My oldest child started high school at home this year. He's a very non-traditional learner, which can present a challenge when mom is the opposite.
And while he looks very much like me, we are polar opposites. He's several inches taller than me, has opinions about everything in the world (a good quality, I keep telling myself) and is extroverted x 1000.
Me? I was a textbook (pun intended) traditional school- lover.
Book reports? Yes, please.
Trifold projects for presentation day? Can I make two?
Read all the books in the world? Sign me up!
Math and Science night for extra tutoring so I will be uber-prepared? Yup. I am here for it.
My son was nearly five when we started officially homeschooling. I was a bit naive at first thinking he would want to sit down for three hours to do reading, writing, and arithmetic. That lasted maybe half a day. Or perhaps it was a half-an-hour.
He learned to do basic spelling by bouncing on a ball across the floor. I would hide number flashcards around the house and he would run and find them and tell me the number. We practiced letting writing with his finger and sand or making letters out of modeling clay.
We read BOB books, watched Word World and free play was welcomed and encouraged. His brother and sister (twins that are 22 months younger) rounded out our little homeschool. We were content with our hands-on manipulatives, read-alouds, messy crafts, sweet lapbook projects and lots of outside play.
Did I mention my son just turned 14?
I never intended to homeschool and I really couldn't imagine homeschooling high school.
But here we are. And can I tell you a secret? I'm kind of excited about it and I am not freaking out as much as I thought I would be. At least not yet.
How We Are Preparing a High School Plan That Works for a Non-Traditional Learner
We've been homeschooling for a while now and my thoughts and ideas about home education have changed and blossomed over time. We are not tied to a particular homeschool philosophy.
We have been through some very challenging times as a family where homeschooling looked very much like movies, Lego play, and audiobooks. We started off doing morning time and group work and studying as many subjects together as we could.
I've written about how middle school homeschooling turned our days in a different direction. This has helped me relax into a more interest-led, relaxed idea for high school. I've also been a student of my child for his entire life.
We talked about him going to Classical education program three days a week or even a University Model school. He took a few looks at the programs and immediately said no. And that was fine with me.
While I do have his first year planned out, I haven't done a sweeping four-year plan yet. I am working my way through "Homeschooling High School By Design" by Heather Woodie of Blog, She Wrote. What piqued my interest is her out-of-the-box approach to homeschooling out-of-the-box teens. She has modules on creating a schedule and a four-year plan, making time for interests, creating electives, teaching gifted teens, and more.
If you're homeschooling high school and are looking for resources that celebrate interest-led learning, I recommend Blake Boles' podcast and his books. Also, unschooling books and podcasts might be something to explore as well—even if you've never considered yourself an unschooler.
Renee Tougas' "Freedom Education" course is also a fantastic resource (not just for high school, but homeschooling in general). She is an experienced homeschool parent who has walked the path and has vital insight and guidance. I took this course this past winter and it really helped me craft a vision as we move into this next phase of homeschooling.
Since this is high school, we will be tracking all of these classes and activities for his homeschool high school transcript. Depending on how his courses come together, we can decide to create a transcript grouped by grade or by subject area, whichever will make the most of his high school experiences. This flexibility makes planning high school courses for non-traditional learners much easier.
Are you homeschooling high school? Drop me a comment below and let me know what it looks like for you and your family!
Vanessa is a homeschooling mama to three inquisitive, creative and often loud teens. Vanessa is a writer, speaker, and a life coach for mothers of pre-teens and teens. She guides them in creating sustainable self-care practices so they can discover their purpose and passions. You can find her on Instagram at 
Last school year was supposed to be 9th grade but it was a really bad year for my family so the bare minimum was what got done. My son is one that hates schooling and loves gaming so I've been trying to find a way to mix the 2 together for his high school years. He's goal is to become a youtube gamer and create his own video games. I would love any help that anyone could give for this type of schooling.
Hi Sarah,
There are a few approaches to this. If he is willing to broaden the games he plays, you can look for games with content that is relevant to history, science, geography, economics, math, etc. My kids learned so much from games. Some game worlds really help you learn about different economic systems, for example.
If he wants to be a YouTube gamer, he could spend some time developing his YouTube persona, openings and closings for his show, and promotions for his channel. These would require writing and editing as well as video production and tech skills.
You could also help him set up a business as a sole proprietorship, so he'd be doing reading and research about that. He could write to companies to solicit sponsorships and also compose thank you letters when they respond. He could write a newsletter updating subscribers on his schedule, his gaming gear, reviews of games, trends in gaming, etc. He could develop a budget for running his business.
He could practice narrating his games now, working on voice over, which is a public speaking skill.
You might also have him read about YouTube gamers and learn what they do to become successful. He could also research the psychological and physiological elements of gaming. For example, many serious gamers do indeed pay attention to things like sleep, fitness, nutrition, and amount of caffeine, because all these things affect reaction time, ability to strategize, etc. It would be interesting to compare gamer lifestyles to athlete lifestyles over time. Many top athletes have become much more conscientious about how their lifestyle affects performance——where are gamers with this in today's world?
He might be interested in learning about colleges that have eSports teams, and perhaps you could visit several, even though it's early in his high school career. He may or may not be interested in attending college, but he might also have no idea what young adult gamers are doing to integrate gaming and academics, so he might pick up some ideas.
If he is interested in game development at all (not all gamers are), you could have him do various writing assignments that are related. For example, if he could put together his favorite aspects of all the games he plays, what would be featured in his "super game?" Can he create a game world and write a story line that would include all those elements? Other possible assignments might include sketching out the basics of a game that would be set in his favorite place or in the imaginary world of a favorite book or movie. Or, depending on his interest, he could also look at the technical end such as coding and graphics. He might be surprised to learn that game developers use a lot of math—they need algebra, geometry, and trig, and they need to learn about game logic. You could definitely have him research possible careers in gamedev. Maybe he can find people in the industry to follow or even work toward shadowing or interning with.
He could look at how game designers use probability (math) to affect game play. How does that WORK? How might it be affecting his own performance in games?
He could also look at how he could optimize his gaming system. Where are the bottlenecks that affect performance? In his hardware? Software? Internet? He could come up with a fantasy game setup: if money were no object, what would he do to put together the best gaming components for performance? Let him research real hardware, software, chairs, desks, etc. and come up with the specs and cost. This can really feed the beast, so you have to make clear it's a fantasy! But it's great research practice. In fact, he could come up with "best gaming systems" at different price points.
Some other great topics for him to research:
- How does the "addiction model" fit gaming? He could research all sides and come to a conclusion that he can support with evidence from his research.
- What is the nature of the business of gaming? I could see him doing a little family/friends presentation with PowerPoint or other slide deck - explaining just how much money is spent on gaming by consumers, how many major gaming companies there are and what their investments are, etc.
- How is gambling involved in gaming?
- What guidelines would he recommend for parents of very young children who are going to grow up with gaming, and why?
It's a great topic!
Keep notes of all he does and you will be able to group some learning together under familiar subject-sounding titles.
Looking forward,
Jeanne
Very helpful information in this reply. Thank you.
Glad you found our info helpful!
I found this SO helpful! Our son is 14 and we are considering homeschooling (we already homeschool our 5 year old). Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Glad you found this helpful, Pearl. Be sure to learn more about transferring homeschool credits to public high school. In case plans should change, it's good info to have. You may already know that colleges don't have problems admitting homeschoolers, but sometimes it's challenging for homeschoolers to get high schools to accept their credits.
I loved homeschooling my kids through high school, and I'm sending you the best of luck! Enjoy!
Looking forward,
Jeanne
Hi. I am new to homeschooling in Maryland, as of just a few days ago. My daughter is a 9th grader and I am struggling to adhere to a schedule that requires 8 sujects to be taught each day. If I follow her previous public school schedule of 90 minutes per class, she would spend a VERY long time each day getting through all 8 subjects (English,Math,Science,Social Studies,Art,Music,P.E. and Health).
Can any advice be provided?
Hi Amy,
You will want to become familiar with the home education requirements in Maryland. Since each state has its own homeschool law, we don't give advice specific to a single state.
In most states, there is not a requirement for homeschooled students to follow the schedule of their public school counterparts. That's because homeschooling one-on-one is so much more efficient than when a teacher has a class of 30+ students to get through a standard curriculum. In addition to having a lower student-teacher ratio, homeschooling means that learning can be customized to the student, not wasting time on material that is too advanced, too remedial, or presented in a way that the student does not benefit from.
Consult with your state or local homeschool organization, but chances are that there is no requirement for 90 minute classes for homeschooled students.
You may be interested in learning more about the ways that homeschooling is not public school at home.
Additionally, since your daughter is in 9th grade, you should definitely read our article about transferring homeschool credits to public high school. This information is vital if your daughter could return to public high school in the future.
Good luck!
Looking forward,
Jeanne
Hello, I'm planning on homeschooling my 16 year old son. He has always gone to public school but with the last year and a half being completely online he has lost all interest in school. He is failing all of his classes and his school is threatening to bring him back to in person learning, he is very very scared of going back because of the COVID outbreak and since his teachers are still basically online and have to social distance he feels that they won't help him even in person. Unfortunately they haven't been helping him much throughout the year as it is and a few of teachers won't even let him log into their classes ( even after I've called the school about it). I'm looking into homeschooling him because I feel he might benefit from a non traditional learning approach. I just have no idea where to start or even how to start. What is needed for curriculum? Do you still use things like credits toward graduation? How does this work?
Hi CR,
You will find lots of information in the Homeschooling 101 and Homeschooling High School areas of TheHomeSchoolMom (linked in the main navigation) that will answer your questions. As we discuss in the Homeschooling 101 area, you will need to comply with your state's homeschooling statute, keep track of his credits, and create a transcript (we have a free template in the high school area). You decide on curriculum (be sure to read our post "Choosing Homeschool Curriculum" linked in the post above) and the assignment of credits. Vanessa has some good resources above for interest-led learning, as well as in her other posts (just click her name in the byline at the top of the post to find her other posts).
We recommend hooking up with local homeschoolers—they will be a great resource for guiding you through what homeschooling looks like in realtime. Most states and some localities have groups on Facebook or email groups you can join. It seems overwhelming at first, but as you keep doing the next thing, it all falls into place. Best wishes to you and your son.
Hi there! Our now 16 year old daughter was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder a couple of years ago and in person learning is just not an option for her. She also does not do well in an online setting and she has absolutely no motivation to do anything. Our life is like a roller coaster. We go up and then right back down, but never really get to just hang out in the middle for any real length of time. I am having the hardest time trying to work through high school with her. Any help or tips you could offer would be great! Thanks! We’ve been through a lot in the last few years and we honestly just need to win at something!
Hi Krista - Sounds like you have had a rough time getting to this point. We have quite a few resources on the website that can help with roadblocks in homeschooling. I would start with our post titled "Homeschool Problem Red Flags: Resistance and Resentment" and would also take a look at "My Top 9 Resources for Homeschooling Differently Wired Kids." Hopefully those will give some effective tools for your homeschool toolbox.
Good morning! After posting my frustrations with homeschooling my 16 year old 10th grader (always homeschooled), comments led to looking at interest led learning. (My son told me he thinks he's done with school.) My question is: is it too late??? He wants to do a gap year (already making plans to intern at a military tank museum in the UK) then go to a four year college. He has taken a couple of electives at the community college, volunteers at a living history museum, and wants to learn blacksmithing. We have never been school-at-home people but his dad is much more traditional and wants to see traditional steps toward ACT/SAT and the path to university. Also, our son is dyslexic, not that that matters too much.
Should I change our focus again? Thank you so much.
Hi MaryLynn,
I recommend working with a homeschool coach for highschool. That's what I do! I wrote about it here and if you like more details on who I use and her programs, please email me at wrightathomeschool3@gmail.com. Thank you!
https://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/how-homeschool-consultant-helped-me-questions-homeschooling/
Hi Vanessa,
How do you grade math during the year of unschooling for a 9th grader?
Thank you in advance 🙏
Hi Helen, it will depend on your state's requirements. I would get familiar with what you have to do for that and then you can probably create a transcript or a way to grade based on what your teen is doing. My mother-in-law has been teaching math to all of my kids (via Zoom) for two years or so, and she creates all the grading for me. Definitely check out Heather's Homeschooling High School By Design course that I mention above. She's amazing and has mentored me as well. Best of luck!
Hi! I will be homeschooling my daughter for 9th grade (21-22). She is learning disabled and ADHD. School is very hard for her! We’ve done tutoring for homeschool connections via Zoom since March 20. It has been difficult to say the least. Any suggestions or advice for high school homeschooling? Thanks so much!
Hi Laurie!
Thanks for reaching out. I think I have a few other blog posts on the site about homeschooling high school, so definitely check those out too. I HIGHLY recommend these three ladies because they will be of great assistance to you:
-Shawna:
https://differentbydesignlearning.com/
-Heather's Homeschool High School By Design (she's mentioned in the blog--she's amazing!)
-Colleen:
https://raisinglifelonglearners.com/
Best of luck and enjoy the journey.
Vanessa
Thank you so much!
Hello! I am planning on honeschooling my 16 year old granddaughter. She has social anxiety and going to hugh school for her is not working out. She is a non traditional learner. What do I look for in curriculum?
Thank you
Hi Linda, I would start by asking her what she's interested in learning about and how she would like to do things. Partner with her and be sure she's part of the planning process. Then, you can start researching various online classes, curricula, etc. It will really depend on her learning style and her goals for the year. Every teen is different. I highly recommend checking out Heather's blog. She is my "coach" and so helpful for homeschooling high school--especially for non-traditional learners: https://blogshewrote.org/
You could have her look for ideas around math, writing/literature, science, art, etc. She might also need some time to decompress from tradition school. I would research deschooling and unschooling. Don't be afraid to give her space and let her explore. I also recommend Blake Boles' books and he's linked in the post above. Best of luck!