High School Homeschool is Possible

High school homeschool is much less popular than homeschooling in the younger grades. But, why after investing so much time and money into a child's education would a parent relinquish their freedom to educate their child at home?

Legality of  High School Homeschool 

According to Home School Legal Defense Association, commonly referred to as HSLDA, it is legal in all fifty states to teach your children at home through high school. Be sure to check with your particular state for its local regulations or specific courses that may be required beyond middle school.

However, many families don't take advantage of that privilege and opt to put their children in public or private school for the older grades, in spite of having enjoyed relative success during the younger grades.

Reasons More Families Don't Consider High School Homeschool

• Fear – some parents are fearful that they will "ruin" their children and spoil any chances of academic scholarships if they teach them beyond middle school
• Unsupportive Spouse –  a spouse may be unsupportive of the other's desire to teach the higher grade and the parent-teacher gives in to the decision despite their own wishes
• Unwilling Child – the homeschooled child may no longer be interested in being taught at home for various reasons such as a desire for greater peer interactions or sports
• Behavioral Issues – if a child becomes disrespectful or uncooperative, a parent may have to abandon their plans to continue schooling at home
• Parent Wants to Return to Work – after teaching for several years, some parents-teachers decide that they want to go/return to school or work themselves and feel confident that their child can manage in a traditional school setting
• More recordkeeping is involved – the idea of keeping their child's records and compiling an official-looking transcript with proper courses and their child's GPA frightens some parents

How We Completed High School Homeschool

We have successfully taught our oldest five children from preschool through high school homeschool. It was not always easy, but it was a decision we were committed to doing.

We utilized many creative methods whenever challenges arose such as:

1. We used a tutorial program that provided additional lessons in science for one child who was very passionate about that subject.
2. We hired a math tutor when others needed additional help.
3. We definitely made use of the terrific guidance available at our umbrella school to parents teaching high school.
4. We allowed our daughters to earn school credit for after-school jobs that they held.
5. We did online school for one daughter's tenth grade high school homeschool curriculum when I still had several small children at home.
6. Mostly, we didn't allow any challenges to deter us from teaching them and determined to find solutions to any problems that arose.

Note: *Recently, we allowed our oldest son to register at a local private, Christian school for his junior and presumably, his senior year.

It was a decision that was made after much prayer and he has equally thrived in that environment. However, none of the remaining children at home are slated to join him there next year.

Perhaps, I can share more about that experience at a later time. Suffice it to say, even Christian educators harbor a degree of "hostility" or disagreement with home educators, simply because we are teaching at home.

Back to the topic at hand, I want to remind you that it is perfectly legal to teach your children through high school homeschool if you elect to do so. Find out the laws and requirements pertaining to your state, of course.

There are many resources and options available to help you in the process beyond the ones I shared about our experience. Homeschoolers are usually independent so let your child help in figuring how to best go about completing his courses.

Lastly, all five of our daughters who were homeschooled through high school were accepted to colleges. Two received their diplomas at age sixteen, with one of them doing four years over a three year period. They received scholarships and one received a full academic scholarship to Vanderbilt University. All three that have completed college have graduated with honors.

I shared that paragraph above as encouragement only and am definitely not boasting. I am one of the first to say that my children know more than I do in many areas because they have studied different things. I thank God for blessing our home school and really want to inspire others that it can be done.

What great tools they have that I never had access to as a child! Teach them to love reading and give them the skills to research and then the "sky's the limit!"

Other Links: Home School High School | Homeschooling Online | High School Home Study