Year-round schoolers, what do you plan to do for high school?

[Hunter's Moon]

I have asked this on the high school boards but the only answers I got was it won't affect me graduating and getting into college.

 

If you plan on year-round schooling and therefore won't finish one year's work until July or so, what do you plan on doing for college and admissions?

 

Many people just say start earlier but that doesn't make sense to me. If you school year round, there really is no starting or ending, you just end when you end, but if you end in July, what would you do for college?

 

I just thought I would ask here since maybe homeschoolers who just began their year-round schedule thought ahead about this and their plan?

 

Thanks.

[siloam]

I have asked this on the high school boards but the only answers I got was it won't affect me graduating and getting into college.

 

If you plan on year-round schooling and therefore won't finish one year's work until July or so, what do you plan on doing for college and admissions?

 

Many people just say start earlier but that doesn't make sense to me. If you school year round, there really is no starting or ending, you just end when you end, but if you end in July, what would you do for college?

 

I just thought I would ask here since maybe homeschoolers who just began their year-round schedule thought ahead about this and their plan?

 

Thanks.

I hadn't really thought of that. None of our programs start at a specific time or end at a specific time, so our situation is probably slightly different. If I am understanding you right you still consider the start of your year in August/September but you spread it out over the whole year? Thus thinking ahead to your child's Senior year you plan to start at the normal time, but realize that pushing through till right before they start college probably won't go that well. What you really want is for them to have a breather to prep for College (get books, go through them, do some stuff on campus, if they are going away to college saying goodbye to friends, ect...).

 

In that case I would probably stop about weeks before college started and call it good enough, even if you hadn't quite finished your programs. At that point the few extra weeks really aren't going to make a huge difference.

 

Heather

[Joyofsixreboot]

Our 'year' starts in June so we finish up usually some time in early May or earlier depending.

[lotsofpumpkins]

Well, my children are still very young, so I don't have to think about this yet. But I will tell you that when I was a senior in high school and applied to colleges, it was still pretty early in the school year (I'm thinking it was October!) when I got accepted into colleges, even though I wasn't finished with high school yet. So, if that is your concern, I wouldn't worry about it. The colleges don't have time to do all of their admissions in June and July; they do accept students earlier than that, assuming you are going to actually finish the courses you are currently taking as a high school senior (I think I had to have completed transcripts sent to them at the end of the school year to make the admissions process complete). I don't know if being a homeschooler makes the process different though. If you are concerned just because you want a break before starting college, then try to accelerate your schedule a bit by taking fewer breaks here and there so you can finish a month or so sooner than you are planning.

[lisabelle]

:iagree: Applying to the UC universities, I believe the deadline was November 30. By January I had my admissions letter and had received enough scholarship and grant money to pay for at least the 1st year (my parents had no money to send any of their 5 kids to college--but 4 of us managed to pay our own way, 2 of us to Master's degrees). Once I knew, in January that everything was all set, I took it down a notch academically. I'd had straight A's all through high school (though I broke it with a B the first semester of calculus my senior year and I didn't entirely slack off, but I definitely didn't work myself to death those last few months of high school. I took some time to enjoy the more social aspects of high school, with ultimately very little impact on 2nd semester grades (maybe 2 B's that last semester?).

Edited September 6, 2010 by lisabelle
end parentheses

[MorganClassicalPrep]

Our 'year' starts in June so we finish up usually some time in early May or earlier depending.

 

My daughter is only 4, but my long term plan involves year round schooling, all the way through high school. But we also "start" in June, and take May as our "summer" break. I'm a college student (and will be until DD is 11-12), so May is a very busy month for me.

 

Plus, it makes more sense for me to end at (well, around) the same time as everyone else than to start at the same time. For exactly this reason. Applying to college, and you need to be done at a similar time. (Many colleges want a final transcript at the end of the year, and will take back their acceptance if they don't like what they see). Also for promoting to the next grade at the same time as others, making my portfolio at the end of the year and including all of one grade instead of half.

 

I wouldn't plan to end in July. If we got in a situation where we were behind for some reason, I'd work extra hard to get caught back up. I see you are in 11th grade, if you want to work year round I'd say work through next summer and take short breaks, but plan to be done with your senior year around the same time as the public schools are.

[FO4UR]

If I were in your shoes, I would keep my focus on getting that college admission & some good scholarships...and I would start the ball rolling now. I don't think it matters at all if you end high school in May or July. No one will really care except you...and maybe your parents.

 

Think about what courses you should cover before taking the SAT/ACT. I think that's the bigger question.

 

It wouldn't hurt to call the admissions office at your first few picks for college, and ask what they want to see on a homeschooler's transcript. In fact, I would do that tomorrow and start making plans to build up your transcript...don't ask them about graduating in July...it's truly a non-issue from their standpoint. jmho.

[JenC3]

Dd1 will finish at 17 and we plan on taking advantage of dual enrollment so she will likely already be "enrolled" locally. i also want her to do a gap year and she can attend part time from home. I prefer she not go away to college until she is starting her junior year and specialty.

 

Ds will start K in Jan at 4.5 so he will finish at 17.5 as well so we hope to follow the same path. DD2 is too young for me to think about!

[missmoe]

As my children have hit the high-school years, we've moved to a traditional school year. My ds is a senior this year and I'm a bit worried about what his senior year is going to look like on his applications. He takes a class or two at the city college and then works on a high school class each three weeks. So, we'll have to let the colleges know that he is currently not taking class a and b, but will complete it sometime before the end of the year. I suppose it would be the same thing with a student in a nontradional year. When applications go in let the colleges know what the grades and classes are currently, but also the classes he/she will be completing the remainder of the year. I'm not sure if the colleges care if the classes end in May, June, or July.

 

I'm not sure if this helped---I would say talk to a college and see if you can get some feedback there.

[Hunter's Moon]

Thanks, everyone!

 

I'll definitely call the colleges tomorrow and see when they accept final transcripts and also what they'd like to see on a homeschooler's transcript.

 

I somewhat planned ahead on a calendar and if I start in the middle of July/beginning of August I should be good to go when it comes to college and the final transcript.

 

Thanks, once again, everyone!