I love your questions and just had to share this one with you. The question is how do homeschooled students get a diploma if I do this myself? Also, I have more tips on my page How to Homeschool High School.
Hi my name is Kimberly I have 4 kids ..I started homeschooling my oldest son about 4yrs ago but with a school online then my other two oldest wanted me to home school well its very expensive going through a school on the internet .. I have been reading your blog and talking to my husband about just doing it on my own cause we have one more child who will be starting kindergarten next year it will be way to much to stay in this online schooling, but anyways my question to you is if I do the whole homeschooling myself how would they get a high diploma ??? I live in Indiana thanks for your time
It’s true.
Online public school is very expensive because not only are you paying for curriculum, but you are also paying for teacher advice and depending on the school you could pay for record keeping.
Time-Saving Tricks
Doing this by yourself is not as hard or as terrifying as many homeschoolers may think. It takes knowing a few time-saving tricks and I want to share them with you.
Look at these things that you want to resolve and plan for now that will save you tons of time and stress later.
How Do Homeschooled Students Get a Diploma
■Plan with the end in mind.
It sounds crazy, but what it means is to start your forward planning by deciding the end goals now and working toward meeting them.
You don’t want any surprises at the end of your son’s high school journey when it comes time for college or career.
Homeschool Diploma
Start planning by finding out first what the requirements are for either a college or career.
When you find out the requirements, then you are sure to include those subjects or skills in his high school course.
It will form the skeleton of his high school courses. By being sure you cover everything you are suppose to do to prepare him for the course he will take, you will not have any surprises.
■Consider your state laws, if any.
The next thing is to determine what your area requires, if anything when it comes to high school graduation. A lot of states, the parents determine what course and credits to do for high school.
Just be sure you are complying with the law. If there are no requirements, then move on to the next point. If there are requirements, include them in your skeleton courses.
■If you have a choice of courses, then you want to be familiar with what is the total number of credits most high schools require for graduation and then adjust your expectations accordingly.
To give you a rule of thumb, 19 credits is about minimum and up to about 24 credits earned through the four years is college bound.
Again, if your child is attending a college, you will have started with them first to find out which courses will help him get accepted into college and you will want to decide the number of credits.
Too, a simple google search of things like *high school courses and transcripts* will give you ample examples of how a balanced high school program may look.
From that, you can add and tweak credits and courses you want for your son.
Establish the total number of credits and make it clear to him and you so you both know what it takes to graduate.
Next, look at some of these books for homeschooling high school.
More Resources For How Do Homeschooled Students Get a Diploma
How to Homeschool High School Books & Resources
How to homeschool high school can be daunting at first. With a little help and these great resources, you’ll be a homeschool pro in no time.
Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers is a real eye-opener on homeschooling. It will alleviate a lot of the anxieties about getting started homeschooling. Reading each chapter’s highlights will give you encouragement, knowledge, guidance, and peace of mind to homeschool with confidence. The best part is that you’ll be educating the person who loves your kids the most in this world--YOU! Armed with the knowledge to make better choices in curriculum will empower you to continue the path of home education. Unlike many books based on one family’s experience, Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers is also based on Tina’s many years of mentoring hundreds and hundreds of new homeschoolers at live workshops. When you don’t know where to begin Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers equips you to successfully homeschool your children.
Are you afraid of homeschooling high school? Do you think you’ll ruin your teen’s life? Are you afraid you’ll miss an important requirement for getting into college? Are you confused about credits and coursework? Or are you just downright overwhelmed and don’t even know where to start?
This book will take you step-by-step through the process of planning your child’s high school coursework all the way through to graduation, in such a way that you will KNOW that you are not missing anything! You truly can feel absolutely confident that you are doing the best thing for your child and your family. You can make informed decisions knowing you have done the correct research to do so. You can be FEARLESS!
Experienced hikers know to never begin a demanding journey without a good map and a strong plan. For homeschooling parents, it’s even more important to establish a solid homeschool plans toward high school graduation.
So, What Are Your Homeschool Plans?
- Do you know how to homeschool high school?
- Do you know how to prepare for college?
- Do you know the high school courses essential to preparing for graduation, college and career?
Learn How Homeschool Electives Can Make Teens, Parents, and Colleges Happy!
Homeschool electives are fun! Teens love them because electives involve a lot of what they want to do anyway. Parents love them because a happy teen makes for a happy family! Colleges love them because it helps them understand your teen so they can make good admission and scholarship decisions.
Lee Binz, The HomeScholar, shares the joy of homeschool electives. You will learn strategies to help you choose elective homeschool high school curriculum and document electives colleges will value. Don't put your homeschool in a box. Use electives and let your homeschool soar!
You’ve worked hard homeschooling your child, and now you’re near the goal line... homeschool graduation. Your plan your graduation takes forethought, not just for the culminating graduation ceremony, but also to ensure your child has accomplished everything you want them to before
leaving the nest.
Harness the Power of F-L-E-X-I-B-I-L-I-T- Y
Also, to further educate you, one (1) credit is usually earned for one course (normally). It can be a bit complicated, but not too bad.
For example, with art and p.e. you will probably want to assign them each 1/2 credit because they don’t have the same weight as say a rigorous math or language arts program.
So, some credits are weighted.
Don’t worry too much about that now.
Just try to understand the fact that 1 credit normally equals finishing one course or book.
Check out my useful tips on my article, Homeschool High School – How to Log Hours for High School?
Lastly, divide the number of credits by the years of homeschool.
For example, if you want high school for 4 years and want about 22 credits, then you see your child needs about 5 credits or so each year (equally to 20 credits), with one year having a heavier workload to add two more credits.
It is simple math after you determine what your son needs to graduate.
If your son wants to move through high school quicker, like three years, then divide the number of credits you determined he needs to get by the years.
That’s it. Eazy peazy.
When I started with my oldest son, I just typed in a Word document what our four year plan was and what subjects he would take each year.
As he completed them and graded them, I just added the grade to my Word and kept going.
What you don’t have to decide for ALL four years are the courses. Subjects yes, but courses no.
State Laws Dictate Preparation of Diploma
What I mean by this is say for example, you have down world studies as a credit one year.
Let your teen decide if he wants to cover them generally or if he wants to zero in on a particular civilization or culture.
This makes for a very unique high school diploma, because it reflects his personality and interests.
Some subjects may be must haves like four years of math, especially if he going to college. But, if he has covered some basic algebra in the junior high years, he can focus on more advanced courses.
Too, he may focus on book keeping or some other practical life skill during his high school years.
There is so much variety in courses, that you want to decide that each year because as you teen matures, he may change his likes, dislikes and even direction.
The best thing to do is plot your course loosely, but that allows breathing room for your son if he changes his mind.
Be sure also to read my articles for high school and schooling a teen for more useful insider’s secrets.
■ Simple record keeping. The next insider tip is that you want some way to track all of what he is doing each year.
Also, grab my homeschool high school planning forms at the bottom of Step 5a Choose Unique Forms for the 7 Step Homeschool Planner.
And just remember, thousands and thousands of homeschool moms like yourself have gone ahead and crossed this bridge successfully.
With a bit of research and reading, you too can do this!
And don’t forget more how do homeschooled students get a diploma tips:
