Homeschooling parents know how to best educate their family. Use what you know about your students and their learning styles and excogitate the subjects that colleges demand to see. Homeschooling in high school is very efficient and there is radically time in the day to give your issue an education that has breadth and depth in a way that is meaningful to the student. Here is a list of the courses that colleges look for in their applicants. As you study it, think about how you can incorporate these subjects into your homeschool.
English
Colleges like to see four years of English. You can good this requirement in a mixture of ways. Your student could study literature and composition through a prepared curriculum, or you could plainly have them scan and rewrite a lot every year. You might requirement to scan having a speech class as an option. One year, one of my sons wanted to do Sonlight Language Arts but the other wanted to use Learn to Tell the Story Way. I wanted to please everyone so we ended up doing Device! This is a projection I do NOT push for! Unless, of course, you thoroughly enjoyed the anguish of childbirth.
One's damndest to amass in power what really matters about this area called English. You craving to end up with newborn manhood and women who enjoy reading, communicate in writing, and know how to learn. As long as they are acceptance those values, and are growing in their competence, you are succeeding at your venture!
Math
Colleges will regularly impart you that they wish three years of high school math. They will also say they longing to see math in the students senior year, while its still fresh. In my mind, math is such a cornerstone for so many other subjects, careers, and college majors that I believe its important to have four years of math. Its less important what LEVEL of math they do each year. Colleges like to see kids moving forward in their math studies, so just teach your student consistently at their level. Its great to complete geometry before the PSAT test, and better still if they can complete Algebra 2 or Pre - calculus before taking the SAT test. It would be great to complete pre - calculus or trigonometry before college, so that if they need calculus they will be ready to take it at a university. But really, as long as you do the next thing, working on math at their level, you cant lose.
Social Studies
Colleges like to see three to four years of social studies. Often colleges will further specify what social studies areas they particularly want to see. Usually that will mean world history, American history, American government, and economics. Remember that you arent confined to choosing the expected classes for social studies, either. In our family, one son took a course in Russian History and the other chose Psychology. Now is a good time to mention that not all classes have to involve tests. Sometimes you can just audit a course like they do in college. That is how we used the Teaching Company lectures, our favorite supplement for social studies. They are college level lectures on audio or video recording. My kids loved them, and enjoyed being taught as an adult.
Science
Three years of science is expected for college preparation, with at least one of those classes including a lab. We used Apologia Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, which all had a lab component. Each area of science is so different that a child may really hate one but really love the other, so its helpful to try to expose them to each one. You can also branch out into different subjects: geology, astronomy, etc. Colleges love to see unique courses, so dont be afraid to delve into another area of science if your son or daughter is interested.
Foreign Language
Many colleges require a foreign language for admission, so try to be prepared. If they require a foreign language, they will usually say they want two or three years of a single foreign language. They dont want to see a month long exposure to a lot of languages; they want to see the student become reasonably fluent. The best advice I have about foreign language is to do a little bit every day. A daily 15 minute study period is a much more effective way to study than once a week for an hour. I suggest using a foreign language curriculum that was designed for homeschoolers. That way you arent expected to already know the language. This is a great strategy to remember for other classes as well. You really dont have to know a subject to teach it for goodness sake, just look at our public schools! You only have to find a good curriculum, let the student learn independently, and check on their progress now and then.
Physical Education
Some kids find it very easy to get the required two credits of PE. They get their PE credits from soccer team, summer swim league, or community running clubs. Other kids, however, really balk at physical exercise! Some unique ways to obtain physical education credits are yoga or weight lifting at a YMCA. Your kids could also take CPR or a health course at a community center. Some kids who hate PE will love to go swing - dancing, or downhill skiing, and will think its just fun, not educational. Any physical activity that breaks a sweat counts!
Fine Arts
Colleges like to see some fine arts in the transcript, but they often just suggest they only want one credit. Not being an artistic family, we had to look up fine arts in the dictionary. I learned that the fine arts are music, art, theater and dance. Who knew? There is a wide array of opportunities to find those credits. Some choose music or art lessons, but there are also budget - conscious ways to get the credits. My children didnt like hands on projects, so we studied the fine arts through history, using lots of library books. We studied music history by checking out CDs and biographical books on different composers and styles of music.
Electives
Colleges like to see a total of 22 - 24 high school credits or more. Electives are the credits that dont fit under the other categories. Some of the most valuable electives to include are drivers education, typing, logic, and computer skills. These are skills adults need every day. Ive found that all adults either have these skills or wish they did! Make sure your student has the time to pursue their passion. A little known secret is that passion IS an elective! The things your student does for fun can be the electives that are included on your homeschool transcript. I have one student that loved chess and studied it for hours each week. One year in high school, we called those hours critical thinking. The next year, when he began teaching chess classes, we called it public speaking. The following year he had multiple chess jobs, and we called the course occupational education. Each year, his passion for chess was an elective. I know students that have specialized in ornithology ( birds ), fungus, economics, and musicology. Specialization is one of the benefits of homeschooling, so seize this opportunity!
How can you do it?
So how do two normal parents with only a tenuous grasp of algebra, and a casual relationship with grammar, teach children upper math and Latin? The answer, my friend, is cheat. Not really cheat in a bad way! I mean that we can use people who are much smarter than us to help get through the rough spots. For example, there are many of great video tutorials for every level in math some of them even demonstrate the solution to every problem in the book. You can find lots of resources at a homeschool convention or curriculum fair, where you can compare different choices side - by - side. Bring your teens to the homeschool convention if you can. Sometimes, the best thing to do for the hard - to - please teen is to give them ownership of the curriculum decision. Our oldest son shocked us all by choosing Saxon math for high school calculus. Mom and Dad who grew up thinking a math book had to have pretty pictures to be effective were dismayed. But it seemed to work for him. Kids today! So give them curriculum choices when you can. I do encourage you to shop for curriculum meant for homeschoolers, so that you dont have to know the subject yourself. Encourage your teens to learn the way adults do - by teaching themselves.
