Learn How To Homeschool At The HomeScholar!

Homeschooling is another new system of educating children which is becoming popular nowadays. These days, people prefer to educate their children at home in front of them. It is so because people want their children to learn the ethics, cultural and moral values from their parents, surroundings which are not possible to some an extent at public or private schools. For the parents who want to get their children to be homeschooled should know how to homeschool.

The best way in which you can know it is to take the guidance from the homeschoolers. To name one is The HomeScholar which offers quality information and assists you with every concern related to homeschooling.

Homeschooling is not all about educating your child at home but it also comprises of choosing the right homeschool program, preparing a correct schedule of your child to study, and many more. The professionals at The HomeScholar offer beneficial and apt assistance that will be of benefit to the parents and the children both. You can get many useful advices from the homeschoolers as how to start the homeschooling procedure of your children.

You can start the homeschooling from the very primary level up to the high school. Homeschooling at the high school level is very important to take care of. This is because, while homeschooling in high school, you need to prepare a transcript of your child. Transcript plays a very important role in home schooling because it is seen at the time of admission in the college.

Thus, home schooling on a whole is a very important procedure which needs proper care to be taken from the parents’ side. On the other hand, it is important for children also because the marks or grades attained in homeschooling will get your child to either good or less good colleges in future. 

Benefits Of Homeschooling In High Schools And Other Levels Of Education!

Teaching children at home is the very old tradition in many families worldwide. But, with the upsurge of public and private school catering to all the educational requirements of the children, this model of education took backseat. But once again, this education system is now being accepted worldwide with open arms. People nowadays prefer to teach and educate their children at home. In early time, the concept of homeschooling only included the idea of parents taking the whole responsibility of their own children. But nowadays, it has also included the technically advanced equipment, the Internet and other similar gadgets. The modern equipment used is also useful for educating the children and making them aware of the surrounding. Home schooling can easily be used to fulfill the education needs at the elementary, junior and high school level.

There are lots of benefits of homeschooling; this is why most of the people are choosing homeschooling in high school level for their children. High school is a very important phase of any student’s life. The marks and grades attained in high school are only the gateway to your dream college. There are many programs of home school which you can choose from. The company under the name of The HomeScholar offers assistance in all the matters related to homeschooling.

You can visit the website and get in touch with the experts. Choosing the proper and appropriate program that can suit your children’s need is guided by the company professionals.

Some of the must know benefits of homeschooling are as follows:

• This concept of education has a low teacher to student ratio. It simply means your child gets proper attention which is not possible at any public school class comprising 30-40 students.
• When compared with public or private schools, you can easily get the instant feedback when homeschooling. Whether you conduct any kind of quiz, exam or assignment, you can right away get the performance result.
• The best part of homeschooling is that, you can customize the curriculum as per your child’s requirement and needs. You can give more time to the weaker section of your child’s study.
• When your child is performing any task or any assignment at home, he can easily concentrate and focus on the work. There is less distraction in the case of homeschooling.
• The children are not bound by any specific format of education that is followed in schools. Your child can manage time in accordance with his specific needs. It simply means there is more flexibility in this education system as compared to other system of educations.

Thus, there are plenty of benefits of homeschooling which you need to know. To know more about homeschooling and its curriculums, just visit The HomeScholar online and get the proper assistance.

High School Credit in Middle School?

Can your child work on high school level work in middle school in your homeschool? Absolutely! One of the advantages of homeschooling is that your child can work at whatever level they’re at; this can mean grade levels above or below their age mates. While it is important to focus on those fundamental skills in middle school, it can also be a great opportunity to start on some high school level work. If your child has worked way ahead in a certain subject, and is doing high school level work, you can give them credit for it on their homeschool high school transcript.

How do you determine what high school level work looks like? If the curriculum is marked high school level by the publisher, then that’s easy, you know it’s a high school course. For math, Algebra I is considered high school level, for instance.

So, how do these credits work on your homemade transcript? If you go to TheHomeScholar.com, and you click on “Services” and then “High School Transcripts” you will see links to two sample transcripts: one organized by year and one by subject. Now, on the transcript which has courses listed by subject, the ones which were the early high school credits are not identified. In the transcript where they are listed by year, these courses are identified as “Early High School Credits”, above the list of ninth grade classes, tenth grade classes, etc. I gave my children high school credit for each of those courses that I knew were at a high school level that they had worked on during their middle school years.

Don’t worry about ending up with extra credits on your high school transcript. It’s ok to have more than the typical 24 or so credits for high school in ninth through twelfth grade! Your child will stand out from the cookie cutter kids from public school and wow the college admissions office! For more information and help with creating your homeschool high school transcripts, check out my Total Transcript Solution at The HomeScholar.com.

When Should You Take a CLEP?

In case you haven’t heard of a CLEP before, CLEP stands for College-Level Examination Program. CLEP credits are accepted by thousands of colleges and universities. A child can take the CLEP as soon as they are finished studying a subject. When it’s something they’re never going to return to – for instance, they’ve completed Chemistry, they know a college amount of Chemistry and will never return to it again, then they are ready. You will want them to test it as soon as they’re done.

If the subject is something that is their passion, like with my children and history, and it seems like they keep learning and learning, instead of giving a CLEP every year (which would have been crazy because the next year they were still learning), I waited until right before they applied for college. Then I tested them using a CLEP for each of these History subjects so that it would be documentary proof, that reflection in the pond which shows that they really did know their history. So, sometimes you will want to write a CLEP right after the class, and sometimes right before college.

There’s a third way of using a CLEP, and that is when you specifically want to teach something on purpose at a college level. One of my sons did not want to take Psychology at college because he did not want to learn about Freud in front of girls – boundaries, you know. I told him it was fine, to just learn it, and we would take the CLEP, so he did. I picked him up a Psychology book from a half-priced bookstore. He read it cover to cover, and he was appalled at some of the subject matter, but he learned it, and he passed the CLEP! He will never, ever have to take Psychology again, yet he has a working knowledge of Psychology. So, if you asked him about Freud, he could, reluctantly, tell you all about him!

To learn more about the CLEP and other tests you can choose from when applying for college, go to http://www.TheHomeScholar.com.

Homeschool Records: Course Descriptions

One of the things that was concerning to me, when it was my turn to homeschool high school, was how to do course descriptions. I was not an English major, I was a nurse. I know a lot about Math and Science and not so much about writing. Also, I got the impression when talking to people about it, that you had to have some sort of Master’s degree in education in order to write a course description!

I had never seen one and I did not know what course descriptions looked like…I just knew I was supposed to write them, but I did not know how. I handled that stress the way I usually do – I did research. Around the time my children were in 6th grade, I started doing this research. Every time I went to a convention to buy curriculum for my children, I also bought a book for myself about how to write course descriptions and every year I picked up a book or two.

In all of my research, I found out that nobody agreed, which was really concerning to me. They were using terms such as voice, person, verb tense…that I had not thought about since high school. I had no idea what I was supposed to do – I only knew that course descriptions were like college catalogues, and they looked scary. I thought I had better take my research to the next level and ask the real authorities; these were the homeschooling moms that were older than me, who had done the job, and got their children into colleges with good scholarships. I asked them how they put together their own homeschool records.

Then, I talked to colleges. As we were looking at colleges over the 4 years of high school, every time I went to a college – whether it was for an event or a visit – I always asked them what they wanted to see included with our homeschool records. It was interesting, the whole body of knowledge that I gathered from all this research.

One of the things that I found was that colleges really just wanted information. One time we were visiting a college and I gave them a one-page course description of an English course that we had done and I showed it to the admissions representative. I told her that I had this kind of information for all of the classes that we had completed in our homeschool and asked if it was too much, too little, the information the college wanted, and how did they want it?

It was interesting because this college admissions representative said that she loved the course description and it was exactly what she wanted to see. She wished all the public school kids had to submit course descriptions exactly like it! She was so frustrated with the state of public education because kids would come to college and their transcript would simply read English 1,2,3,4. The kid would go into college but often could not read and write well at all. She said that she did not know how she was admitting these students. She had no idea what the students were being taught in English and wished she had this quality of information from all the kids that applied, and not just from homeschoolers.

I found that encouraging on so many different levels. It was nice to know that we stacked up quite well against our peers, but it really sort of said to me that more complete records would definitely be better to really give them what they wanted.

Giving colleges thorough records can help you in the college admission process. You can learn how to write course descriptions and more in the book, “Setting the Records Straight: How to Craft Homeschool Records and Course Descriptions for College Admission and Scholarships”.

Why Homeschoolers Have the Advantage

Homeschoolers have the advantage! I know you’ve heard otherwise, but it’s true – homeschoolers have the advantage over their public schooled counterparts in so many ways!

What colleges really want is children that have passion. You read about it in college magazines all the time – they want PASSION! And homeschooled children have passion! What does that mean in terms of education? A child who has an interest that has carried them through all four years of high school and it is something that they are still interested in when they graduate. Homeschoolers are used to accommodating the interests of their children. When our kids are younger and they like to run around outside, we do unit studies outside. And when they get older, we can still take that interest that our child has and we can develop classes around it. Generally, that is called delight directed learning. You take the delights of a child and those interest to encourage them to learn more – even at a high school level.

In your homeschool, try to cover the core first, teaching reading, writing, math, science, and history in ways that will interests or intrigue your children. For example, readers will use books, kinesthetic learners might use hands-on material – you’re teaching in a way that makes sense. The key is that you can also take the delight directed learning that your children do naturally and incorporate that into a transcript and course description as if you had meant to teach that the entire time! Your children are learning naturally, anything from critical thinking, to all about birds, or something hands-on for 4H, because they love it. Then you as a homeschool parent can write a lovely course description about it so the colleges can see the academic value. Thus, you are taking their delight directed learning and creating course descriptions around it that you can present to colleges as part of their academic preparation. The great thing about this, and another reason why homeschoolers have the advantage is that this particular strategy works no matter what else is going on in your life.

One of my friends at our high school reunion was talking about his own failing of public school – on average students were only at that school for three years before they moved to another school. One of the problems of public school right now is that families in general are moving all the time. It is not just military families that are moving now. People are getting transferred, getting laid-off, or are getting another job. Kids are moving from different schools, different school districts, and different states.

When you are homeschooling, you are providing a really consistent education all the way through their whole twelve or thirteen years of school. This is one of the reasons why homeschooling is so effective, because it is consistent. It remains consistent even if there is trauma in the family, even if there is severe illness, even if there are major difficulties – they still have this nice consistency all the way through their education. Even if something really bad happens and they have to take a year-off school, instead of facing a whole year of failure, the following year you can just pick up where you left off and keep on going!

Choosing A College

There are so many colleges out there – how do you choose? A good first step is attending a college fair. College fairs can tell you a lot. You can attend one per year or go to all of them. When you’re browsing colleges, pay attention and consider why you decided to skip over a college. That will be an indicator of the kinds of colleges that you might be interested in.

You will find out fascinating things as you chat with college representatives at the fair. If you’re interested in a college, you can give them your contact information, and register on their sign up forms so they will reach out to you. If they like you as a potential candidate, they’ll continue to pursue you and send you more information

Another way to find colleges is to have colleges search for YOU as a student. When you take the PSAT test, they will ask you a series of questions. Colleges that want the particular kind of student you are will pursue you. Be prepared, though. When you sign up for that information on the PSAT, you’re going to get a tsunami of paper work in your mailbox, but it is one good way to find a college that wants you.

You can also search for colleges independently. The US News and World Report puts out their annual edition of great colleges. These two have a lot to do with the SAT average colleges. The You Can website does not judge colleges by SAT scores, however. At the You Can website, you can easily read a few snippets of the colleges, click the links, and go directly to the college websites.

As you look through these colleges, make decisions as you go, and make the first cut. There are thousands of colleges out there and you can’t possibly know all of them intimately well. You need to make those first cuts and decide who you’re going to research.

While comparing schools, it’s a good idea to have a sense of where your SAT or ACT score is. You can take sample SAT and ACT tests. The results will tell you where you are in relation to most of the kids on campus. Your scores will indicate whether you can handle the academic load that they provide and it can also tell you if you’re over achieving or under achieving in relation to certain colleges.

If you need more strategies for finding the right college for you, check out my book “The HomeScholar Guide to College Admission and Scholarships: Homeschool Secrets to Getting Ready, Getting In and Getting Paid”.

How Do You Keep Homeschool Records?

Ah, the fun of keeping homeschool records. Over the years, I have found there are four kinds of homeschoolers in regards to record keeping: tubbies, cubbies, binder queens, and question marks.

The first kind of person loves those giant rubber-made tubs. I call these homeschoolers tubbies. Tubbies will take everything for all five children and will throw it into the tub year after year. It is a perfectly acceptable form of record-keeping, people do it all the time, and you could in fact make a transcript using this method, although it will take time.

The next kind of homeschool mom I have observed has a drawer or a cabinet for each child, and possibly even for each year of homeschooling. I call these moms cubbies. The cubbies have an advantage because they know which child completed which paper and they may even know what year that paper was done. This is a good method of record-keeping, that will make it easier to create a high school transcript.

Another kind of record keeper is the binder queen. The benefit these homeschoolers have of keeping a binder is that it has a place for everything. You can often find everything required for state law, the declaration of intent (if required), annual testing, and immunization records in the binder along with the high school records. Everything needed and more is at their fingertips when they are ready to get a high school transcript together.

The fourth kind of record-keeper is one I don’t recommend – the homeschooler who has a giant question mark on top of their head. These are the ones who don’t know that they’re supposed to keep records! It is very hard to regroup and put together a transcript after practising this record-keeping method. If you are one of those who has a question mark over their heads, you might want to check out my Total Transcript Solution at here.

The HomeScholar Can Help YOU Homeschool High School

Lee Binz, The HomeScholar, can be there to help when you need it. Now that my kids are all grown up, my mission is to help other parents homeschool high school. You’ll find many free resources on my website at www.TheHomeScholar.com. I have a free mini course for homeschooling high school called “The Five Biggest Mistakes Parents Make Homeschooling High School”, and when you register you will also start receiving The HomeScholar Record, our free monthly e-newsletter. I truly believe that every support newsletter should have an article about homeschooling high school, and you will find one in every newsletter. Our job is to help parents not be afraid and as parents read these, they become more and more comfortable with the idea of homeschooling high school and won’t quit just because they’re afraid.

You will also find daily blog posts on the topic of homeschooling on the website. I invite homeschoolers to email me questions and I will be happy to answer them on my blog. You can subscribe to my blog by email or reader to get the tidbits in your inbox every day. A Special Report called “Seven Secrets to Homeschooling Through a Financial Storm” is also available, free. As most homeschoolers come from single income families, this report/ebook can help you to find ways to financially handle homeschooling high school. And there’s more, just look under “Freebies” at the top of the website!

I also have low cost parent education courses that are available in audio and video format. The Parent Training Tools section of The HomeScholar website has the audios, videos, and ebooks, to get the information that you need. There is also a Gold Care Club membership available which provides you with online video and training tools, more intensive consulting, and extended hours on everything homeschooling high school: audio & video training, templates & tools, personalized support, college prep, and more! If you have a question about homeschooling high school, you can get the answers that you need, just go to www.TheHomeScholar.com!

Homeschooling High School: Can I Teach The Advanced Subjects?

Yes, you CAN teach the advanced subjects in your homeschool if you want to, but you don’t necessarily HAVE to! You can choose to work ahead, learn the subject, study it in advance, and have your children learn it, but you don’t have to do that. There’s a huge difference between teaching and learning. What you’re trying to do is to get your children to learn. Whether you’re the one who teaches it or not is not nearly as significant as whether or not they might learn it.

If parents don’t know how to teach piano, they hire somebody to do it. The child will go to piano lessons, take lessons from someone else, and practice on their own. Parents wouldn’t know what they’re supposed to do for studying piano, but parents should oversee that they practice what they are supposed to.

My family studied calculus and physics in the same way in our home. I bought a self-teaching curriculum from Apologia for physics and a self-teaching curriculum from Saxon for calculus. The kids would get their instructions either from the book or the CDs, getting the instructions from someone else and learning independently. My only job was to make sure they did the work and to oversee their daily work being done. With calculus, you can’t hear the results and there’s no piano recital at the end of the year, so I would use the answer keys and give the tests. Of course, it’s hard to correct a test like physics and calculus because I didn’t know what the words and symbols meant; I had to look at the answer key and at the answers that my children gave me to make sure that they were exactly alike. If there was a discrepancy and my children were absolutely certain that their answer was correct, I was thankful that it was a homeschool curriculum because they would then be able to call the 800 number.

We also learned Latin in our homeschool. My children and I did not know Latin beforehand and we used the Latin Road to English Grammar. The first year we studied Latin, I studied ahead, stayed two weeks ahead of them and actually did learn the language! The second year we did Latin, I wasn’t as excited about it and learned along with my children. By the third year, I didn’t want to do it at all. The children still wanted to, so they continued with their Latin studies independently just like physics and calculus.

Even though I didn’t know Latin, physics, and calculus, my children both went to college well-prepared in ALL of those subjects. One of my sons is an engineer and takes physics, calculus, and advanced math for fun in college and still earns straight A’s.  My other son really likes the languages so he was well-prepared with our Latin studies.

Remember that self-teaching is the goal; not you teaching it to them, but your child teaching it to themselves. For more information on homeschooling high school, check out http://www.TheHomeScholar.com or pick up one of my Kindle books, such as Planning High School Courses: Charting the Course Toward High School Graduation.