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Homeschool Guidance Counselor


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I've read a couple of posts about hiring a homeschool guidance counselor.

DD and DS are in 9th and 10th grades respectively. We moved overseas 3 years ago, so

I'm feeling a bit out of the loop when it comes to college applications. I'm not sure how

affordable it would be for us, but I'd like to make some inquiries.

 

Has anyone had good experience with a homeschool guidance counselor whom you'd recommend?

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I recommend this board. I am an immigrant who didn't go to school in the USy and didn't even know what an ACT or SAT were.

The advice on this board helped me homeschool both of my children through highschool and get them admitted to good universities (one of them to an extremely selective college).

I don't think there is a counselor who has the equivalent of the combined wisdom of the users here.

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regentrude,

 

I agree with you about the wealth of wisdom that is here on the WTM board! I've learned so much reading current and past threads.

No doubt there's still much more here for me as we continue our homeschooling journey - I've still got a third who is in 5th grade. :laugh:

 

I guess I'm asking because, with all the hats that I wear and an overflowing plate (probably describes most on this board) on top of diminishing

brain capacity, I'm not able to hold that much information in memory. My browser bookmarks are overflowing. And much of what I read last

week about colleges has already leaked out.

 

We'll only have two chances to visit colleges before DS applies - this summer, and hopefully next summer, when we visit the US briefly.

And we'll probably only be able to do that for 1 week tops each trip because of other obligations.

DD will be tagging along, but I'd like for some of it to be for her too. And it seems like her path will be quite different from DS.

 

All that is to say that as much as I love diy, just as we've had to (and will need to) outsource some of the teaching, we might benefit also

in outsourcing some of the guidance counseling. (I know, I'll still have to write the school profile, counselor's letter, transcript, course

descriptions, etc. hehehe...)

 

Just admitting my own limitations :D

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I'd ask yourself exactly what you are looking for in a guidance counselor. To me, the counselor helps pick out the course of study for high school, prepares the transcript, counsels the student toward what college and does the counselor letter.

 

You already say that you plan on writing the school profile, counselor letter, transcript, course descriptions, etc.

 

I would not leave it up to someone else to pick the courses for my child for high school - too many options and opinions of what is best. Ask questions here and then, you can simply pick what sounds best without researching everything. 

 

I would definitely not leave it to someone else to counsel my child toward college decisions. Too often, a "counselor" does what is typical for everyone, but that might not be best for your child. It takes work to sort through colleges and scholarship opportunities, bu I wouldn't want to leave it for someone else to decide what is best for my child.

 

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Fwiw we spent a lot of time out of the US too. We did a couple college visits when my kids were young high schoolers, but none junior or senior year before applying. Do what you can to see archetype schools that can stand in for other schools.

 

(Ds2 did see one school on a scholarship weekend and another at accepted students weekend. But this was after applying and being accepted. )

 

One benefit of asking questions her is you'll get a dozen suggestions rather than just one.

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The one thing I think would have beneficial would be if someone experienced could have looked at ds2's info and given feedback on what was a reach/match/safety.  He ended up applying to more schools than he needed to.  If he could have articulated that he wanted to attend a school with Navy ROTC, even if he didn't get a scholarship, then he could have dropped three schools from the list right away.  If he'd had a better idea of how he stacked against other students (far better than I thought - I tend to see all the warts), he might have applied to fewer schools.  Some sort of had what he wanted but were less of a good match than other schools.

 

I could have paid a couple hundred dollars for this experience with the money we would have saved in application fees, test score reports and official transcripts. 

 

I've not used a consultant, but Barbara Hettle from Homeschool Sucess used to be a frequent board member.  You might take a look at her blog.  

 

I also do agree with Regentrude that most questions can be asked and answered here.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The one thing I think would have beneficial would be if someone experienced could have looked at ds2's info and given feedback on what was a reach/match/safety.  He ended up applying to more schools than he needed to.  If he could have articulated that he wanted to attend a school with Navy ROTC, even if he didn't get a scholarship, then he could have dropped three schools from the list right away.  If he'd had a better idea of how he stacked against other students (far better than I thought - I tend to see all the warts), he might have applied to fewer schools.  Some sort of had what he wanted but were less of a good match than other schools.

 

I could have paid a couple hundred dollars for this experience with the money we would have saved in application fees, test score reports and official transcripts. ..........

 

I've not used a consultant, but Barbara Hettle from Homeschool Sucess used to be a frequent board member.  You might take a look at her blog. 

 

This is the reason that I am considering using a guidance counselor. I agree that it would be up to Dh and me to work with our children in coming up with the final list. I'd just like some help figuring out what are realistic reach/match/safety schools for our kiddos.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll google the name.

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Asking questions in this board was very helpful for me, but a dedicated homeschool counselor can provide in-depth feedback based on personal details that most of us might not want to reveal on a message board.

 

Do you “need†one? Of course not, but for some of us it’s really helpful.

Edited by PinkyandtheBrains.
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