Not every child will or should go to college, but my advice to all homeschooling parents would be to plan as if they ARE going to college. It is much easier to not go to college than it is to try to go to college without all the needed requirements.
When a child begins ninth grade, very few of them know exactly what they want to do when they graduate. Choose curriculum that will allow them to pursue any and every available opportunity to them when they graduate.
Here are some tips for choosing the right curriculum for your high schooler.
Check the graduation requirements of your state.
Every state has requirements in order for your child to graduate from high school. Make sure the curriculum you are using fulfills these requirements.
Most homeschool curriculums are designed to meet state standards, but if you are unschooling or using a non-traditional approach make sure you have all your bases covered.
Let your child help choose the curriculum.
As my kids progressed through school, they became more of the decision makers when it came to curriculum. While the final decision was made by myself or my husband, my kids were able to choose most of their high school curriculum.
Don't keep your kids in the dark! Let them help choose their curriculum.
If your child has been homeschooled since they were young, they will probably know what curriculum works for them and what won’t.
U-Turns are allowed.
If you get halfway through the year and the curriculum just isn’t working, it’s okay to switch. It is more important that your child learn something than that they finish the book.
This can be more difficult for the high schooler because of the credits and hours required to graduate, but I’d rather them school over the summer than not learn a thing because we were determined to finish a curriculum that didn’t work.
You can’t teach it all.
I’ve been homeschooling for twelve years and during that time I’ve only met a handful of moms who I thought were capable of teaching every single high school subject to their children.
When I first started homeschooling I was naive enough to think that I could teach everything to my future high schooler. I figured I would just learn it along the way or remember what I learned back in high school.
That might be possible if I wasn’t homeschooling five other children at the same time, or didn’t have to make dinner, drive kids to practices, or volunteer at church.
The truth is, you probably don’t have time to teach every single subject to your child at the high school level and that’s okay.
- Online tutorials
- Co-ops
- Dual Enrollment
- Trade teaching with a friend
- Tutoring
- Self directed curriculum
- Video classes
The list above is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to high school helps. Many are free or low cost and available no matter where you live.
The bottom line- you can homeschool your high schooler with a planning, patience, and prayer.
The 10 Days Series is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutually beneficial projects.
