Transitioning from homeschool to public high school? Anyone BTDT? (Christian content)

[Laurie4b]

Our homeschool philosophy has been that when the kids get to high school age, they have a major say in whether to continue to homeschool or attend public high school. To make that decision real, I took them to the local high school and we met with the guidance counselor, who was really nice. They may well decide that they would like to go.

 

We have scheduled a meeting with their youth group minister to talk over the spiritual pros and cons, and we're working on setting up meetings with other homeschool parents in the area--both those whose kids have gone all the way through homeschool high school to college, and those who have sent their kids part-way through high school. We have a good network here and the kids have a large social network through the various homeschool entities, including year books, proms, and to a lesser extent, some sports.

 

Most who we know who send their kids partway through are Christians who believe it's important that their kids experience the whole "scene" while still under their parents' roof, rather than experience it for the first time in college. This has worked really well for some and not so well for others, but I have a feeling the real issues were there all along, both ways.

 

For any of you who have BTDT, what has your experience been?

[MIch elle]

My ds will be attending a Catholic all boys high school and so far it's been an easy process. I pray that all goes well when he starts in Aug.:001_smile:

 

Sounds like you have a good handle on what your family needs to do to make a wise decision.

[LisaNY]

We put our older dd in ps in 10th gr. She will be a Senior next year.

 

It was not our original plan to send her to ps, but circumstances made it a necessity. We have a *very* limited pool of peers - both in our congregation, and in our hs co-op. Our dd was fine w/hs until the end of 8th gr., but she became increasingly unhappy the following year. It started to take a toll on her emotionally, and academically. We had her in dance and music lessons, but it was definitely only a drop in the bucket.

 

We even had her tested for ADD, because she was having tremendous difficulty in completing her assignments. I would send her off on a reading assignment, only to find an hour later that she had only managed to read a paragraph. The test showed clearly that she did NOT have ADD, but was actually able to focus extremely well. I figured it was just teen stuff, so I gave her "the lecture" about how she would have to pick up the slack in 10th gr., and be more responsible, blah-blah-blah. The poor kid sat down with tears in her eyes and told me that she just couldn't do this anymore. Rude awakening for me.

 

Dh and I researched private - too expensive, and found out that there were big-time problems there -drugs, etc. - the same things you would find in ps. We really felt lead to send her to the local ps, which was an amazing thing in itself, because we swore she'd NEVER go there - no way - uh-uh.

 

When we told her she was going to ps, she was floored. When she said she "couldn't do this anymore", she never dreamed the solution would be ps.

 

It only took our dd about two weeks to adjust to being in ps. She has done *beautifully* there. She is SO much happier. She has consistently made the principal's roll every quarter, and is a member of the National Honor Society and Foreign Language Honor Society. She has made some really great friends. It was not all rosy, however. She did have a couple of "friends" this year, who turned out to be *very* nasty. She joined a Christian Club in the school, which meets once per week.

 

All in all, our experience has been MUCH better than we ever expected. Our younger dd will do the same.

 

Again, it was our original plan to hs all the way through. I am sad that I will not have that opportunity, but I am happy that our dd is happy, and that is all that counts.

 

Oh, and being at ps has actually strengthened her faith. She has been challenged to defend her faith many, many times. She has been sharing her faith with one person for the past year, and he will be visiting our congregation next week. It has been such a blessing to her. I didn't realize how much of an "us and them" mentality we had until our dd went to ps. We feel differently now. We feel a lot more connected to the local community, and that is a good thing. Our dd has met some really wonderful people, but adult and youth.

 

Good luck in your decision-making. For us, we have had complete peace about the whole thing, because we KNOW, without a shadow of a doubt that this was COMPLETELY lead by the L-rd.

[Laurie4b]

Thanks for sharing your experience. It is the opportunity to strengthen their faith via having it tested, that is the most attractive element for us.

 

I have the most mixed feelings about the level of stress good students around here have. All the schools here do block scheduling, which means 8 credits a year instead of 6, and it doesn't work real well with math & foreign language because of the possibility of a gap of a full 9 months between your last math class and your next one. It also is a real strain on the kids taking AP courses, and there is pressure to take a lot of them to get into the local highly competitive university. I'm weighing out the possibility of having one's cake and eating it too in the area of competitive academics (as a homeschooler, you can acheive the same academic results without the stress) with the other positives that a public school offers.

[Jann in TX]

The HARDEST part about the transition was learning how to work the combination locks on the lockers!

 

I was worried about my dd picking up some bad habits/attitudes--but she surprised me! The group of friends she chose to 'hang' with were/are wonderful kids who any parent would WANT their children to be friends with.

 

This dd started PS in 6th grade. She just completed 9th grade--and she did an excellent job handling peer pressure and making choices. Her study skills were/are way above her peers--(she claimed it was due to being homeschooled--I belive her!).

 

There is a slight chance this dd will be back home for the rest of highschool--but it is not due to any issues with the school or her peers.

 

My 6yo just completed K in the public schools. She had a WONDERFUL teacher--it was a great year. I'm schooling dd a bit this summer (she is already 'bored' of summer)--but she will attend 1st grade at the PS next year. I'm not sure about 2nd grade on (They use EVERYDAY MATH--yuck!!!) so she may be homeschooled at that point. I LOVE the fact that we have options in this country!

[mamao32001]

We put our older dd in ps in 10th gr. She will be a Senior next year.

 

We even had her tested for ADD, because she was having tremendous difficulty in completing her assignments. I would send her off on a reading assignment, only to find an hour later that she had only managed to read a paragraph. The test showed clearly that she did NOT have ADD, but was actually able to focus extremely well. I figured it was just teen stuff, so I gave her "the lecture" about how she would have to pick up the slack in 10th gr., and be more responsible, blah-blah-blah. We really felt lead to send her to the local ps, which was an amazing thing in itself, because we swore she'd NEVER go there - no way - uh-uh.

 

 

 

This sounds so much like us, and our son! He is going to attend community college full-time this Fall. He just got to a point where he couldn't study at home anymore. I repeatedly gave the "be more responsible" speech which resulted in some varying effort on his part but nothing lasting. He took two classes this past Spring at cc and did very well. So dh and I decided to let him try FT. It was just like he needed someone other than his mother to be accountable. Praying that it works out well as was your experience with the high school.

 

It was nice to hear that someone else experience this too. Thanks for sharing.

Cheri

[LisaCA]

My oldest went back to ps and the hardest part was learning the process as far as what different teachers wanted, expected etc.

She says now that in some way she regrets the decision to go to ps for academic reasons, but says she does not for the social reasons. This was a small town in southern Ohio... very different then this small town in California.

 

I'm glad she went because she enjoyed marching band and I think with her personality it was a good choice.

 

My other DD's choose to stay at home (not that I would send them to the PS out here) and have joined a charter, so it's a good fit for them.

Every kid is different and I think it's great that you are keeping an open dialog and working through the process together!

[Hannah C.]

I went from homeschool to public high school when I was in 10th grade. It was extremely beneficial for me - I was able to take foreign language, be in choir, and other things I would not have been able to do at home. I graduated in the top 3% of my class, so no problems academically - I think I did so well because of the 11 years of homeschooling I got beforehand. The high school environment was very stressful at times - it was an extremely large school - but the academics made it worth it for me. Also, I did not have access to the kind of homeschool social network you described, so being at school gave me an opportunity to make friends and be around people my own age instead of people much younger or older.

 

I'm now a college student, and despite 3 years at public high school, I was unprepared for the "scene." It was present but extremely avoidable in my high school, and I avoided it. Finding so many people who wanted to party in college was a shock, especially considering where I go.

 

I'm currently still attending church because of friends I met in high school, as well.

[LizzyBee]

Thanks for posting this thread. My oldest will be attending a public charter high school beginning July 21, and I keep wavering between feeling sad and excited.

[Laurie4b]

Yes, wavering would describe me! Definitely feeling sad, definitely worried about the stressful route to university (when I know that we could get to the same goal via less stress), but hopeful about what God might have in mind if either ds does choose this route.

[Kim in TN]

Those that had children enter in the 10th grade, how does that work? Did they get credit for the classes they did at home for 9th grade or did they have to start over?

[Laurie4b]

In our case, they'll get credit. From what I've read on the boards, in other areas, they have to enter as a 9th grader.

[Michelle in MO]

It was not our original plan to send her to ps, but circumstances made it a necessity. We have a *very* limited pool of peers - both in our congregation, and in our hs co-op. Our dd was fine w/hs until the end of 8th gr., but she became increasingly unhappy the following year. It started to take a toll on her emotionally, and academically. We had her in dance and music lessons, but it was definitely only a drop in the bucket.

Good luck in your decision-making. For us, we have had complete peace about the whole thing, because we KNOW, without a shadow of a doubt that this was COMPLETELY lead by the L-rd.

 

My husband was diagnosed with an enlarged heart in the fall, and although he's doing much, much better, it was a rude awakening to us as a family that we were in a very vulnerable position. On top of that, our homeschool group is virtually non-existent anymore. We tried to do the same as Lisa---karate lessons, piano and voice lessons, church, etc. It just hasn't been enough for the girls. I feel like our oldest and middle girls especially have been fairly unhappy for the past couple of years. They've tried to make the most of it, but it's been tough on them.

 

So, we've enrolled them in a Catholic high school about 30 minutes from here. So far the staff and guidance counselor have been lovely and very helpful with all the questions that we have. We still have some fears and trepidation about the kids fitting in, especially our oldest, but we're trying to look at the overall best situation for all three girls. It hasn't been an easy decision, and may require some additional adjustments in the future. We're trying to do this for the overall good of the family and the kids.

 

It's funny---I got a HUGE Rainbow Resource Center catalog in the mail today, and normally I would be diving right into it, starting to plan for next year. It's a very strange feeling to not be doing that. :(

[gardenschooler]

Those that had children enter in the 10th grade, how does that work? Did they get credit for the classes they did at home for 9th grade or did they have to start over?

 

Mine did get credit for her classes taken at home in 9th grade. She only had to take the end of course exams for each class. These are written by the teacher, so it's good to examine the course objectives and make sure you're matching up (as opposed to a standardized test, which would be much easier). I also had to show her Stanford 10 scores, final grades, attendance report, etc. We're in TN.

[Michelle in MO]

Those that had children enter in the 10th grade, how does that work? Did they get credit for the classes they did at home for 9th grade or did they have to start over?

 

the guidance counselor at the Catholic school has been extremely gracious. When I talked to the guidance counselor at our local p.s., however, she made it sound like it would be much more difficult to enroll my oldest. I think it all depends on the school district and on the particular guidance counselor, I think.

[Guest Greg and Kathy Reeves]

In our school district we have the option to dual enroll, which has been a great blessing.

 

Our dd will be a sophomore next year. She has attended ps orchestra since 4th grade, and took three classes at the ps last year. She will do the same this year; orchestra, speech & debate, and biology. We have to report schedule and grades so she can be eligble for All State Orchestra, and to be on the travelling team for Speech & Debate, but it has been a great experience so far. She has made some good friends, and been a good witness.

 

If there's no rule about dual-enrollment, I would ask your district to consider it--it is a win-win as near as I can tell. They are allowed to count our kids as students, which gives them more formula funds, we get to choose what classes they will take, and usually the teachers as well!

[Laurie4b]

In our area, that is not an option. It's too bad, because it would be the best of both worlds.

[LisaNY]

Those that had children enter in the 10th grade, how does that work? Did they get credit for the classes they did at home for 9th grade or did they have to start over?

 

My dd got credit. I had to submit a transcript for 9th gr. However, here in NY, students must take the Regents exams, so my dd had to take the Math A (9th gr.) Regents in 10th gr. I will have our younger dd take the Math Regents while she is still in 9th gr. (at home)

[Jackie in NE]

In our school district we have the option to dual enroll, which has been a great blessing.

 

Our dd will be a sophomore next year. She has attended ps orchestra since 4th grade, and took three classes at the ps last year. She will do the same this year; orchestra, speech & debate, and biology. We have to report schedule and grades so she can be eligble for All State Orchestra, and to be on the travelling team for Speech & Debate, but it has been a great experience so far. She has made some good friends, and been a good witness.

 

If there's no rule about dual-enrollment, I would ask your district to consider it--it is a win-win as near as I can tell. They are allowed to count our kids as students, which gives them more formula funds, we get to choose what classes they will take, and usually the teachers as well!

 

We are considering buying a home in So. Dakota, where the students must be dual enrolled in order to participate in school sponsored activities such as sports, band, etc. (At least that is true in our local district, I don't know if it's state-wide). I will have to submit my dc grades to the district, which I think will be a great way to get organized about record-keeping. I only seem to get things like that done when I absolutely have to. My dc will also have to submit to standardized testing, which I'm not a huge fan of, but it's not going to change the way I homeschool.

 

Anyway, I would love to be able to cherry-pick the classes that I want my dd to take at the ps. Art? Lab courses? Band? These are things I need help with as a homeschooler.....

 

Sounds like a win-win.

 

Thanks for posting. I'm glad to hear of your good experience.

 

Jackie