We homeschooled high school all the way through with our younger daughter. She took 60 credits at the local community college—some of them dual enrollment and some after graduation—and transferred to Virginia Tech, where she graduated with a degree in civil engineering.
If you would like to see how we tracked credits and created transcripts, see our 10th Grade Plan. For those homeschooling a non-traditional learner, Vanessa's 9th Grade Plan for a Non-Traditional Learner is helpful.
If you haven't checked out TheHomeSchoolMom's free homeschool transcripts, be sure to download the spreadsheet template. It is easy to plug in your courses and credits, and the spreadsheet calculates your GPA for you. I used this spreadsheet template to create transcripts for both of my daughters and used them at community college and universities.
Our 11th Grade Plan for a Prospective Engineer
For 12th grade my daughter planned to commit to the engineering program at the community college. For 11th grade, she eased into taking college level classes with 3 classes at the college and the rest at home.
Dual Enrollment (DE) English
Building on what we did the previous year with resources from the UNC Writing Center, the focus for her junior year was on composition through the local community college's ENG 111 course. Over the course of the semester, students worked to complete a research paper from the abstract topic proposal to the final draft. It was a challenging course that goes into the details of the process for a single paper instead of completing multiple papers.
Precalculus
Having completed both the Algebra and Geometry modules of VideoText, for 11th grade she took Precalculus at the local community college. VideoText covers Precalculus in its Algebra modules, but this was a nice way to start math at our local community college in a low stress way. Since credit for Precalculus does not count toward an engineering degree, we did not call this dual enrollment even though it was taken through the community college.
Dual Enrollment (DE) Biology and Lab
This is the 3rd of the 3 courses my daughter took at the local community college. Her preference was Anatomy, but BIO 101 & 102 were prerequisites.
American History
This was the only course that I developed at home for 11th grade. We used Crash Course American History, HipHughes history videos, lectures (mostly from The Great Courses) and various online readings to supplement. We kept up with current events using CNN's Student News.
Spanish 4
My daughter's Spanish 2 instructor tutored her own daughter and my daughter once a week in preparation for college level Spanish.
Technology
Technology was incorporated throughout the curriculum as part of each class.
Physical Education
Since my daughter was a competitive gymnast that spends approximately 20 hours in the gym each week, additional PE is unnecessary.
My daughter is a dual citizen of USA and South Korea born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. I am planning on homeschooling her this fall for her Junior year in South Korea then transfering her to a public school in NY to live with her aunt for her Senior year. She wants to either attend one of the University of California colleges or stay in NY and go to a NY State University upon graduation. Do you know of any reputable homechooling programs that I can look into that is accredited where all her credits will be transferable for college? Also, it has to be transferable to the NY highschool as well for her Senior year. Any sort of tip would help me. There are so many homechooling programs, I don't know where to start. Thank you!
I am looking into homeschooling my grand-daughter who is at this time in 10th grade, but is failing all her classes. She is going to be coming from WV to CT to live with me so that I can help her get thru high school and get a diploma. I just don't know where to start with getting information I need to do this with her. Do you have any suggestions for me as to how and when to start the homeschooling process?
Hi Elizabeth,
You need to read our resources on Homeschooling 101 and our resources on Homeschooling High School.
Start by getting to know your granddaughter and spending time with her to show you are interested in her whole self, not just the academic side of her. If there is something that she enjoys doing that you can do with her, spend time with her doing that: baking, walking, hair color and styling, listening to music, etc. If she is interested, help her start a little business like pet care, making and selling bread to neighbors, etc. Connecting with her around her interests and showing you're on her side is a vital first step. You could even see if you can figure out a way the two of you could volunteer together in an area of her interest: photographing pets at the animal shelter to help them get adopted, reading to elementary students, or helping at the library. Find a grounding shared experience before you begin academics.
You might find some help from this article about homeschooling a student struggling in high school.
Good luck. Your granddaughter is fortunate to have you willing to help her through this part of her life.
Jeanne
How does home schooling affects the student's chance to get in the good UC's? Do you have any information on it.
Hi Seema - By UC I am assuming you mean college. My kids started by dual enrolling in community college and both went on to respected universities. Other kids go directly from homeschooling to college. Some kids are not college-bound, instead choosing to pursue a trade. Homeschooling is neither a guarantee of nor a hindrance to admission to university. Preparation and planning are key if that is the direction a child plans to go, and colleges recognize the unique contributions that homeschoolers can make to their student bodies. TheHomeSchoolMom has lots of information for homeschoolers interested in attending college - it's definitely not a reason for holding back if you are considering homeschooling.
Like to get infor for grade 11
Hi Denise - Homeschooling is state regulated and parent-directed, and we don't offer individual consulting so I can't provide anything specific to your family's needs. I recommend getting in touch with local homeschoolers in your area and learning more about your state's requirements if you are new to homeschooling. They can also be a good resource for classes and co-ops that might be available locally. You might find the information linked from our Homeschooling 101 page helpful if you are new to homeschooling. Best wishes on your homeschooling journey.