop homeschooling at that point.

 

I'm wondering how common that is- to stop homeschooling at high school age, and also how to handle the increased needs of high schoolers, esp. for those in big families. What route do you plan on going and how do you plan on handling high school, or how have you?

[Colleen in SEVA]

:lurk5:

 

I am still undecided. The thought of sending him off to high school scares me, but so does the idea of trying to teach him high school at home (while also teaching 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th grades).

 

I look forward to reading the plans of others -- particularly those with larger families.

[Julie in MN]

Have you read the high school board, or just high school posts on this board? If you haven't seen it already, check this board:

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=5

 

It's much less populated over there, but a lot of that may be due to parents just being busier at older ages.

 

I *started* homeschooling a 10th graders, so I may be different than most, but I am less inclined to shelter my kindergartener from the influences of public school than I am inclined to keep my high schooler home (for at least the school part of his day).

 

High schoolers need to transition to independence before adulthood. Large families seem to start the process earlier than small, both because of the needs of the mom and because the child in a small family will be much lonlier working on his own. But it has worked well for us to build independence in 7th & 8th grades.

 

Resources for high schoolers have fluorished as compared to about 8 years ago when I started. You will have no problem finding curriculum, advice books, convention talks, transcript software, diploma providers, and more. If you live in a metro area, you may well find co-op classes & graduation ceremonies. There is so much available where I live that I've had to be discerning in order to keep the "home" in "homeschooling."

 

You might start your research using HSLDA's high school advisors http://www.hslda.org/highschool/ and then go over to the WTM high school forums.

Julie

Edited July 5, 2009 by Julie in MN

[Susie in MS]

We have graduated 3 from our homeschool. For us it is a matter or conviction that our kids not attend public school. The years that they attended ps in elementary was the biggest waste of years in my humble opinion. What I used for highschool was mostly student directed materials: Apologia science, Notgrass history, LLATL lit, etc.

 

So that you can rest at ease:

My dd did not attend college (I am fine with this because of convictions) but has a job at an antique/tea shop. My oldest ds attends college with all expenses are paid via scholarships earned by his high scores (shows that hsing highschool is not only doable, but superior in some cases). He is working a job via co-op and he is making $18.50 per hour for a summer job! He has another year and a half of college left majoring in engineering. Youngest ds is doing online coding for a living. They have all 3 done well.

 

We now have a 4 yo that, Lord willing, we will school from start to finish.

[Renee in NC]

I will homeschool high school - I'd rather send them to school when they are young than anytime after 6th grade or so.

[I.Dup.]

Thank you all!!

 

I will homeschool high school - I'd rather send them to school when they are young than anytime after 6th grade or so.

 

This is the way I feel, I remember my high school years and :blink:...we homeschool on conviction also.

 

I noticed the high school board after I posted this, I was thinking I covered all the bases before posting but I guess I am your typical noob after all. :blushing: When I searched, many of the threads from the high school board came up, but I will keep searching. I will check out the links posted, thank you!

[Murphy101]

I will - I will!

 

We plan to homeschool through high school and maybe even some college!

 

We'll be starting official 9th grade in August.

 

At any given moment we are either excited as all get out or feel unholy terror at the prospect.:lol:

 

But most of the time, we simply feel very strongly that this is best thing for our family and are looking forward to seeing our once little boys become even more of the young men they are meant to be.:001_wub:

 

 

The highschool board has been a great source of information and encouragement for this. The BTDT moms of there have been very patient with all my many questions and freak-outs.:blushing:

[Whereneverever]

Keeping in mind my oldest is only entering 1st grade- at this time, yes, I plan to homeschool all the way through. I think high school and middle school are some of the most social destructive times to attend group schooling.

[Orthodox6]

We have homeschooled two sons already, and sent both to college. Third son attends an outside school, but for medical reasons. DD is entering only the 5th grade this fall, but we plan to homeschool her all the way, unless something legitimate interferes. We want all of our children to acquire a college education, but know that such cannot be imposed, should a young adult obstinately balk or, for valid reason, truly not be suited for college.

[AngelaNYC]

I would love to homeschool through high school, but I go by what my kids want. Oldest dd homeschooled for only 8th grade with every intention of going to high school. Dd(12) has homeschooled over 4 years and wants to audition for several NYC performing arts high schools. If she doesn't get in, she wants to continue homeschooling. Ds(8) so far is in it for the long run. Of course he may change his mind down the road - and that's ok. He's tall and solid and might want to do high school sports.

[Mom22ns]

My oldest will hs all the way through. My youngest is just hsing for the first time this coming year and we'll have to see how that goes. I would be happy for her to hs through high school.

 

I let my kids go to ps in elementary school. We have great ps here and the k-4 building was fabulous. My kids were both reading at a high school level by the time they left that building. They did great in many areas, some that I would have been weaker in (music, art and PE). As they get older though, the schools don't do as well and the social pressures are not what we want any more. I would prefer them be here. There are individual classes that I see as challenging for high school, but I am not intimidated by the process as a whole.

[8filltheheart]

I've taught highschool for the last 5 yrs, and yes, I plan to continue homeschooling my kids through high school. I will be completely honest and say that I am really dreading this school yr, though. I LOVE teaching my little kids, bu I find a lot of the high school subjects drudgery to teach repeatedly and detest keeping up with the grading (especially high school essays).

 

High school is a huge time commitment. With my oldest I had excellent outsourcing options. Not so since we moved. I have tried 3 online schools for high school courses and all of them have left me feeling that I could simply serve my children better by teaching the courses on my own. So next yr, I am not outsourcing anything.

 

FWIW......I didn't dread high school as much the first time around! ;) I noted on another post that the other day I STOPPED counting at 11 yrs for the number of yrs in a row from here on out that I will have either 1 or 2 in high school. If I had continued to count, I would have passed out!!

Edited July 5, 2009 by 8FillTheHeart

[skaterbabs]

We've chosen to allow our children to choose, however, our reasons for homeschooling are scholastic rather than religeous.

[WiseOwlKnits]

I plan to homeschool the whole way through - I taught HS (and MS) before I had kids and that alone is reason enough for me to want to keep them home all the way through!

[Penny from Tenny]

We did homeschool through highschool and we will plan to continue to do so. Our first son graduated in 2004 and never had any dual enrollment or outside classes except for a speech class (kind of needed more than 1 person for that!). I see moms literally wearing themselves out trying to do outside classes with their kids. I find that it just isn't "necessary". If you score well on your ACT/SAT and have a decent transcript you should be fine. I realize there are exceptions and that it depends somewhat on the track your child is pursuing post-hs. Our son received a full scholarship and we used a rather traditional approach with his hs classes - apologia, saxon, smarr literature, etc.

 

Because we homeschool out of conviction rather than preference, homeschooling through highschool is not an option that we give our children. We have always striven for excellence in academics but it hasn't been the primary focus of our homeschool.

[Karen in CO]

He's away in a university in Tokyo right now. I home schooled him through most of high school, but he did take classes at the local cc - Japanese, French, Italian, Chemistry, Physics, Philosophy, and Psychology.

 

I plan to home school the girls through high school, but with the mind that by the last two years they may have outgrown what I can offer.

Edited July 5, 2009 by Karen in CO

[LoriM]

My children chose to homeschool high school. Every year they were given the choice to return to a PS, and every year, emphatically chose to stay home. My 20yo graduates from the local university with a BA in mathematics in December, and my 16yo is concurrently enrolled at the local community college while completing high school.

 

To be fair, I never questioned my ability to facilitate home learning at the high school level, because I teach math and science professionally (now, fulltime again in middle school, previously at colleges/universities). But I think hsing can work in almost any family situation. I always recommend "Home Designed High School" as a great, balanced view of planning the high school years.

[Pamela H in Texas]

My dd was homeschooled for high school (graduated last month). My ds is going into 9th grade at home. We had intended to homeschool all the way through from the get-go but were open to options along the way. No option became superior to homeschooling for our children and situation. YMMV :)

[momtotkbb]

We did not hs our first ds but began hsing with our 2nd dc - our dd. She is going into 8th grade and we will hs through high school. Our plan is to hs our two younger ds's all the way through as well ---the only thing that would change that is if they are very, very good in sports and want the option to play at the college level then we would send them to high school. Our middle ds has already discussed it with us somewhat as right now he thinks he would like to play baseball at the college level --but he is only in 5th grade so we have several more years to determine his talent level and desires, committment, etc.

[swellmomma]

I am planning on it, though until we get to that point I won't know for sure. As well I am not sure how we will hs at that stage, whether traditional(doing our own thing), blended(some based on provincial curric some our own thing), or aligned(all provincial curric). It really depends on what the kids future educations require, to go to uni we will likely do aligned, to do a trade then traditional etc.

 

Ds says he will homeschool right through and even wants to do uni via distance learning at home. DD says she wants to go back to ps so we will see. The other 2 are too young to even thin about high school at this point. I think they should be home right through, but I will decide at that time what is best for each of them.

[Jill- OK]

...that they could choose to go to the local high school.

 

They both opted to stay home.

 

Now, I *plan* on telling all the younger ones the same thing, assuming there are no behavior problems or outstanding reasons not to do so. But I'll never say "never".

 

(I'll also add that I don't think it would have been the very *best* thing for my oldest daughter, who still needed a little extra maturity about peer issues, even though she was feeling the lure of attending school for social reasons. Our compromise was to join a co-op that one of her best friends--and two of mine, lol--particpate in. It was also a good move for my son, who would have been happy as a clam to complete all of his high school years at home, fully...but needs a little work in the areas of being taught by others, and will benefit from someone else teaching him higher science and providing labs.)

 

My reasoning is that there's a lot of natural curiosity there, it's the last opportunity, and my strongest feelings about homeschooling are for elementary kids and middle schoolers. If they need a little more time to "cook" when they reach high school, that's fine...but they're getting close to "grown" in my opinion, by that age, and if they'll do okay academically, and retain their good attitudes and parent/child relationships while attending school, I don't have a big problem with them wanting to branch out from home, especially if the plan is for them to go to college, afterwards. (That's the plan with my oldest two, possibly with some CC for the first couple of years.)

 

But as I said...while it's a policy, it's also one that we'll evaluate with each child.

 

(ETA: I've also strongly encouraged them to make the decision by 9th grade, and stick with it, for all four years, although I would still consider it if they wanted to swap later. I just feel that some continuity is best, in those last four years, although I would never tell a child who wanted to come home that they couldn't.)

Edited July 5, 2009 by Jill, OK

[MIch elle]

My oldest finished 9th grade at a all boys Catholic high school this past year. He wanted to go to high school so we found one we all like and he had a great year.

 

My younger ds is also scheduled to go to the same high school when he completes 8th grade at home.

[Quiver0f10]

We have graduated 3 so far from our homeschool and plan to homeschool the rest all the way through, Lord willing.

[Colleen in NS]

We plan to go all the way through high school, too.

[rockermom]

Our plan is to homeschool all the way through high school. We want to homeschool the early years for academic reasons... the later years for social ones. ;)

 

The reality (since he's still so young) is that we have not idea what will happen.. but we don't plan to send him to school.

[Denise in Florida]

We have graduated one and have one in high school.

 

We have homeschooled from the beginning, when we first started I was certain I would not homeschool for high school. :glare: Of course not, I said, they need high school don't they?

 

We just played in year by year and now one girl is finished and one is a sophomore. Of course, this is something each family has to decide but I can't imagine us doing it any other way. The last four years with my oldest daughter have been an amazing blessing.

[proverbs356lady]

We chose to homeschool through high school. My oldest is now in college and my 2nd is starting his senior year. They did most of their high school work independently and I stepped in as needed. Much of the high school curriculum that we used was written to the student. I paced it out so they knew how much to accomplish each day and they were responsible for completing it. They each started taking classes at our community college midway through 11th grade. That has worked well to transition them into being in a traditional class and learning how to manage their time.

 

Our youngest is starting 3rd grade and we haven't decided if we'll homeschool her all the way through high school.

[orangearrow]

I actually cannot wait to homeschool high school aged kids. The older they get, the more I am enjoying homeschooling. All the high school level literature - the in-depth topics to discuss!!!! I can't WAIT! :)

 

(now, teaching the third child in a row to read, on the other hand, has just about exhausted my patience! Egads!!!!!)

[mrsrevmeg]

Part of the reason that we finally bit the bullet and started homeschooling was what we were seeing ministering to teenagers. Then hubby and I got to talking about ourselves as teens. :scared:(and we were considered GOOD kids) So yes, we will homeschool through high school. One of the things that I love about Tapestry of Grace is that we can use it all the way through high school and that it is made to be used more independently as they get older. Ok, that's two things, but who's counting really????

[called2hs]

My oldest will only be entering 7th grade this year but the two options I'm looking at for high school is either home or homeschool "school" where she will be there 2-3 days a week and at home the others. As I plan out her 7th grade curriculum I am planning long term and looking for something we can stick with through high school but I am willing to deter from that plan if we are indeed able to send her to such a homeschool program. I would like to start her in a program this year but finances dictate and at the moment it's saying "better luck next year!" :D

[jibaker103]

I just pulled my son out of ps in Jan. and now we are about to start 8th grade. The reason for pulling him is because he begged me too so I started researching and investigating and didn't like what I found out. My ds was bored out of his mind in all of his Pre-AP courses and starting to fail math:confused:!!!! He was also being beat up, having trouble with a bully, and dealing with racial attacks and the school did nothing!!!!!

 

My ds now can sleep at night, has no more anxiety, and stopped faking being sick all of the time. He is also accelerating in all of his courses to the point we will probably count 8th as 9th grade, even in math! I have no regrets about pulling him and my ds is a lot happier. In fact he seems to be happy about school starting in August!!

 

Jennifer

Mother to Noah Age 13

[BlsdMama]

We weren't going to homeschool 'til third grade. That was our agreement.

:D

But, here we are, going on our eighth year.

 

I was just asked this question this weekend by my well meaning mother.

 

I won't say we'll always homeschool as I've seen other homeschoolers swear to it and then life happens and for some reason or other are forced to not homeschool.

But I will say, at this time, while I NEVER saw us homeschooling through high school we are beginning to believe it is MORE vital that we homeschool through the high school years than the young years.

 

It doesn't mean that I don't have my doubts. Both DH and I loved high school and sometimes we feel like we're "robbing" the kids. But, we're committed to this and see the long range benefit.

[MamaT]

I have graduated two, my third son will be in 10th grade this fall. It can be a little intimidating when you first begin high school, but eventually you realize it can be done and done well at home. I plan to homeschool all of mine through high school.

[Lovedtodeath]

I'm new here and have awhile before I need to handle high school, lol, but my mind is spinning after reading some high school threads here. I tried searching for a thread similiar to this one but couldn't find anything.

 

I'm under the impression after reading some of the high school threads that many of you will no longer homeschool when your children are high school age- is that right? It seemed from the threads I did find, that many people decided to stop homeschooling at that point.

 

I'm wondering how common that is- to stop homeschooling at high school age, and also how to handle the increased needs of high schoolers, esp. for those in big families. What route do you plan on going and how do you plan on handling high school, or how have you?

I did not read other replies. I was homeschooled for high school. I paid for half of my courses and books through Indiana University. It was a wonderful experience.

 

I think that a lot of the scary high school threads are people who are expecting college level work out of their high schoolers (I think that following TWTM rhetoric stage is exactly this). I have no idea how someone implementing TWTM could put their kid in PS for high school and be happy with that. Most high school classes are way below what a WTM educated child is used to/capable of. My plan is to get DD through high school basics quickly, so that she can start college level work through a college and get the valuable piece of paper for it.

[elegantlion]

We started homeschooling in first grade and just finished our 5th year. We plan to homeschool through high school.

[Mama Lynx]

We intend to homeschool through high school, yes.

 

I'm currently evaluating whether we want to use an organization like NARHS or Clonlara for an accredited diploma.

[called2hs]

Though my oldest is only is 7th grade this fall the plan is to either homeschool through high school or attend a homeschool "school" where she will attend 2-3 days a week and be home th others. I wouldn't mind starting her this year but finances dictate and at the moment they're saying "maybe next year" :D As I plan out our curriculum for this year I'm also looking for something that we can stick with through 12th grade if she will have to remain home but one thing for certain is that public high school is not an option at this time.

[leaird]

I have no idea if I will be brave enough to homeschool in high school. I don't want to send the kids to public school -- I know that for sure. We have a few other options in our area: early college program, dual enrollment at the community college, or charter school. I still have three years to figure things out.

[homeschoolmom4]

This is a hard one. I have one child that hit highschool age and we decided to do the Early College Program. I didn't like the fact that she was exposed to all kinds of improper things, but she is a child that has come to me and wanted me to explain what she has heard. She also isn't a follower. She is strong and doesn't go along with things she doesn't believe in. With that being said my next daughter tries too hard to fit in so I just don't know about trying this program with her. This is a hard question and I just take each year and weigh it. I also am nervous about teaching HS. :confused:

[mommix3]

My kids have already been in public school. Elementary school, but public just the same. I'm "planning" on homeschooling all the way through. But Things do happen,so we'll see. My kids are going into 7th,6th,4th, and k/1st. so we still have a ways to go before we get there. I definately won't be letting them go to junior high.

[mom4him]

I'm new here and have awhile before I need to handle high school, lol, but my mind is spinning after reading some high school threads here. I tried searching for a thread similiar to this one but couldn't find anything.

 

I'm under the impression after reading some of the high school threads that many of you will no longer homeschool when your children are high school age- is that right? It seemed from the threads I did find, that many people decided to stop homeschooling at that point.

 

I'm wondering how common that is- to stop homeschooling at high school age, and also how to handle the increased needs of high schoolers, esp. for those in big families. What route do you plan on going and how do you plan on handling high school, or how have you?

I definitely plan on hs through highschool. I really don't have a plan as yet other than we will probably go more towards online schooling.

[prairiegirl]

Obviously I have no idea what is going to happen in the future but I am hoping very strongly that we will be able to homeschool through highschool. Even though I want to homeschool all the way through, the thought of teaching the highschool years scares the liver out of me. :eek:

[HiddenJewel]

We plan to homeschool all the way through 12th. For the subjects that I cannot teach we will use video instructors. I also plan to have them do community college classes the last 2 years for dual credit.

[Rhonda in TX]

I am willing to homeschool high school. I believe we would be fine. A combination of home, area classes, and, eventually, community college classes, would get us through. DH is not positive, all though he may be leaning towards homeschooling those years as well. He's in denial that our children are getting close to that age, though, so I can't get him to discuss it. :tongue_smilie:

 

We are in agreement that we will not send the kids to public high school, so we would be looking at private school. (I reserve the right to eat these words and send the kids to public school.)

[Ruby]

DD will be a freshman this year. Yes I am totally freaked out...but I've been totally freaked out each year. It just depends on the day. I am sending her to a wonderful private teacher in town who will teach English and History two days a week. We are still trying to figure out if we will use a charter school to tap into Science and Math. We could do those at home. I hope she will jump into community college her junior year. We shall see what happens. Ruby

[angela in ohio]

We will never send our dc to government schools.

 

We would be willing to have them involved in a Classical Christian school for high school (if we were ever to be near a good one and that is how we felt led by God to proceed,) but otherwise we will be homeschooling all the way through.

[Tree House Academy]

We absolutely plan to. I know things can always change, but as of right now, this is the plan. :)

[Vida Winter]

Yes, I plan to homeschool through high school. It is not very difficult with the multitude of resources available these days.

[cathmom]

We will homeschool through high school for all of them. I have already graduated one and am gearing up for #2.

 

I honestly think most of public high school is just wasted time and not a place where I would want my children. And I taught at a high school 2 years ago, so I am not only basing this on my experience and what I've heard.

[Laura Corin]

We plan on our boys going to school for high school. I am working now to align Calvin's work with school curriculum. He is starting to want other intellectual inputs in his life, and we have a very good small, local private school which seems enthusiastic about taking him. They even have a Mandarin teacher.

 

Laura