teacher or academic recommendation letters?

[sbgrace]

My son has been invited to apply for honors programs and scholarships at his prospective schools (he has really good SAT scores).

The current one he's working on, and I expect similar requirements for others, requests a letter of recommendation "to be completed by a teacher or someone who can speak to your academic performance." 

The issue is my son hasn't had many teachers other than myself. He took two local coop sicence courses--but his last was just as COVID hit. He took two elective type courses from local coop teachers his junior year that weren't particularly academic. Outside of that, I have been his only teacher.

Should I just write teacher letters, explaining that I have been his primary teacher as a homeschooler or encourage him to ask one of the more recent elective teachers if they could write something? 

 

 

 

[Farrar]

I suggest he call the school and ask how they would like it handled. But generally, they do not want you. They want someone else. So find someone else. A mentor, a 9th grade teacher, anyone. 

This is why it's pretty important for homeschoolers to have at least a couple of outside teachers, whether online, dual enrollment, at a co-op, with a tutor... just someone.

[lewelma]

We were pretty desperate for math.  One of the universities he applied to required a math/science recommendation. My ds had taken chemistry outside our homeschool, but the teacher had gotten cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. And my ds was completely self taught in math.  In the end, we used the guy who travelled with the math team to competitions to keep an eye on the students. This guy did have a Harvard degree but was only 22 and starting his PhD in philosophy. We asked him, and he said yes but asked that we please give him some ideas as to what to say since he had never taught my son maths (and I don't think that he had ever written a letter of recommendation). So we had him talk about my ds's maturity to travel overseas at 15, his intense interest and focus on math, his supportive nature to the other students, his communication skills etc.  Basically, we found someone who could speak about my son, and we broadened the remit to include interpersonal skills rather than just math skills.  This was apparently acceptable.  

Edited October 18, 2022 by lewelma

[kokotg]

I'd ask the elective teachers or the science coop teachers--whoever you think will write the best letter--and then give them a copy of his transcript and an activities resume so they can put what he did in their classes in context.