**UPDATE (in OP on what I had been told)——Did you homeschool through high school? If so, I have questions please. 😊

[Joyfullyblessed]

UPDATE! 

A few of you had read my post from last week saying that the college told me our son must go through an accredited program in order to be considered for acceptance. I was frustrated and disappointed in this news, but also knew that person I spoke to may have been mistaken. Well, the home education specialist was back in the office today and he confirmed that the lady who told me that last Friday was indeed wrong. I’m soooo relieved to hear this, and now I can finally make some official decisions on our sons schooling choices this year. Yay!!! 👏😁👏😁👏

 

Hello, 

This post is specifically for those who have homeschooled or are homeschooling their kids through high school. 

Our son will be going into 10th grade this coming school year. He did online schooling last year through a fully accredited program. Overall, it was a very good experience for him (with just a few tweaks here and there needed).  We’ve discussed many times if he wants to continue with the online school, and he says yes. Most likely that will be the route we choose, but I am just curious about those who have chosen to homeschool on their own through high school. Here are some of my questions...

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? Meaning, the online school our son attended last year was fully accredited. 

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

I know some of my questions may seem silly or even worded incorrectly, but I’m simply trying to find out more information from those who have done this. The online schooling is a nice option (he does not want to go to the local high school which is fine by me), but it is still a bit expensive. Thank goodness for payment plans. 😄🙌

Thanks for any info offered! 

 

Edited July 29, 2019 by Joyfullyblessed

[alewife]

43 minutes ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

Hello, 

This post is specifically for those who have homeschooled or are homeschooling their kids through high school. 

Our son will be going into 10th grade this coming school year. He did online schooling last year through a fully accredited program. Overall, it was a very good experience for him (with just a few tweaks here and there needed).  We’ve discussed many times if he wants to continue with the online school, and he says yes. Most likely that will be the route we choose, but I am just curious about those who have chosen to homeschool on their own through high school. Here are some of my questions...

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? I know there are online course that are accredited (like Derek Owens), but I’m not sure if they exist for all subjects. 

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

I know some of my questions may seem silly or even worded incorrectly, but I’m simply trying to find out more information from those who have done this. The online schooling is a nice option (he does not want to go to the local high school which is fine by me), but it is still a bit expensive. Thank goodness for payment plans. 😄🙌

Thanks for any info offered! 

 

1.  Most of my kids' classes were created by me and were not accredited.  It was not an issue with any college.  

2. I created my kids' transcripts using Microsoft word.  Each transcript was a page long that listed the courses taken along with grades and standardized test scores.  It is an easy process, and I think there are software packages available for those that want to use a standard template rather than creating a transcript from scratch like I did.

3. No.  

4. I wrote a course description for each class listed on the transcript.  I tried to make sure the course description was written at the conclusion of the course, rather than waiting to write the course description in the summer before college applications were due.  

Good luck!

[mirabillis]

I know it seems so overwhelming to begin with. When my ds started 9th grade just a few years ago, I thought I'd never be able to homeschool through high school... even after hs'ing him since K. But after much research, much advice on these boards, we got it all together - and now that same ds is about to start 12th grade. I've just completed my school profile and course descriptions (about to tackle the transcript and counselor letter) and he's cruising toward college apps in the fall.

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? I know there are online course that are accredited (like Derek Owens), but I’m not sure if they exist for all subjects. 
We had both home-brewed and online (mostly - as this child thrived on accountability). We never worried about 'accreditation' - just found the best classes that fit our needs. We used Pennsylvania Homeschoolers, Derek Owens, Edhesive, Well Trained Mind Academy, Wilson Hill Academy, WriteatHome, & Homeschool Spanish Academy. (Those were our hits - we had a couple misses). He also took AP exams and SAT II tests whenever possible for outside testing validation (but this is my test-hound kid - not all will be like this, even of mine!)

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?
Working on it now. Have a few templates I'm working from - pretty easy to do. The school profile+counselor letter are far harder. 😉

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 
Don't know yet... I'll let you know come spring-time.

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 
I was and am his admin/counselor. Since he outsourced nearly all classes after 9th grade, it was my job to keep him on task. Every Sunday, I go through each class' syllabus and lay out what he should do day-to-day Mon-Fri. And he was then accountable to me each day. So far, so good. And age helps. Maturity and responsibility (for completing assignments/studying) I have found have come more with age.

 

[Lori D.]

19 hours ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? I know there are online course that are accredited (like Derek Owens), but I’m not sure if they exist for all subjects. 
2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?
3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 
4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

1. We never worried about finding accredited courses, as we had no need for them.
We did all courses at home, with the exception of 2 dual enrollment courses for each DS in 12th grade.

Accreditation comes from a school or "umbrella" or "cover school" organization that "jumps the hoops" set by a regional accrediting organization in order to earn the certification that says they are "accredited" by virtual of having fulfilled certain requirements. Only schools or online course providers or "umbrella/cover schools" can be "accredited". Curricula and programs are NOT accredited. The vast majority of university and community colleges do NOT require or look for an accredited diploma. The U.S. Military does NOT require or look for an accredited diploma. The only places I have seen that may require either an accredited diploma or a GED are trade schools, cosmetology schools, and possibly an overseas university.

(NOTE: if planing on playing Division I or II sports in college, then you need to use NCAA "approved" online courses or materials, but "approved" is not the same thing as "accredited".)

2. Not hard at all to create a transcript. (just takes a bit of your time)
I just used a word-processing program, and listed each course, the amount of credit earned, and the grade earned. Many people use a spread sheet program to create a transcript. Some use a downloadable transcript template. Many people use an online transcript creator., or hire a service to create the transcript. These services can be handy, but they do not add "accreditation" -- and they still require you keeping a list of your courses/credits/grades for them to input into their transcript creator. IMO, the "hardest" parts of making a transcript are: deciding whether or not to weight grades, and calculating the grade points in order to calculate the overall GPA, lol.

3. Not hard at all to apply and be accepted to college. We had zero problems getting into the colleges of choice.

4. Just scheduled regular little bits of time to update my records.
At the end of each quarter (every 9 weeks), I pulled out some tests and samples of work for each course and threw them in a box. I also listed books we'd read on a booklist, and noted any hours for volunteering or time spent at extracurriculars, and any special leadership awards or opportunities. At the end of each school year, I took a few hours to:
- update the transcript
- update the Course Description document -- write up the short 1-paragraph course description for each course
- update the Awards & Extracurriculars document -- write up a short description 

BEST of luck, as you begin to wear the administrator hat of homeschooling high school. Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

Edited July 23, 2019 by Lori D.

[JenneinCA]

2 hours ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

Hello, 

This post is specifically for those who have homeschooled or are homeschooling their kids through high school. 

Our son will be going into 10th grade this coming school year. He did online schooling last year through a fully accredited program. Overall, it was a very good experience for him (with just a few tweaks here and there needed).  We’ve discussed many times if he wants to continue with the online school, and he says yes. Most likely that will be the route we choose, but I am just curious about those who have chosen to homeschool on their own through high school. Here are some of my questions...

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? I know there are online course that are accredited (like Derek Owens), but I’m not sure if they exist for all subjects. 

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

I know some of my questions may seem silly or even worded incorrectly, but I’m simply trying to find out more information from those who have done this. The online schooling is a nice option (he does not want to go to the local high school which is fine by me), but it is still a bit expensive. Thank goodness for payment plans. 😄🙌

Thanks for any info offered! 

 

Hi

I have two kids currently in college and a third still in high school.  I homeschooled all of them from the beginning.

1.  I didn’t worry about accreditation.  It wasn’t an issue.

2. It wasn’t too bad.  We listed the classes and gave them grades and moved on.  

3.  Nope.  Kid #1 was accepted to her preferred school with a big scholarship.  The scholarship was solely based on her ACT score.  No one knew or cared that she had been homeschooled.  Kid #2 was accepted to his current school as a transfer student.  He did completed an Associates Degree pretty much instead of high school.  Kid #3 is going to be different than either of the others because he doesn’t know what he wants to do.  It looks like community college for him until he has a plan.

4.  I had a general list of what they needed to do.  We worked backwards from what colleges wanted.  They wanted x years of English and y years of history and things like that.  And then adapted to the situation.  Kid #1 had a pretty typical looking transcript and class list.   Kid #2 did not.  I expect that Kid #3 is not going to either.  

At some point I had to realize that the point of all this was to launch adults not fill in checkboxes.  Sometimes we hit the boxes and sometimes we didn’t.  And that is okay.

 

[mirabillis]

1 hour ago, Lori D. said:

- update the Awards & Extracurriculars document -- write up a short description 

 

 i've heard of things like this, or an activity guide. some use these, some don't. did you upload this doc as an additional transcript in transcript section? do you have sample to look at for this?

[EKS]

3 hours ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? I know there are online course that are accredited (like Derek Owens), but I’m not sure if they exist for all subjects. 

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

1.  We never bothered to make sure that all courses were taken through accredited institutions.  As it has turned out, about half of each of my sons' credits will have come from accredited sources.  As an aside, note that DO is not accredited.

2.  It's not hard at all--just be sure to keep good records.

3.  My older son applied to five fairly selective colleges, got into four of them and was waitlisted at the fifth.

4.  I had a list of courses that needed to be done based on what the colleges my sons would likely be interested in required.  Then I just made sure those things were done.  The requirements are pretty straightforward.

[alewife]

1 hour ago, Lori D. said:

(NOTE: if planing on playing Division I or II sports in college, then you need to use NCAA "approved" online courses or materials, but "approved" is not the same thing as "accredited".)

 

Unless something has changed in the past three years, you do not have to use an NCAA  approved online course provider - you just need to list yourself as the teacher of record on the worksheets homeschoolers need to complete.  As long as the  textbooks and other materials that you select for your home-brewed classes are at the high school level or above, the NCAA will be satisfied.  

[Momto6inIN]

Repeating what everyone else has said ... accreditation is not an issue, transcript was easy to create, and we had no problem getting into college of choice. Record keeping and figuring out what courses to have them take is more tricky, but you only have to do one year at a time and it's not too hard after you have a basic plan that takes into account most college requirements.

To be perfectly honest, filling out the Common app as the counselor for the first time was a lot more stressful and time intensive than actually homeschooling my first high schooler for 4 years! The second time around the Common app was much easier.

[daijobu]

4 hours ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? I know there are online course that are accredited (like Derek Owens), but I’m not sure if they exist for all subjects. 

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

 

 

 

1.  Accreditation:  I'm not sure what accrediting agency you are referring to.  Could you elaborate?  This was not an concern for us, as I'm unaware of why this is important.

2.  Transcript:  It was a lot of work and we went through a lot of interations.  I've had some experience using spreadsheets, but it was mostly with using formulas.  I was wholly unfamiliar with how to make a spreadsheet look beautiful.  Once a homeschooling mom clued me in (hint:  extremely narrow column widths, and widespread use of merge cells), I was off to the races.  Still, whenever someone else in my family suggested a change, it would take 45min - 1 hour to clean up all the merged cells and whatnot.  Lots of suggestions for edits were made, lots of versions, lots of double checking of math for GPA calculations.  I recommend getting started on this asap, even for your 10th grader.  

3.  Admissions: Dd was admitted to Stanford and all her STEM safeties.  She was rejected by the Ivies and MIT.  Overall, we're happy with her result.  

4. Be organized.  I have a google drive with folders and subfolders:

You can not start this process too early.  You can start now by collecting course descriptions into one document.  Join the hs2coll yahoogroup and the College Confident Homeschoolers FB group.  But WTM is an excellent source of advice as well.   In August, create a counselor account on the Common App if you think you'll be using it.  (This is tricky because it requires a student with an account to invite you, but you can work around that.)  Familiarize yourself with the CA.  It's a lot to wrap your head around, but overall I found it very forgiving of errors and redos.  

Stay on top of the testing schedule, which will depend on your student's goals.  

 

[Miguelsmom]

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? Meaning, the online school our son attended last year was fully accredited.  We didn't worry about accreditation except for foreign language.

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child? It's a page long document that lists his classes, the year taken, and grades. So it was pretty easy to keep up every semester. 

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? He automatically gets in to our local college because he's currently a dual enrollment student. He's currently applying to State Universities. 

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. We planned his 4 years of high school out. Then kept plugging away at each subject. When one finished we'd start the next. We school year round so it was easier for us to complete everything. It's taken us 5 years because of dual enrollment and age.

[Lori D.]

1 hour ago, mirabillis said:

 i've heard of things like this, or an activity guide. some use these, some don't. did you upload this doc as an additional transcript in transcript section? do you have sample to look at for this?

I just did it up as a text document list. DS#1 was a transfer student and just applied to/was accepted directly, so we got to bypass having to upload much of anything. However, the document was very handy for using towards short essay answer responses to questions for scholarship applications.

 

1 hour ago, alewife said:

Unless something has changed in the past three years, you do not have to use an NCAA  approved online course provider - you just need to list yourself as the teacher of record on the worksheets homeschoolers need to complete.  As long as the  textbooks and other materials that you select for your home-brewed classes are at the high school level or above, the NCAA will be satisfied.  

Sorry -- I was not specific. I meant if using online courses for the core 16 credits for NCAA you go with "approved providers" -- at least NCAA *used* to require approved online course providers... And there were threads from about 8 years back where everyone was listing textbook publishers that NCAA accepted/did not accept as approved. Is that no longer the case???

[alewife]

Just now, Lori D. said:

I just did it up as a text document list. DS#1 was a transfer student and just applied to/was accepted directly, so we got to bypass having to upload much of anything. However, the document was very handy for using towards short essay answer responses to questions for scholarship applications.

 

Sorry -- I was not specific. I meant if using online courses for the core 16 credits for NCAA you go with "approved providers" -- at least NCAA *used* to require approved online course providers... And there were threads from about 8 years back where everyone was listing textbook publishers that NCAA accepted/did not accept as approved. Is that no longer the case???

I don't think that was ever the case, even though some homeschool providers did jump through the hoops of getting NCAA approval.   I was involved in those thread discussions 8 years ago  and had numerous conversations with the guy who was the homeschool liaison at the NCAA (I am not sure if that position exists today.).  While there was a list of approved online providers, those were more of an issue with public cyber-schooled students, not us homeschoolers.  

The NCAA also had an approved textbook list, but their list back then did not include the textbooks that we were using for math.  When I questioned the NCAA rep (I think his name was Kevin) about the process of getting these textbooks approved, I was assured that I didn't have to use a textbook that was on their list.  I just had to make sure that the book I was using was at least high school level.  

By the time my son was going through the process and debating playing D1, the NCAA had changed its process and had implemented worksheets that homeschoolers had to complete.  Online courses still did not have to be approved by the NCAA.  The homeschooling parent just had to list herself as the teacher of record on the worksheets since she had the responsibility to issue the official grade on the homeschool transcript.

 

[MerryAtHope]

6 hours ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? Meaning, the online school our son attended last year was fully accredited. 

 

Classes don't have to be accredited to get into most colleges. This was not an issue for us. We did all classes at home for all 4 years of high school (for both kids), and none of them were accredited.

6 hours ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

 

Really easy. I kept records every year and just updated the transcript form at the end of each year. 

6 hours ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

 

No. My oldest applied to and was accepted at a couple of private schools and received some nice partial scholarships but not enough to make them affordable for us. He opted to go to the local community college first and then transfer. My youngest is doing the same.

6 hours ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

 

First,  homeschooling was one of my top priorities. I ordered my day around it except in case of emergency. Second, we had used a workbox system for years (which is like a 3-D schedule with materials organized) and that worked well for us. One of mine continued through high school and the other went to a "stack" method but still did each subject daily.  That kept them organized and on track. I kept a schedule and plans in my Teacher Binder and any needed manuals/other materials in my Teacher Box.  Third, I checked work daily most of the time, and I met with my kids daily to go over previous work and upcoming work, to hold discussions, and to do any teaching needed. Our daily one-on-one time was generally 30-60 minutes. For video courses, I did generally watch videos with them (but not when my oldest was learning Japanese!). I was always available for questions throughout the day as well. In the evenings, I read aloud to them throughout high school (less often those last 2 years as they got busier, but usually 3-4 nights a week.)

Each year I looked over our 4 year-plan to see what credits my kids needed, and I discussed with them what courses they would like to take to fulfill those credits. 

I really feel blessed to have had this time with my kids! 

[Lori D.]

1 hour ago, alewife said:

I don't think that was ever the case, even though some homeschool providers did jump through the hoops of getting NCAA approval.   I was involved in those thread discussions 8 years ago  and had numerous conversations with the guy who was the homeschool liaison at the NCAA (I am not sure if that position exists today.).  While there was a list of approved online providers, those were more of an issue with public cyber-schooled students, not us homeschoolers.  

The NCAA also had an approved textbook list, but their list back then did not include the textbooks that we were using for math.  When I questioned the NCAA rep (I think his name was Kevin) about the process of getting these textbooks approved, I was assured that I didn't have to use a textbook that was on their list.  I just had to make sure that the book I was using was at least high school level.  

By the time my son was going through the process and debating playing D1, the NCAA had changed its process and had implemented worksheets that homeschoolers had to complete.  Online courses still did not have to be approved by the NCAA.  The homeschooling parent just had to list herself as the teacher of record on the worksheets since she had the responsibility to issue the official grade on the homeschool transcript.

 

Thanks so much for this clarification, for anyone looking ahead to having to prep paperwork for NCAA!

[royspeed]

13 hours ago, Momto6inIN said:

Repeating what everyone else has said ... accreditation is not an issue, transcript was easy to create, and we had no problem getting into college of choice. Record keeping and figuring out what courses to have them take is more tricky, but you only have to do one year at a time and it's not too hard after you have a basic plan that takes into account most college requirements.

To be perfectly honest, filling out the Common app as the counselor for the first time was a lot more stressful and time intensive than actually homeschooling my first high schooler for 4 years!

Many good comments in this thread. — As for our own experience with getting two kids through the high school years, it is consistent with what Momto6inIN says above; no need to repeat. Not many accredited courses, yet:

• Both our students received significant merit aid (one a full ride, the other full tuition).
• Both did a number of university courses as part of their high school educations.
• Both included in their college applications LORs from college professors.

Key idea: You don't need accredited courses as long as you have a few objective items in your student's records that lend credibility to all the work you did at home, e.g., a few strong test scores, or a few college courses, and so on.

Joyfullyblessed:

There's an easy way for you to get all your questions answered and develop your own roadmap to the high school years and college admissions/college financing for your student — and that's an online workshop given by my wife, Diane Speed:

• Homeschooling the College-Bound Student

As part of her workshop, you get a workbook with all the key guidelines & principles, lots of useful reference information, templates for your transcript, course descriptions, activity resumés, etc. — If you have any questions about it, you can contact her through the webpage above.

—Roy Speed

Edited July 23, 2019 by royspeed
Clarity

[Donna]

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? Meaning, the online school our son attended last year was fully accredited. 

Many courses were created by me at home so not accredited. Dual enrollment courses through the community college courses, credits will be accepted as long as dd attends a non-private college.

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

Not hard at all. I found an online template that worked for our situation and filled it out.

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

Well, she started dual enrollment at the community college at 15 (the earliest she was allowed). She just tested at the college to ensure readiness. She will begin applying to four year institutions this fall.

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

We kept a weekly assignment log for the day-to-day stuff. I wrote assignments in (until she started doing dual enrollment, then it was up to her to write them in) and she checked off when completed. I kept a planning worksheet for myself of what she needed to cover throughout high school and we checked off boxes or edited as we went along.

[regentrude]

16 hours ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? Meaning, the online school our son attended last year was fully accredited. 

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years.

1. Completely unnecessary. You don't need "accredited" classes unless you are in California and applying to a public college.

2. Easy. If you keep good records, the actual transcript doesn't take long. There are good templates shared in the threads linked in the sticky.

3. No. Getting into "a" college is totally easy. Getting into a good college requires decent test scores. Getting into highly selective colleges (acceptance rate lower than 10%) is a lottery for everybody; my DD got admitted to two such schools.

4. Four year plan in pencil for basic coursework, yearly plan for course details, semester overview of assignments/materials. 

Edited July 23, 2019 by regentrude

[Joyfullyblessed]

Thank you all SO much for your replies and information. I am very surprised to hear that we don’t have to use an accredited program necessarily. All I’ve heard when I began to look into his 9th grade year was to make sure the program was accredited. Geez, I have a lot to learn! 

It all still sounds a bit scary and overwhelming to me, but I’m going to research everything more in the next few days before I just decide to register our son with the online program. Again, it’s not that it was a bad program, but what I didn’t like was the amount of time he was staring at a screen. Plus, it was a lot of just read this, and answer 20-25 questions.  This isn’t the best learning style for our son, but I was impressed with how well he adjusted. He did well overall, but I don’t know if he really retained a whole lot of what he learned. 

Anyway, I need to do my homework and see what choice will be best for him. Thanks again for all the replies. I really appreciate the help, advice, and suggestions! 😁

[Lori D.]

31 minutes ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

Thank you all SO much for your replies and information. I am very surprised to hear that we don’t have to use an accredited program necessarily. All I’ve heard when I began to look into his 9th grade year was to make sure the program was accredited. Geez, I have a lot to learn! 

It all still sounds a bit scary and overwhelming to me, but I’m going to research everything more in the next few days before I just decide to register our son with the online program. Again, it’s not that it was a bad program, but what I didn’t like was the amount of time he was staring at a screen. Plus, it was a lot of just read this, and answer 20-25 questions.  This isn’t the best learning style for our son, but I was impressed with how well he adjusted. He did well overall, but I don’t know if he really retained a whole lot of what he learned. 

Anyway, I need to do my homework and see what choice will be best for him. Thanks again for all the replies. I really appreciate the help, advice, and suggestions! 😁

Happy to help!

Yes, if an online program is accredited, for their marketing purposes and to bring in customers, they will focus on this idea of "accreditation". One thing they don't tell you though, is that some accreditation is meaningless -- accreditation is only as meaningful/useful as the accrediting agency. And for schools/online course providers, there are really only about 6-8 regional accrediting agencies whose accreditation really *means* anything.

Also: deciding to NOT use this online program doesn't mean you can't still use online courses -- it means you can be *selective* about your online classes, and use just a few each year for the subject areas that you feel weaker at mentoring/teaching. For example, many people like to outsource Math, Science, and Writing at the high school level -- and there are some fantastic online teachers out there for all of those subjects (and all the other subjects as well). Many of these online classes are "live" and have teacher and class interaction, and then a reading/writing portion that is NOT online -- so there are online options that reduce overall time of staring at a screen, AND provide actual interaction/thinking rather than answering multiple choice questions.

If wanting ideas for various online courses, just start a thread on the topic, and people will be happy to share their experiences and recommendations!

For your overall planning for high school, if wanting to keep your student's future options open for possible college, this is the set of credits you would want to complete during high school to be eligible for admission to a majority of colleges. (If planning for a top tier / selective / competitive college, you would need to add to this.) :

4 credits = English (usually each class is about 1/2 Literature + 1/2 Writing, but there are other options, too)
3-4 credits = Math (Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, + many colleges want a 4th math above Algebra 2)
3-4 credits = Science, with labs (some colleges want Biology and Chemistry, but most are very flexible about which Sciences)
2-3 credits = Social Studies (many colleges want 1.0 credit of Amer. History; some also want 1.0 credit of World Hist./Geog., or 0.5 credit each of Econ & Gov't)
2-4 credits = Foreign Language (same language; Latin and ASL are accepted by almost all colleges)
1 credit = Fine Arts
4-8 credits = Electives (examples: Computer, Logic, Health, PE, Religious/Biblical Studies, Vocational-Technical classes, courses in personal interest areas, "Academic Electives" (credits in English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Foreign Language beyond the required credits), additional credits of Fine Arts, etc.)
22-24+ credits = total

That's about 5.5-6 credits per year, with plenty of room to explore areas of high interest to the student, or do additional credits in a subject area that the student is thinking of going into as a career. And, it's not too overwhelming for if you decide to NOT go with an all-in-one online program and plan. out your student's courses for each year.

BEST of luck, whatever you decide! Warmest regards, Lori D.
 

[Joyfullyblessed]

Thank you, Lori D. 😊

Reading all these responses is getting me excited about homeschooling through high school. By outsourcing certain subjects, then helping out with others I feel more comfortable with, I think I COULD actually do this. My goal is to make sure that our son genuinely enjoys learning and is more motivated about school. Sure, I know there are subjects that just aren’t all that enjoyable and we just need to work through them the best we can (which is a teaching lesson in itself), but that doesn’t have to apply to all 6 or 7 courses he takes. 

The curriculum with the online school honestly seems pretty dry and boring. Plus, since I’ve homeschooled (some years full time, others only part time) our son since kindergarten, I know his learning style. He learns best with interaction, hands on activities, and lots of visual learning. My husband and I are the same way.  Last year it was just sit at the computer screen most of the day, with 5 minute breaks between classes, reading and answering questions. There’s definitely a place for that too, just not everything. 

I think I will begin a new thread about various online courses to get suggestions. Thanks so much!

[BlsdMama]

On 7/22/2019 at 2:45 PM, Joyfullyblessed said:

Hello, 

This post is specifically for those who have homeschooled or are homeschooling their kids through high school. 

Our son will be going into 10th grade this coming school year. He did online schooling last year through a fully accredited program. Overall, it was a very good experience for him (with just a few tweaks here and there needed).  We’ve discussed many times if he wants to continue with the online school, and he says yes. Most likely that will be the route we choose, but I am just curious about those who have chosen to homeschool on their own through high school. Here are some of my questions...

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? Meaning, the online school our son attended last year was fully accredited. 

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

I know some of my questions may seem silly or even worded incorrectly, but I’m simply trying to find out more information from those who have done this. The online schooling is a nice option (he does not want to go to the local high school which is fine by me), but it is still a bit expensive. Thank goodness for payment plans. 😄🙌

Thanks for any info offered! 

 

We've graduated two (one is now a junior at state flagship, the other has graduated college.)  We have a senior, a junior, and a freshman this year.

1. I did not bother to make sure classes were accredited.  My first took ALL of her classes at home, unaccredited, taught by me, with the exception of Russian I & II.  The second took most of his classes at home with the exception of dual enrolled CC classes his junior and senior year.  The third and fourth are the same as #2.
2. It was easy to create a transcript.  I used a format found online and did it by subject area rather than by grade level because it was more appropriate to how we school.  My transcripts were readily accepted.  I will add that their CC grades and ACT/SAT scores did support the grades I gave.
3. My children had zero issue getting into college.  Both went into the University of Iowa.  Both received heavy merit aid.
4. Update the transcripts every year.  It is a BEAR to do it later.  Just make notes and file.   Credits can be issued by # of hours or, according to our homeschool program, when 75% of the text/program has been completed. 🙈

Essentially, it's good to look forward.  Pick a likely school and look at their wishlist requirements - 4 years of foreign language, 3 years of social studies, 3 years of sciences, 3 years of math, 4 of English, etc.   Then, with this in mind, draw out what needs to be completed each year beginning freshman year.  Allow for false starts.  I prefer to load heavy early to allow for the inevitable, "Well, that didn't go according to plan," with math being my prime example.


I think there are 100 routes to the end goal.  I think the biggest hurdle to homeschooling high school is application over theory.  Use whatever you need to use to hold yourself and your child accountable to accomplish the goals!!


 

[2_girls_mommy]

On 7/23/2019 at 1:43 PM, Joyfullyblessed said:

Thank you, Lori D. 😊

Reading all these responses is getting me excited about homeschooling through high school. By outsourcing certain subjects, then helping out with others I feel more comfortable with, I think I COULD actually do this. My goal is to make sure that our son genuinely enjoys learning and is more motivated about school. Sure, I know there are subjects that just aren’t all that enjoyable and we just need to work through them the best we can (which is a teaching lesson in itself), but that doesn’t have to apply to all 6 or 7 courses he takes. 

The curriculum with the online school honestly seems pretty dry and boring. Plus, since I’ve homeschooled (some years full time, others only part time) our son since kindergarten, I know his learning style. He learns best with interaction, hands on activities, and lots of visual learning. 

I hate the idea of those online schools because of the read this, answer this format. So many here go to that for high school because of the fear of hsing to college. I just wanted to assure you that we've kept up the hands on style of learning throughout high school, and it's been awesome. I do pay for a math class online. And my kids have had science classes through a co-op with a professor who knows what she's doing and does all of the labs because those are the classes I've wanted to outsource. But we do history and art and even English through hands on and through art and field trips, and we do plenty of science enrichment, labs, and field trips and supplemental work in our own because that's what we love. We're doing a big unit study with one of mine this coming year centered around the history of fashion as the core of her American history that will fulfill a lot of her other courses too because art and theater is a big appeal for this kid. We attended a workshop on seeing history through fashion at Mt. Vernon last year which inspired us to study history this way. We are both so excited for this coming up. Hsing leaves time and flexibility for exploring their interests and for volunteer positions, jobs, extra curricular and such as well. 

[daijobu]

2 hours ago, 2_girls_mommy said:

both so excited for this coming up. Hsing leaves time and flexibility for exploring their interests and for volunteer positions, jobs, extra curricular and such as well. 

 

This is so very true.  Dd got a job her senior year where she was working for a full day on Mondays and Fridays, every single week.  Name one school--public or private--that would let her off of school 2 of every 5 days.  And it was (and is) a tremendous experience for her.  

[...................]

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? Meaning, the online school our son attended last year was fully accredited. 

Colleges have a totally separate application for homeschoolers.  The common app, the largest and most widely used app, opens up whole new windows, drop boxes, and special things to share about homeschooling.  They do not expect accredidation.

For armed forces, you may want to get more info as they can be a little bit tricky and/or recruiters can be very ignorant about the actual laws.

Join HSLDA

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

Easy as pie because my son is a computer genius and did his own.  However, they have online ones you can download and even people on here have been generous enough to share their PDF's! NO BIG DEAL

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

My son is attending a TOP TIER Public "Ivy", was accepted into their Engineering School, and also accepted into their Engineering Living Option. He also was accepted to other colleges, and also received 30,000 in scholarships to one private college.  So, no.

My daughter is not as advanced and I foresee no issue with her either.  We choose colleges based on the child, and then apply.  She will be studying to bring up her SAT's but even with the above average SAT's she has now, she is in the automatic scholarship category for the small private colleges she's looking at.   We expect no issue for her either.

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

ONE THing at a time, ask here a lot, do your research, call the college.  🙂 It's really not hard.  It just takes research, diligence, willing to make phone calls and then make a plan.  Really consistent diligence is all it takes on your part and his part.

Finding classes is the hard part, but we have amazing co-ops here, and you can also do home grown or purchase courses through Oak Meadow, Sonlight, and a million other homeschool catalogs.  Keep records, samples and make your own syllabus.  you just have to be diligent to make and keep records as you go along.

[GailV]

1.  Accreditation?  As others have said, not an issue.

2. Transcripts?  The biggest issue I had was TOO MANY CHOICES.  There are websites and books on the subject of writing homeschool transcripts. It was much easier for the second child since I'd already chosen a format and could just plug in the new information.

Also, the Common App was so much easier the second time through.  I think that they've made it more homeschool friendly, plus I knew I'd already survived it once.

3. Hard time getting accepted to college?  My kids are in theatre, which is a different process. They were easily accepted academically.  I do wonder if the homeschooling affected certain schools, but who knows -- it could've been the audition process (hundreds of other kids were outright rejected from the same places we got a waitlist, for example). And some places seemed to like the built-in quirkiness of homeschoolers because they want/expect theatre students to independently go do their own thing/make their own art but-within-the-context-of-teamwork, which is such a homeschooler niche if you think about it (eg, setting up a co-op requires many of the same interpersonal skills).

4. How do you keep up with everything?  Someone here suggested getting a file drawer or box or binder and constantly put things in it, regularly make notes on class descriptions.  We assumed the kids would want to go to an elite science/engineering school and did all of the requirements for that -- I figured it was easier to do too much science and math rather than too little (and thus my theatre major found herself helping an engineering major with his Calculus homework freshman year of college -- she had already taken 2 years of dual enrollment Calc). But we've always been heavy on math and science, and my kids are okay with academic challenges.

 

[2_girls_mommy]

15 hours ago, daijobu said:

 

This is so very true.  Dd got a job her senior year where she was working for a full day on Mondays and Fridays, every single week.  Name one school--public or private--that would let her off of school 2 of every 5 days.  And it was (and is) a tremendous experience for her.  

During the school year mine has a half day off once a week for a job, but it is smack in the middle of the day. Senior year she is going to spend two full days at the community college on two classes, bringing her computer to do her day's math lessons in their library after and trying to finish all of the week's work in those afternoons while there, leaving her time at home for our at home subjects for the most part. Then she will have two short days at home for our three homeschool classes, leaving partway through the day for half days of dance classes, then coming home to finish the day's work in the evenings. Then the one half day working with a few hours to finish up anything she still needs to, homework on weekends if needed around dance and scout activities.  We run a tight schedule, but we design it around what they want to do. We would hate being tied to a computer for hours a day on somebody else's schedules. 

[elegantlion]

On 7/22/2019 at 2:45 PM, Joyfullyblessed said:

Hello, 

This post is specifically for those who have homeschooled or are homeschooling their kids through high school. 

Our son will be going into 10th grade this coming school year. He did online schooling last year through a fully accredited program. Overall, it was a very good experience for him (with just a few tweaks here and there needed).  We’ve discussed many times if he wants to continue with the online school, and he says yes. Most likely that will be the route we choose, but I am just curious about those who have chosen to homeschool on their own through high school. Here are some of my questions...

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? Meaning, the online school our son attended last year was fully accredited. 

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

I know some of my questions may seem silly or even worded incorrectly, but I’m simply trying to find out more information from those who have done this. The online schooling is a nice option (he does not want to go to the local high school which is fine by me), but it is still a bit expensive. Thank goodness for payment plans. 😄🙌

Thanks for any info offered! 

 

1. My son did no outside classes for a number of reasons. Accreditation was not an issue. 

2. The creation of the document was not difficult. I followed a word template - which is probably  posted on here somewhere. The tracking of information was something that I tried to stay consistent with over time. I opted to arrange his by subject and it was not questioned in the least. 

3. No, my son had no problem getting into college. He does not attend a selective university,  however, so there were some hoops - like the Common App - that we did not have to go through. Getting into a college may not be an issue, but how to pay for it - through aid or loans - can be the bigger issue. 

4. I kept up with records as I am quite detail-oriented and treated it like a job. I was the primary educator and administrator and made sure I took time to do both. I created a binder or folder for each year, complete with a simple syllabus, a course schedule (which always got modified), and how those credits would look. I also read this board a lot, read through what are now pinned posts at the top of this board, and continued to ask questions. I worked to make sure each class had a valid grade and how many credits awarded by the end. I did not automatically give As because my ds didn't deserve them for all classes. 

Some issues I might consider are: 1. do you need an accredited program? Is that the best use of your finances or could that money be put away for college? 2. What level of college is he looking to attend? Community college, state U, local U, Ivies?

There are plenty of ways to outsource individual classes - reading through the pinned posts on this board might be helpful. 

 

 

[Eos]

  I agree with what the hive is saying above, and would add that we found keeping track of hours spent each week on what courses/activities was easy and also helpful to look back through at the end of each year to create that year's course descriptions.  I gave each child a bookkeeping journal for each year, and they write the names of the classes they're doing down the side, and the days of the week across the top.  Into each slot goes how much time spent and what was done: reading, writing, researching, creating, and also pages in textbooks read or labs done, etc.  I realize this is very old thinking and that most kids now would make a spreadsheet, but we're a bit analog.

My homemade transcripts are one-page but I make a multi-page Homeschool Portfolio with more detailed course descriptions that include the How: was the class self-designed, tutor-taught, online, or at a local college; the What: descriptions of what was learned and texts and resources used; and the How Assessed: how we measured the learning - tests, research papers, standardized tests, etc. 

You can do this!

Edited February 6, 2023 by Eos

[Joyfullyblessed]

Thanks once again to everyone replying to this post. I’m reading everything & getting excited about homeschooling our son without having to use an accredited program. 

That is, until a few minutes ago. I called the university that our son wants to attend. It local, about 15 minutes down the road, & where he’d like to go.  The lady I spoke with told me that he WILL have to have a diploma from an accredited program. What?!? I had read online that home educated students that didn’t go through an accredited program could apply using what they call the “portfolio method” which has a checklist of items that must be included. I told her this, & she said “yes, I know, but from what I’ve heard from the home school specialist here is that they have to have attended an accredited program.” 😞😞😞

The specialist won’t be back in until Monday, so unfortunately I couldn’t speak with him. This is very deflating news though, especially after getting excited & encouraged based not only on the advice I received here, but also through my research. I know there are other colleges, universities, etc.... but this is really where our son was hoping to go. 

So, now I’ll wait... til Monday. Maybe, just maybe, that girl was wrong. And, if not, they need to update their info online ASAP. 😤

[Lori D.]

1 hour ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

Thanks once again to everyone replying to this post. I’m reading everything & getting excited about homeschooling our son without having to use an accredited program. 

That is, until a few minutes ago. I called the university that our son wants to attend. It local, about 15 minutes down the road, & where he’d like to go.  The lady I spoke with told me that he WILL have to have a diploma from an accredited program. What?!? I had read online that home educated students that didn’t go through an accredited program could apply using what they call the “portfolio method” which has a checklist of items that must be included. I told her this, & she said “yes, I know, but from what I’ve heard from the home school specialist here is that they have to have attended an accredited program.” 😞😞😞

The specialist won’t be back in until Monday, so unfortunately I couldn’t speak with him. This is very deflating news though, especially after getting excited & encouraged based not only on the advice I received here, but also through my research. I know there are other colleges, universities, etc.... but this is really where our son was hoping to go. 

So, now I’ll wait... til Monday. Maybe, just maybe, that girl was wrong. And, if not, they need to update their info online ASAP. 😤

Ug.

First, don't panic. SOOOOO many college admission officials have absolutely NO clue about what their own college's homeschool student admission policies are, and so to "cover themselves", they will say things like this, that quite often are not even remotely true. I will add that the statement made by the lady you spoke to (was she even an admissions officer for the college?? ) -- "...from what I've heard from the homeschool specialist here..." -- sounds like someone who is does not know what the school's policies are, and is "punting" by making a weak reference to a vaguely official sounding person, lol. 

Also, there have been several times that people on these boards have had to walk the college they are applying to through the school's own stated policies about homeschool admissions. Guided questions can help: "Your website states this about homeschool applicants. Is that accurate, and still your policy? What paperwork or test scores do you actually require from homeschool graduates for admission?"

Second, yes, there are just a few rare schools that are still sticky about homeschoolers, and this might be one of those rare exceptions, although that would be like winning the lottery if it happened to be the school down the street, lol

Also, accreditation does depend on what state you are in -- CA and NY are special cases where accredited programs for homeschoolers, or special-hoop jumping are needed to enter either the UC system (UC) or the SUNY/CUNY system (NY). Are you in either of those states? If so, then we would want to get you linked up in a thread with homeschoolers from one of those states to walk you through the tricky bits of homeschooling high school there.

Not time to panic yet, lol. Try and set it aside mentally for the weekend until you can get the "real scoop" next week. Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Lori D.

[alewife]

2 hours ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

That is, until a few minutes ago. I called the university that our son wants to attend. It local, about 15 minutes down the road, & where he’d like to go.  The lady I spoke with told me that he WILL have to have a diploma from an accredited program. What?!? I had read online that home educated students that didn’t go through an accredited program could apply using what they call the “portfolio method” which has a checklist of items that must be included. I told her this, & she said “yes, I know, but from what I’ve heard from the home school specialist here is that they have to have attended an accredited program.” 😞😞😞

So, now I’ll wait... til Monday. Maybe, just maybe, that girl was wrong. And, if not, they need to update their info online ASAP. 😤

I would bet a large sum of money (and I am not a betting person) that the woman you spoke with is completely clueless and flat out wrong.    If homeschoolers had to attend an accredited program, the university wouldn't have the "portfolio method" as an option.

I bet you will get good news on Monday.  Enjoy your weekend!

[Joyfullyblessed]

Thank you, Lori D. & alewife. 😊

I’m not panicking, just a bit frustrated & disappointed.  I too, feel that the lady who answered didn’t really know. I have high hopes that I’ll hear much better news come Monday. I mean, it’s literally stated on their main site for admissions how home educated students should apply. 

Thanks for the encouragement! 😁

[RootAnn]

@Joyfullyblessed You might also want to check the Accepted Thread for the last couple of years to see if any boarded applied & were accepted to the school you are looking at.

I'll link the one for the upcoming Freshmen, but going back 2-3 years is a good idea. You can then send a PM to the poster whose son or daughter was accepted there & ask pointed questions. Or, post the name of the school & someone might know.

For example, I know of a boardie whose son applied to a school (U of Cincinnati?) using the portfolio method but the admissions people were quite a bit bowled over with what she brought and likely would have accepted his test scores & a transcript. But, she didn't want to mess up. And, she didn't. But it was a lot of work.

[Lori D.]

2 hours ago, RootAnn said:

@Joyfullyblessed You might also want to check the Accepted Thread for the last couple of years to see if any boarded applied & were accepted to the school you are looking at... I'll link the one for the upcoming Freshmen, but going back 2-3 years is a good idea...

Here are the others that go back to 2015. (They are all linked at the bottom of PAGE 2 of the big thread "College Motherlode" pinned at the top of the College Board.)

Class of 2019 acceptance thread
Class of 2018 acceptances (list view) updated: 3/21
List view of class of 2017 college acceptances
List view of 2016 acceptances
2015 college acceptances list only

________________________________

I didn't want to overwhelm you, @Joyfullyblessed, BUT... when you are READY for some more research/reading, there is wonderful wisdom on homeschooling high school pinned at the top of the High School Board. I suggest starting with page 1 of High School Motherlode #1, with the High School Time Table thread, and the threads in the 6 topics listed there. Just do a little reading at a time, and you won't get overwhelmed. Happy researching! Warmest regards, Lori D.

High School Motherlode #1
page 1 topics:
   High School Time Table (what to do/when for each year of high school)
   Preparing for High School
   Addressing Fears
   Getting Started
   Books & Resources
   Making a High School Plan
   Time Management
   High School on a Budget
   Expectations/Attitudes
   Accreditation / Cover Schools
page 2 topics:
   all the high school tests -- PSAT; ACT / SAT; SAT Subject; AP; IB; CLEP; GED; ASVAB; Compass/Accuplacer 

High School Motherlode #2
page 1 topics:
   Transcripts / Record Keeping
   Credits
   Grading / GPA
   Honors Courses
   Record Keeping / Course Descriptions / Letter of Recommendation / Volunteering
   Graduation topics / Diplomas

page 5 topics:
   General Threads on High School Subjects (Writing, Math, Science, Electives)
   Home-Grown Courses / MOOC Courses
   Extracurricular Activities
   Outsourcing
   Online Classes
   Tutors
   Dual Enrollment

Plus pinned threads about curricula/classes for: Math, Science: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Foreign Language

Edited July 27, 2019 by Lori D.

[Joyfullyblessed]

Thank you, Rootann and Lori D. 

Those acceptance lists are quite impressive! I didn’t see the school my son is interested in, but I did many well known ones in our state. We are in Georgia. 

I had seen the Motherlode posts, but had seen that the dates went back a few years and wasn’t sure if the information would still be relevant. I will go check them out though when I have a bit of time to really look without distractions. 

Thank you! 😃

 

[Lori D.]

45 minutes ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

had seen the Motherlode posts, but had seen that the dates went back a few years and wasn’t sure if the information would still be relevant...

Yes, last year I just revised and updated those linked threads, and culled any with out of date info, so you are good to go!

[Lori D.]

57 minutes ago, Joyfullyblessed said:

... I didn’t see the school my son is interested in, but I did many well known ones in our state. We are in Georgia....

Here's a list of links to the admission policies for colleges in Georgia, courtesy of the Georgia Home Education Association (GHEA). You might also try contacting GHEA and see if they have suggested ways of approaching the university you are interested in, or if they have already worked with the university you are interested in. Some other articles on the GHEA website that you might find helpful:

- Accreditation -- it looks like GA is back to allowing homeschoolers to go through the accreditation process
- Dual Enrollment
- HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarships
- High School topics:
   basics
   coursework & credits
   record keeping
   transcripts
   graduation & diploma
   

Edited July 27, 2019 by Lori D.

[HollyDay]

On 7/22/2019 at 2:45 PM, Joyfullyblessed said:

Hello, 

This post is specifically for those who have homeschooled or are homeschooling their kids through high school. 

Our son will be going into 10th grade this coming school year. He did online schooling last year through a fully accredited program. Overall, it was a very good experience for him (with just a few tweaks here and there needed).  We’ve discussed many times if he wants to continue with the online school, and he says yes. Most likely that will be the route we choose, but I am just curious about those who have chosen to homeschool on their own through high school. Here are some of my questions...

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? Meaning, the online school our son attended last year was fully accredited. 

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

I know some of my questions may seem silly or even worded incorrectly, but I’m simply trying to find out more information from those who have done this. The online schooling is a nice option (he does not want to go to the local high school which is fine by me), but it is still a bit expensive. Thank goodness for payment plans. 😄🙌

Thanks for any info offered! 

 

1.  We did not use any online schools so that was not an issue

2. Transcript was easy.  I used the model provided by HSLDA and followed the guidlines provided by the colleges dc sent applications. Only 1 college had a request that was different from the others, so it was easy to make that one then copy and paste for the others.

3. Not at all.  Both dc were accepted easily to more than one college.

4. I kept a daily log for each dc.  Each had a log book with their subjects clearly listed.  I wrote in each box on  each subject line what was completed for each day. 

If you are looking at the "bigger picture,"  I broke the high school years up into subjects:  4 math, 4 english, 4 science, 4 social studies, 1 PE, 1 health, 2 foreign language, 1 fine arts, 10 electives.  That skeleton gave me the frame work to plan each dc daily, semester, and yearly schedules.  We would combine work whenever possible.  For example, we did geography and Spanish 1 and 2 together even though dc were in different grades.  That actually worked out quite well for youngest dd who ended up doing 4 years of Spanish since she started in 9th grade with her older sister who was in 11th. 

[Beircheart]

My son just started college, taking one class over the summer so he could train with his team (gymnast) and is now in full force.

1. How difficult was it to make sure all classes were accredited? Meaning, the online school our son attended last year was fully accredited. 

My kids had to suffer with me designing/teaching/grading the whole shebang. Nobody at university seemed to care. They were more concerned with topics covered; so many math credits, so many English credits, foreign language credits, etc. His ACT scores jived nicely with the grades I awarded. One university did admit that they perform deeper investigations, requiring samples of student work, if HS grades are straight As while SAT/ACT scores are below average, and rightfully so.

The NCAA were another matter. It was an awful experience and they were very upfront about being far more rigorous (read that as pig-headed, please) than they are for traditional students. They have their own form for home school classes and each and every class, for all four years, requires its own form. In the end I'd created a novella for them and they still hemmed and hawed.  If you have to interact with them, start a good year in advance because they are very hard on home schoolers and refuse to use common sense or to move with any sense of urgency.

2. How hard was it to create a transcript for your child?

For the colleges, as easy as making a table in MS Word. I included year, semester, course title, text books along with ISBNs, brief description, grade, and credits per class.

3. Did your child have a hard time getting accepted into a college? 

Got accepted at every college applied to, save one, without reservation. That one college was very frank about being the only large state college available and so out of state students had a hard time due to the thousands of in-state students vying for a spot.

It did help that he did well on his ACT. It also helped that he took a couple of dual credit courses at the local university so he had a collegiate track record. Then again, anything that gives your child a competitive edge will help.

4. How did you keep up with everything? Meaning, what was or is the most efficient way of making sure all is completed as it should be throughout these years. 

I didn't have too much difficulty. I kept record of what he took and "cheated" by looking online at local schools (private schools are pretty good about posting on their websites what credits are needed and what year to take what classes). In the end, I made sure his final transcript had all the right classes with right number of credits.