Home Schooling

I am the father of four home school high school graduates and one public school graduate. We educated four of our children at home for twenty years. I have been a part of organizing home school support groups and worked for a home school high school organization that reviewed portfolios, granted credits, issued transcripts, and awarded diplomas.

Home Schooling for high school requires an extra level of detail, work, and documentation above the lower grades. In home education course credits can be earned in different ways. (a) Using a high school textbook, covering all of the lessons, doing all of the work, taking all of the tests, and having everything graded. (b) Designing and creating a course can be accomplished by putting together all of the materials, planning all of the lessons, having the student put in enough time, study, and work, and grading everything. (c) Home schooling can also utilize activities, jobs, and participation in organizations like 4-H to use for organizing courses for high school credit. (d) Some states, like Florida, allow home schooling students to attend individual classes at public schools. (e) Upper level home school students can also participate in dual-enrollment at the local community college for some high school courses and credits. (f) There are also online courses that can be used for high school credit. (g) Students moving over to home education after already having complete some public or private school credits can utilize each one of them as transferred credits.

Careful record keeping is essential for each course. A portfolio needs to include a detailed course description, a recorded log/lesson plan of course activities, a log of the number of hours invested for a full, one year credit or a half-credit, a course work portfolio, a breakdown of grades, and a final course grade. For the best certification a "Portfolio Review" needs to be done by a certified teacher that is certified in the state where you want credit.

In upcoming articles I will go into more details about each of the course types and how to properly put them together.

With Our Children in Mind, J. F. Hunt