Homeschooling and College
Preparing for college can be intimidating when your education has been unconventional. Homeschoolers are regularly admitted to and thrive in colleges and universities across the US. Here are some resources that will help you prepare your student for both the application process and college life. Be sure to check out our Homeschooling High School page.
College-related Blog Posts
As College Tuition and costs continue to rise, many students are finding it difficult to foot the bill. Fortunately, some are investigating ways to save students money by creating low cost and cost-free alternatives to traditional college textbooks. Read more »
A Homeschool Guide to High School Grades, Credits and Transcripts
If you didn't have a chance to attend our free webinar ,"A Homeschool Parent's Guide to High School Grades, Credits and Transcripts", the full webinar recording is now online. Lee Binz of TheHomeScholar covers a variety of topics and spends over 45 minutes answering participants' questions at the end of the webinar, so be sure to listen to the Q&A session as well as the presentation itself. Read more »
Being the parent of 3 teens (and a 10 year old), I've been looking at the options I can give my kids for college. A priority for me was to be able to pay for college without having any of us take on debt. I really wasn't sure if I was being reasonable. Then I stumbled upon the book Debt Free U by Zac Bissonnette. He put me on the road to charting a path through college that will meet my kids needs AND my financial goals. Read more »
Transcripts and Delight-Directed Learning
Some people just aren’t textbook people! What do you do if your homeschooler learns by living, instead of studying textbooks? What if your child soaks up knowledge like a sponge, without being directed in any way? Can you still create a serious-looking high school transcript?
Read more »
Navigating Online Degree Programs
Accredited Online Degrees - If your students are interested in obtaining a college degree but will not be "going away" to school, this list of online colleges offering accredited degrees will be of interest to you. The site explains how online degree programs work as well as lists
List of diploma mills and unaccredited colleges - Although this page is geared toward Oregon, its list of unaccredited colleges and diploma mills is useful no matter what state you are from.
Books That Guide Through the Admissions Process
Homeschoolers' College Admissions Handbook: Preparing Your 12- to 18-Year-Old for a Smooth Transition - Book by by Cafi Cohen, Linda Dobson (Editor)
And What About College? : How Homeschooling Can Lead to Admissions to the Best Colleges & Universities - Book by Cafi Cohen, Patrick Farenga (Editor)
Miscellaneous Helps
In a Class by Themselves - Article in Stanford's alumni magazine about several homeschool students at the university as well as some details about Stanford's homeschool admissions policy.
National Junior Scholarship College Fair - "Each year NCSAA hosts three online Christian college fairs... Our spring event is specifically designed for high school juniors, and we’ll award one valuable scholarship to the Christian college of the junior’s choice. The timing of this fair coincides nicely with the time when most juniors begin to more seriously begin investigating and considering their options for college. Participating students in this fair can access easy-to-use tools to learn about and receive registration materials for college visitation days. These online college fairs are FREE for students and schools; there is no cost or obligation involved in participating in the events."
Is a college degree worthless? - Although the conclusion of this article (testing instead of diplomas) is questionable at best, the points raised about the value of a college degree are valid and deserve to be examined further. Perhaps 4 years spend exploring and developing entrepreneurship would better serve our young adults.
High School Transcripts and College Admissions
Creating transcripts in preparation for college admissions doesn't have to be difficult! You can do it yourself and this wonderful book by Lee Binz can help. Lee is a regular homeschool mom who two years ago struck gold. She discovered how to convert four years of independent homeschooling into transcripts that earned both of her sons full-tuition scholarships at their first choice university! The Easy Truth about Homeschool Transcripts will guide you through the process of creating high school transcripts using the same method that Lee used for her sons.
"The Easy Truth about Homeschool Transcripts is so easy, I'm actually excited to sit down and create my son's transcripts! If you're homeschooling through high school, this book will remove all your fears around credits, course descriptions, and grades, and will help you translate your student's homeschool work into the language of college admissions officers! An awesome tool for all homeschooling parents!" -- Jill in WA
For more information, visit Lee's website, The Easy Truth about Homeschool Transcripts.
Articles
7 Key Questions to Ask a College Admissions Officer - You've heard, endlessly, about the high level of competition for plum spots at state universities and big name colleges alike. Increasingly, being selected for admission is about standing out. How can you “shine” at those upcoming college fairs, college nights, and college interviews? Read more »
9 Easy Steps: High School Graduation Checklist - Parents can provide a college preparation during high school for every student, which can benefit every child. If they ultimately don’t go to college, then your homeschool education will be the only education they get. Make it great! They’ll be well prepared for life and their civic responsibilities. Plus, if they ever change their mind and decide to go to college, they will have a much easier time getting in. On the other hand, some parents know early on that their children are college bound. For them, a college prep education can influence the quality of the colleges they get admitted to. College preparation can benefit everyone. Read more »
Enjoy It While You Have It! - Writing my book Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers four years ago helped me through a difficult time of my life: letting go of our two oldest children. Over the course of three weeks, our daughter moved to the city and our son left for college. After homeschooling them all of their lives, it was a tough transition for me. Read more »
Helping Colleges to Choose YOU - I realize that many of you reading this letter may not have high school age children or maybe even college bound students. My hope is that the information that is included in these college information articles will be helpful to all our students. The ideas included could apply to most jobs as well. After all, a college is a student's job for a few years! Read more »
Homeschool Accreditation - When you educate your children within the bounds of state law, you can provide an official homeschool transcript. There is a difference between an “accredited” and an “official” homeschool transcripts. Homeschool credits are official, and our transcripts are official. Homeschool transcripts are usually NOT accredited, however. Accredited transcripts are provided by certified organizations. Learn what to consider when deciding whether accreditation is right for your homeschool. Read more »
Homeschooling High School - Does the idea of homeschooling your high schooler sound scary and uncharted to you? Just as homeschooling is an adventure no matter what grade or age level, homeschooling for high school can sound intimidating! Please know that many, many families have successfully (and happily!) completed this chapter of education for one or more of their children. Speaking as a parent who has done this, these capstone years are do-able, really fun, easier, and more rewarding than our family imagined they’d be. What’s wonderful is that just as in the other years, you can find courses and help them prepare for their future in ways that are the best fit for each of your children.
Read more »
Preparing for College - “You can’t prepare for the SAT.” Educational Testing Service, the company that writes the SAT, has worked hard to convince people that they cannot improve their scores by studying for the test. But a half a million students disagree and say that you can substantially improve your scores by using the popular study aids that are available. Read more »
The Big Transition: Homeschool to College - This is the time of year when homeschooling parents traditionally begin contemplating next year. Parents of 8th graders may be terrified as they consider what they are going to do next year for high school. They might wonder whether they measure up academically; if they're capable of leading their children through high school and preparing them for college. Even as their high schoolers pursue college dreams, parents often speculate whether their kids will be able to adjust to the rigors and social climate of college after being at home for high school. Understanding the latest research on this topic could be reassuring for both parents and students! Read more »
What's Next? 8 Options After High School (Part 1 of 2) - Graduation is not an end, it's a beginning. A starting point. A fork in the road. Which way will your children go? There are many options available! While in the midst of homeschooling high school, it's a good idea to take a step back once in a while. Consider what is more important than the four years of high school. Consider what's next. There are decisions to be made, and many options available. Discuss these options as a family, and talk about what will be best for your teen and your family. Read more »
What's Next? 8 Options After High School (Part 2 of 2) - In part 1, we explored four of the traditional college options for what comes after homeschooling high school. In part 2, we will continue our discussion by looking at four less-traditional options - options that are growing in popularity and should be explored with your teen. I say four options, but really one of them is a path I would not recommend. Read on to discover some of the roads less traveled for homeschool high school graduates. You may discover a path that fits your family perfectly. Read more »
Will Secular College Undo What You Have Done? - One of our purposes in homeschooling is to prepare our children for "their futures stations in life" - whatever those may be, and which will obviously involve many different kinds of "preparation," depending on what the specific "future station" will be. This may or may not include college - Christian or secular. Any way you look at it, they will be going out into "the world" which is full of ungodly influences. Read more »
Helpful Websites
Parliament's Custom Diagnostic SAT Quiz - Print and take the diagnostic test, then either enter your answers to be scored or download the scoring sheet to score yourself. Sample student essays with scoring are available for viewing to help you evaluate your own writing.
Homeschool2College Group - If you have a child that will be making the transition from homeschool to college in the near future, this very active Yahoo Group may help with some of your questions. "This is a group for homeschool parents to freely discuss issues related to preparing
Homeschool-friendly Colleges - Listings of colleges and universities that are homeschool-friendly; schools are listed by state. Not as complete as the listing at Learn in Freedom.
Selective Colleges That Have Accepted Homeschoolers - "More than 1,000 schools of higher education appear on this FAQ and its subpages, and links to over 980 college Web sites appear on these pages."
Campus Compare - A variety of helpful resources for college search and selection
Give Me Scholarships - Learn how to improve your chances at getting scholarships by taking advice from someone who has spent a lot of time awarding them at Give Me Scholarships.
Campus Explorer - A fun college matching tool that actually works! Photos, videos and advice to help you get to know what a school is really like! Your personal profile to save and compare your favorite schools!
Princeton: Tips for Home Schooled Students - We recognize that your experience as a home schooled student will be somewhat different from students in traditional schools. We'll look at your academic record and non-academic interests and commitments within the context of your particular home school curriculum and experience. We understand that for many home schooled students there is not as clear a distinction between academic and non-academic activities as there might be for students in a traditional high school....
Kaplan College Resources - Although not geared toward homeschoolers, there is a large collection of helpful resources on Kaplan's Getting Into College page.
