| I’m writing this in hopes of giving a “frazzled mom of teens” an option other than the local highschool. It is between the parents and God where their children attend school but when I felt called to Homeschool high school and it wasn’t going well, this option turned out to be such a blessing, I wanted to share. I always love putting together my curriculum for the year. It is so much fun to pick and choose and BUY new books. Over the years I believe I did fairly well! J Then, when my oldest entered high school age I began to feel overwhelmed. It wasn’t just highschool. It was many things, personal as well as normal family life with a large number of children. Many friends struggling with the same things put their teens in school, which was fine, but my son didn’t want to go to the local high school and I wanted to teach him. So for the first time I considered using one of the schools Like St Thomas Aquinas Academy, Mother of Divine Grace, Seton….thankfully the list grows year by year and I can’t mention them all….but ask around and you will find them on the internet! At first I was nervous, so much money, paperwork, time and they would see my flaws in teaching! Not to mention, I would be truly accountable to someone…Yuck! But after prayer and talking with my son we decided to sign up with a school. I won’t tell you which one as the school needs to fit the family and my choice may not be a good fit for you! This has turned out to be such a blessing! We did indeed find some holes in our learning and teaching but now we could fix them! It did cost more and there is more paperwork, but the savings in TIME and STRESS is significant. I don’t have to go looking for books, there is someone else who knows my children and can give suggestions, the “school” I am with allows me the final say in curriculum so I can always use what I feel is best. The paper work is the minimum of what needs to be done yet it is complete. I don’t have to read the prep for college after Homeschool books and wonder if I’m saving the right thing, calling the class the right thing, etc. Not only that, my son is thrilled. He likes knowing someone else is helping me evaluate his work and that his thoughts and feelings count too! So if you are feeling a little frazzled and wondering what to do able the high school years or your child is feeling a little wary of your abilities, prayerfully consider the Catholic schools offering to help you. They can be a help! (Contributed by Dottie in OH) |
| Graduation: After homeschooling for thirteen years, my daughter is the first homeschool graduate in our family. I wanted to recognize this great accomplishment, and decided to plan our own family graduation. We live in a small town in northern Ontario where Catholic homeschoolers are few and far between, so we knew we were on our own. I talked to my parish priest, and he was glad to let us use the church basement for the event. My daughter and I designed simple invitations, and printed them (on card stock) on our printer. I designed a grade 12 graduation diploma (on the computer), and matted and framed it. I also included some cute graduation accessories that I glued on the mat (easily available at the scrapbooking section at Walmart). Our church has a regular Thursday night Mass, so we chose a Thursday evening, to fit in with Father's schedule. My daughter will be doing the readings, and my sons and their two homeschooled friends will be the altar servers. Father agreed to let us write the prayers of petition for the Mass. After the Mass, our friends and family will gather for desserts and refreshments. I have asked two friends to make a 'toast' to Kaitlin, and for her father to say a few words. My son, Noah, has been working on a power point presentation for the event, featuring his sister and her accomplishments. It also includes some homeschooling memories over the years. I wanted a simple tribute to my daughter, but one that also recognized the role that God and the Church has played in our lives. It is also an opportunity for me to thank the people that have been so supportive to my family, and our homeschooling endeavours, over the years. (Kathie from Ontario, Canada) |
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A few thoughts on college transcripts for homeschoolers: I have a daughter who is
in college and majoring in Chemical Engineering and my other
daughter is graduating next month from our homeschool. Both have
been accepted into Honors programs at their colleges. In fact, my
oldest was pursued aggressively by many colleges and was awarded an
ROTC scholarship which she ended up turning down. I am not saying
this to boast but, instead, am just qualifying myself before I put
my '2-cents' in....LOL The one thing that I discovered in the college application process is that universities no longer 'raise an eyebrow' to homeschoolers' transcripts. Homeschooled children have an excellent reputation in the college arena. We have sent both of our daughters to the local university (University of Colorado) their senior year of high school as a transition to college. Because we decided at the last minute to try and get our daughter into summer school (the summer before her senior yr of hs) I threw together a transcript......taking courses from junior high.......putting down co-op courses..........satellite courses.........anything and everything on the transcript. I had put little numbers next to these courses with the intention of explaining the types of courses at the bottom of the transcript. In my haste, I hit enter one too many times and did not realize that the 'explanations' shifted down to the next page. The university accepted my daughter immediately but I received a telephone call from their Office of Admissions...........I was TERRIFIED to return the call. When I did so, I spoke to the Head of Admissions and he just wanted to find out what the footnote numbers were about. He JUST wanted to clarify that they were not transfer credits from the community college. We ended up having a long chat and he told me that they really are not concerned what a homeschooler puts on a transcript....they look only at the SAT/ACT scores and they also look to see if the student has taken college prep courses. He told me that the homeschoolers blow them away and he wished he knew what homeschoolers were teaching their kids! They did not care that my daughter was 16. My oldest daughter has had so many similar conversations with professors who have told her that their top students are homeschooled. So......my two cents......don't sweat the transcript! A classical education will prepare them for college. We have found that the university courses (especially English) are EASY compared with what we, as homeschool parents, make them do at home. (Rebecca from CO) |
| We began homeschooling because my mother, a former public high school teacher, gave us a set of “Sing, Spell, Read, and Write” books when my Oldest daughter was 5. We hadn’t thought much about school at that point. We visited friends who homeschooled, and were impressed with their 7 year old daughter’s ability to read the Bible, even pronouncing all the Old Testament Hebrew names correctly. My wife was certified by the state to teach first through third grade, and we agreed in the beginning we would take homeschooling one year at a time, always evaluating at the end of each year whether to continue. When my oldest daughter turned 14, and high school loomed ahead, we took serious stock of what to do, knowing that our choice would affect our daughter’s future, and the ability to go to college. We prayed, worried, and agonized. We looked into all the private Christian schools in the area, examining curriculum, cost, and weighing the inconvenience of having to transport a child to school daily – we live out in the country on a mini-farm, seven miles from the nearest town. The curriculum at most of the Christian schools was not that different from the public school, and in many cases, was inferior. The Christian schools cost about $5k per year on average, with the good ones costing $7,000 to $12,000, and being up to an hour’s drive away. My wife is an excellent elementary school teacher, and handles with aplomb and patience the foibles and needs of teaching four children through the elementary and middle school years, with only the usual difficulties. But she isn’t able to teach high school math, chemistry, physics, and foreign language. It would be impossible with her work with the other children to stay even one lesson ahead in that many subjects. And I just don’t usually have time to teach more than one or two subjects regularly, due to the demands of my job. So what could we possibly do? I decided my daughter deserved the opportunity to help make the decision herself. She couldn’t make an informed decision without data, and never having been in a public school classroom, wouldn’t have the faintest idea what that was about. We arranged with the local high school for her to “shadow” another girl through her school day, and find out what going to public school would be like. My daughter experienced first-hand the peer group nonsense that many teens go through, as the girl she was supposed to shadow ignored her and talked to her friends. The school requires all ninth graders to take a health class. As my daughter sat through this class, the teacher began explaining how homosexuality was a valid alternative lifestyle, and not a disease or in any way “bad”. It was all my daughter could do to keep from raising her hand and presenting the Biblical view of homosexuality, together with AIDS statistics. Needless to say, after her day at the school, we felt renewed purpose in finding a homeschool solution. We had tried A Beka Academy [Red Flag note] when our second child was born, but found that the video school was set up as a classroom, with the usual busy work and disadvantages of a classroom. However, we just couldn’t find much else at the time, and so enrolled our daughter in Abeka video school for 9th grade. It was an adjustment for her, with the work coming in higher volumes than she was used to. The highly structured approach was an adjustment for my wife as well – but it allowed my daughter to have daily instruction from a Christian perspective by qualified teachers, and to function more or less independently. We followed this with 10th grade, and then my daughter decided to attend community college for her last two years of high school. She just got her SAT scores back, and with these and two years at the community college, she’s quite likely to be accepted at a four year school, most likely Oregon State. We’ve embarked on homeschooling our second daughter, Rebecca, through high school, this time using Bob Jones Homesat [Red Flag note], which affords some greater flexibility and a better math and science curriculum. There are so many choices available now for doing high school at home, secular and Christian. Many Universities, like University of Nebraska, University of Pennsylvania, Oregon State, and others are offering online classes for high schoolers, most fully accredited, and some offering full diploma programs. The number of Christian curriculums that go through high school has exploded. In short, I offer encouragement to those whose children are about to enter high school – you CAN homeschool successfully, and it is not a barrier to entering college. (Michael from OR) (Note from the Webmaster: We welcome submissions from all homeschoolers and very much appreciate Michael's ideas and encouragement. I would like to caution, however, that A Beka and Bob Jones University Press both have some materials with bias against the Catholic Church. Bob Jones has an especially strong slant and has dozens of articles against Catholicism on its website. Further information on some of these issues can be found here: catholic.com) |
