Should You Homeschool High School?

Helpful Ideas and Tips for Home Schooling 9th to 12th Grades

Sep 8, 2007

Homeschooling families often quit teaching at home when it comes time for senior high school. Read about concerns and get encouragement to keep going through graduation.

Why do many people quit homeschooling at the senior high school level? Teaching high school courses may seem difficult, students want to be involved in sports, parents fear homeschoolers will sacrifice social activities, or parents develop homeschool burnout and no longer wish to continue.

Here are some tips for making it through homeschooling high school and reasons why it can be very rewarding.

Concern: Homeschooling High School Courses is Hard

Encouragement and Ideas: Some resources to help with hard high school subject areas are: purchased curriculum (including teacher edition), online courses, tutors, trading teaching time with other parents, computer CDs, DVD lessons, free information on the Internet, and community classes. One excellent way to teach a subject is for the homeschool adult to learn along with the student.

Concern: What About Homeschool High School Sports?

Encouragement and Ideas: Many homeschool students go to public high school for the sports. Depending on the area and school system, there may be options. Some cities have strong community sports leagues that will welcome home-educated kids. Some school systems allow homeschoolers to join high school teams, even without taking any classes on campus. Some areas have public-school-supported 'homeschooling' campuses or programs, in which case students would have access to anything available to public school students. Lastly, if enough families work together, homeschoolers may be able to form their own teams and/or leagues. For instance, a special bowling league would be simple to set up at a local alley.

Encouragement and Ideas: Many homeschooled kids belong to clubs such as 4-H and scouting. Other special interest groups (chess clubs, book clubs, or volunteer groups, for instance) are an option as well. Homeschool teen groups are set up in many communities and the kids and adults involved organize social opportunities such as dances (including Proms), fun gatherings and parties, and events like graduation ceremonies. See aabc_homeschooling for more ideas and information.

Encouragement and Ideas: If burnout becomes an issue, perhaps the style of homeschooling can be changed, at least for a while. If the same curriculum has been used for years, perhaps an online program or another type of learning could be adopted. A family trip to learn U.S. History by seeing the country could go a long way in refreshing attitudes. Spending a month on a volunteer project or starting a small business could mean learning across the curriculum while changing the community. Doing a large home improvement project as a family could lift everyone's spirits and raise home value while math, design skills, etc. are learned. There are also opportunities for high school aged teens to do internships or get a part time job. All these things bring new skills and knowledge to the student while giving the teacher a break and time to refresh. There are many ways to fit homeschooling into home life and Homeschool During Illness.

While these are not all the concerns of those entering the high school years, it is good to remember that continuing to homeschool through graduation can give a student unique opportunities. They may not be exactly the same as those of their public schooled peers... but they will be their own and they can be molded to fit their life goals and values.

The copyright of the article Should You Homeschool High School? in Homeschooling is owned by Janienne Jennrich. Permission to republish Should You Homeschool High School? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.