Let’s talk about real feelings.  How do you feel when you think about homeschooling high school?  Do any of these words sound familiar?

• freaked out
• terrified
• hyperventilating
• procrastinating
• confused
• stressed
• overwhelmed
• immobilized with fear
• panicky
• ready to run
• obsessed
• worried

Do any of these words describe what you are feeling?  Thinking about homeschooling high school can make you feel uncomfortable.  But what you really need is some down-to-earth advice.  High school is not really terrifying.  It’s just a new beginning.

My goal is to convince you that you will WIN this battle over fear and become a confident parent of your homeschooled teen!  Learn how to begin high school, so you won’t panic and throw in the towel.

Learn how to homeschool with confidence with my Preparing to  Homeschool High School DVD.  It will help take the fear away.

You can give high school credit for students who earn college credits, regardless of how old the student may be.  Of course, when I tell that to parents, half of them laugh and think, ‘MY child getting college credits in high school?  HA!”  I know it’s easy to be skeptical – I remember thinking that way myself!  But when kids really start to learn a subject they love, it’s completely possible to reach college credits through using CLEP tests.  Recently Elise wrote to share her successes with CLEP.  Her 10th grader learned World History in a way that he enjoyed, and it made sense to him.   He was able to take and pass a CLEP exam in that subject.  Now he is a 10th grader with some college credits under his belt!  Here is the sweet note from Elise:

Hi, Lee!
I’m so excited, I just had to let you know that, thanks in part to you, my son (10th grader) passed the Western Civ I CLEP today!  First, you assured me in one of  your free calls, that Sonlight’s Core 6 (World History part 1) would be fine to do with my 2 when they were in 7th and 9th with some Teaching Co. DVDs (which is something we enjoyed doing vs switching to a “High School level” course that he’d have to do alone).  Then, throughreading your book, watching your DVD, and reading your blog about all the advantages of the CLEP, I decided to try having my son take the CLEP when we were done.  He used a CLEP study book and a little InstaCert and got a 63 when 50 is passing and 56 qualified him for credit at the college he’s thinking of going to!  Like you said, he’s saving thousands of dollars by clepping out of that course, validating our homeschool grades, and I think I can count that World History course as honors, if I’m not mistaken.  Regardless, I’m ecstatic, and thank you so much for all you do! I wanted you to put it on your blog so others could hear how much you help!

Gratefully,

Elise

Don’t think it will never happen to you.  Be open to the possibility and it may happen for you, too!   And yes, Elise, if it were me I would give him a class called “Honors” for his history class.  Great job!

The HomeScholar’s Total Transcript Solution will take the fear out of homeschool transcripts!

My husband and I went on an Alaska cruise with my parents.  It was wonderful, and we had SUCH a good time!  It was fun to see a client and her family on the ship, too!   Midway through the cruise, I had the chance to speak to our cruise director, Jason Venner on the Holland America MS Westerdam.  Jason was raised in the Pacific Northwest.    He lived in a remote location of the Columbia River Gorge, without running water, electricity or telephones.

Jason was an only child, homeschooled by his mother.  That was where he developed his great passion: the outdoors and adventure sports.  He went to Linfield College on academic scholarships and studied business management, leadership, and communication.  On our cruise, Jason was the BEST cruise director – humorous and outgoing beyond measure!  When I was talking to him, I joked, “Can’t you just try to come out of your shell a little bit?”  We had some good laughs about socialization.  Jason said, “I loved homeschooling, and I wouldn’t change a thing about my childhood!”

Obviously, Jason is a perfect fit for the socially demanding job of guiding thousands of adults in fun activities.  I wonder if his mother had any idea the profession Jason would choose.  Did she think he might grow up to be socially awkward?  Did she worry about the opportunities he missed?  Was she concerned that she might be holding him back?  I suppose she knew he was gregarious – did she worry about socialization?  I looked at him, and thought about my clients homeschooling in remote locations, and military and missionary families struggling to fit in.  I had a whole new appreciation for the Grand Plan.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

~ Jeremiah 29:11

Don’t worry.  You can’t  mess up too bad.  Your children are going to be who they are meant to be, and they are going to do what they are meant to do.  Even if you are homeschooling in the middle of nowhere, without running water, electricity, or telephones.

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A while ago, a segment of one of my newsletters was plagiarized. I consulted my in-house “lawyer in training” – my son Alex.

Whenever I think of our discussion that day, it really warms my heart. On one Sunday, in our “Love and Respect” Sunday School class, I think I finally recognized why Alex’s assistance had been so important to me that day. He was defending me – which was showing that he loved me.

In the book, it tells a good deal about cycles, and ways love LEADS TO respect, and respect LEADS TO love. Therefore I started contemplating what I did to show my son respect that day. I think that the moment when I wanted to know his view of the issue, adult to adult, was the moment that he knew I respected him. We won’t even look at all the times I completely *fail* at the love and respect cycle, but I did think it was interesting to look at a situation in which it worked. I hope it will encourage you.

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One thing that I love about the homeschool community is that most of us love to encourage others with our stories. In this post Joyce, a homeschool mom, shares the story of her two sons so that it will encourage each of you. You CAN homeschool high school!

Joyce's Sons: Devin & Michael

Wow!  I can’t believe they are graduated!

We put our twins, Devin and Michael in the public school system from kindergarten thru 2^ndgrade and when they were not learning to read, I found myself spending a lot of time after school with them each day trying to help them.   They would get home from school around 3:30 in the afternoon and I would sit down with each one of them and get through their homework and work with them on their reading.  We got used to having dinner around 6:30 since I couldn’t really start working on it until about 5:30 after I got done studying with my twins.  (I also had a two year old running around interrupting us as well – so it took a little longer then it probably should have.)

We decided that since we were putting so much time into educating our children after they came home from school that we might as well take them out of the school and do it ourselves.  That way I could teach them at a time that was a little more convenient for our family.

Since I used to say that I would never be able to homeschool my children, the plan was to just get them “caught up” and put them back in school when they were “ready.” Well the rest is history.  We never did put them back in traditional school, and the two babies that followed after our twins have never stepped foot in a public school.  We have just found that we love having our family home with us and learning together.  We saw all the benefits of having our children at home with us, not to mention that the socialization at home was far superior to the “socialization” that happens in the public schooling environment.

As we schooled through the years, I always wondered if I was doing enough.  I was bothered by the fact that we weren’t memorizing all the facts that I had to memorize in public school as a kid and constantly wondered if we were doing the right curriculum.  I worried that we didn’t have a biology lab where we could do the official experiments that all kids should have access to.  I worried about our children having a “well-rounded education” that so many education experts talk about.  But learned that no one is really “well rounded.”  Everyone is gifted by God and given certain “bents” that are God given. Why focus so much on being well-rounded when the God of the Universe has a specific (or a few specific) things for you to accomplish.  He doesn’t expect you to be great at everything! All of my children’s’ specific “bents” were towards music.  They all loved playing music and since my husband and I love music too, it was perfect for our family.  Don’t get me wrong.  We didn’t completely “blow off” all the other stuff and just do music all day long, but it was a good leverage to use to get them to do their reading, writing and arithmetic before we brought out the guitars and drums.

Like I said above,  I was always worried that we weren’t doing enough for our boys, but I guess we did okay, because one of our boys qualified for our local Running Start program and will be getting his AA degree earlier than usual and my other twin was just accepted into a college where he will be getting his degree in fitness.  So far the one that is in the Running Start program has a 3.4 GPA and would like to get a degree in Business so he can own his own business someday.   Both boys love the Lord and are frustrated with the college environment but we are talking a lot about it and I am glad they have such a strong foundation from their homeschooling days that will hopefully help them navigate those challenges that they will and are coming across in the secular college environment.

We just had a wonderful graduation with our boys. We didn’t have any other kids in their class (from the homeschool co-op we are involved in)  that were graduating so we had a ceremony just for them at our church.   Our church let us use their facility and it was beautiful!  We had about 100 of our friends and family join us in our celebration.  We were able to share a great video of their growing up years and present our boys with their diplomas and words of encouragement.  They each had some words of encouragement for us and it was very heart warming.

Someone asked me if I had to do it all over again, would I do anything differently and I think that I would probably have looked for more ways to get college scholarships for my boys so they could attend a private Christian college, but I am proud of the way they are handling themselves so far.  We have a good relationship with them and it makes for good/honest conversations.

We prayed all the way through their homeschooling years for them daily.  I believe that is why we don’t have many regrets on what we did. I believe that God guided us in curriculum choices and what to really spend our time and money on for them.  God was very clear with us on what we should focus on and I am very thankful for His leading in our homeschooling.

We also joined a homeschool cooperative that made a huge difference in our continuing this journey.  Whenever we were frustrated and ready to quit, the community of other homeschoolers were there to help us and support us. I think that was a pretty important thing for us.  There are so many resources and support networks out there now. You don’t have to do this alone.

Obviously, we are not a perfect family and we have had our challenges and warts, but I am truly amazed at how well homeschooling works. It’s not nearly as scary as I thought it would be!

Thank you, Joyce, for sharing your story! I’m sure many will be inspired by your experience!

Learn how to save money homeschooling with my free Special Report: “7 Secrets to Homeschooling Through a Financial Storm.”

Relax!  Some classes will be easier than others!

Our homeschool group is wanting to have a choir/drama class this semester but they want it to count for 1/2 a credit for the high schoolers. We only meet 9 times with three extra rehearsals/practices and the final performance is a short play that is to be memorized. There is singing, dancing, and acting in the play. They are also required to write a 3-5 page character study as well as an 8-10 page paper on the history of theater, etc. My question is, is that enough to count it for 1/2 a credit? Some of the parents are balking at the paper but still want to count it for credit. If you wouldn’t mind giving me your opinion, I would so appreciate it.
~ Renita

In my opinion, that sounds like a 1/2 credit to me. But remember, I’m not a “CERTIFIED TEACHER”  (Insert scary noise there, for effect, using this DRAMA BUTTON!)

Do you remember what it was like in high school? We used to joke about classes being “Underwater basket weaving.” My friends took some crazy-easy classes. I took a class called “Polynesian History” – my niece took a class called “Sports communication” and listened to baseball play-by-play. In our local high school, a DECA class student had one job all semester long. She baked pre-made cookie dough. Every day of the semester. Someone else was in charge of buying, cooling, wrapping and selling. All she did was bake cookies out of pre-made dough. Scoop, plop, 10 minutes, repeat.  And she got high school credit for it.

I think that as homeschoolers, we are pretty tough on ourselves. It’s OK to have some lighter classes and some heavier, more academic classes. To be honest, I don’t even think you would “need” to write a paper.  You can make the paper an optional essay that the parents supervise and grade – they way you CAN please everyone.  I suggest that you be sure to say it was the PARENTS option, though, not the kids option!

Homeschooling is NOT the same as doing schoolwork at home.  There is LOTS of freedom!  My Gold Care Club will give you all the help you need to succeed!

I received the sweetest note from Stacie this week. She said very nice things about me, which was SO sweet! But I would like all homeschool parents to look beyond her sweet words and see her FEELINGS. She is homeschooling merrily long, doing a great job. Still, her son FEELS like his education doesn’t measure up. As a teacher, she FEELS like she may have failed him academically. Sometimes our feelings tell the truth, but sometimes they don’t. One of the nice things about a transcript is that it’s the TRUTH about your homeschool, and not just a feeling. Read Stacie’s letter:

Dear Lee,

You’ve saved me again. The instructions you provided (about calculating the GPA) were so easy to understand. I was about to just leave out the GPA, but the scholarship paperwork clearly stated that GPA and ACT scores were the deciding factors and must be included. Just like you said, we have to  speak the college’s love language.

I could not have done this without your help and guidance over the past few years.

It was quite an experience to put together this transcript. Whether or not we are awarded any of the scholarships applied for, what my son and I learned has been invaluable. He  had been thinking his education was quite lacking; you know, worried he didn’t measure up to the other kids. I had been thinking I had failed him academically. After we had it all  done, we sat back and digested it all. Wow! We have been quite busy the past few years learning tons of stuff. He’s had quite a varied education. We noticed just how busy he has been with music. Even physical education, the one area I thought he was completely lacking in, ended up with a full 4 credits earned. He ended up with a GPA of 3.81 and 27 earned credits with 8 left to finish out to the end of the school year.

Thank you, Lee, for all you do. I was introduced to your website after 15 years of homeschooling and wondered if your services would even be something I could use. I’m so glad I took that chance on you and your products. Time after time I go back to what you have taught me. You’ve saved me time, headache, and worry. Following your guidance has brought me peace and improved our homeschool. The cost of your products is so small compared to what you’ve done for me. I tell everyone about you. Just today I referred another woman to you. Lee, you’re the best.

From a friend,
Stacie

Every teacher in every educational setting has things that go wrong. Projects left undone, books not finished, kids with attitude, moments of frustration. None of that goes on the  transcript. It happens to every one, in public and private school as well as homeschool, but it doesn’t go on the permanent record. Only the good stuff goes on the transcript. Classes that are finished. The finished grade goes on the transcript, not the icky-yucky sausage-making process of coming up with the grade. As homeschoolers, we sometimes get stuck in the middle of the educational process and forget that our end result is looking pretty good.

Your transcript tells the truth about your homeschool. It can calm your nerves. It can help you gain perspective. It can reassure teens.

Here is what all homeschool parents can glean from this letter from the parent of a high  school senior.

1. Feeling insecure is normal
2. Children may doubt their education
3. Seeing your homeschool in print can help everyone
4. Your homeschool will look good in black and white

Making a transcript is good feedback. And Stacie was so sweet to give me positive  feedback, too! Thanks Stacie!

I am now the Seattle Homeschool Examiner.  You can read my homeschool articles here.

As parents, our job is to take the child we are given, and shape and mold them into the adults they are meant to be. Carol has finished homeschooling her oldest child, and she provides a wonderful example for others. You can’t change who your child is, but you can make sure they are happy and successful!

My son, CJ is graduating from our homeschool high school this week! Wanting to be an encouragement to other younger homeschoolers and celebrating the graduation of my firstborn here is our story:

When it was time for my firstborn to go to kindergarten my homeschooling friends encouraged me to try homeschooling but I was too chicken. By the middle of fourth grade my son was asking to be homeschooled and after attending a homeschool conference and lots of reading I took the plunge and we began “fifth grade” at home.

Shy from birth, my son does not want the slightest bit of hoopla in celebrating this wonderful event so we have compromised: taken one picture on our porch and invited a handful of people to our house for a little reception. But I feel like shouting and dancing and throwing a giant party and inviting everyone I know!

A few years after the start of our homeschool journey my husband became disabled with a chronically painful condition that is still not cured. So…out of necessity our homeschool has been shall we say, in no waytraditional. And how much other people helped us along the way…. we could not have done it without others helping with transportation, materials, encouragement, meals, cleaning, and money gifts.

I so appreciate your materials on transcripts and course descriptions Lee, that have helped me pull it together after the fact. I am so proud of my son, as well, in that as he has become a man he has taken responsibility for his own learning and applying for college and scholarships. Besides getting a huge tuition break at the college of his choice we have just learned he has also qualified for two large local scholarships totaling seven and a half thousand dollars! We truly praise God for this provision.

As unbelievable as it sounds within several years we also experienced a flood that surrounded our house with water and washed out our driveway, got struck by lightning, experienced an ice storm that took out electricity in over half the state for days and in some places weeks, had record snowfalls and then finally had our house get hit by an unusual tornado!

He is there assisting us even in the midst of sickness, pain, loss of income, moving and disruption. I am thankful for His grace and power in completing this homeschool journey with one child…..now on to the next!

~ Carol

Like Carol, one day you will be dancing and shouting and throwing a party (if you child will let you…) Until then, I’ll admit it’s not always easy. But it’s VERY rewarding!

If you are concerned about facing family trauma in the midst of homeschooling, perhaps this article will help: What If? Homeschool High School without Fear.

Even through difficulties, homeschoolers can be successful!

When you are applying for colleges, you will need a great homeschool transcript.  The good news is you can “do-it-yourself” and save thousands.  Discover the Total Transcript Solution.