Homeschoolers In College?

A big "concern" of those questioning our homeschooling decision was, "will the boys be eligible for college?" How does that work? Do they have to take SAT's? Do colleges and universities even take homeschooled students? Will they be able to function in a "real" classroom?

It seems that with the rise in homeschooling, many colleges have embraced the idea of admitting non-traditional students. Of course they still have to meet certain academic criteria, but they've also found that homeschoolers, for the most part, make pretty good students. There is some research on this as well. The National Home Education Research Institute posts statistics on their website pertaining to the number of homeschoolers and the trend upwards in this number. They include general facts, motivations for homeschooling and academic performance statistics such as:

• The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests. (The public school average is the 50th percentile; scores range from 1 to 99.) A 2015 study found Black homeschool students to be scoring 23 to 42 percentile points above Black public school students (Ray, 2015).

• Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents’ level of formal education or their family’s household income.

• Whether homeschool parents were ever certified teachers is not related to their children’s academic achievement.

• Degree of state control and regulation of homeschooling is not related to academic achievement.

• Home-educated students typically score above average on the SAT and ACT tests that colleges consider for admissions.

• Homeschool students are increasingly being actively recruited by colleges.

As far as being in a "real" classroom, both boys attended pre-school and also went to religious school at our synagogue. Also, if you've been following along, they have been taking Martial Arts classes since they were very young. Now that may not be a "traditional" classroom, but it was still very much "real". Additionally, the co-op provided them with that same aspect, maybe not on the same scale as traditional school, but they certainly had experience learning in group settings. That was not an issue.

When they started eighth grade, the curriculum we used became less homeschool and more virtual school. This means that the boys now had remote teachers, assignments, tests, and were responsible for making deadlines. They had others to answer to, not just me and my wife. Of course we still helped, worked with their instructors, and tried to make sure their work was getting done, but we were no longer the primary teachers. This provided more educational independence, and also allowed the school to develop transcripts for their students in preparation for college admission.

Just like any kids, they did get bored. At times, the boredom turned into not doing schoolwork, but it gave them the opportunity to do research on things they actually liked. Josh really seemed to like learning about things on his own. There were plenty of times I would come home from work and see him in front of the TV. However, instead of watching cartoons, he was watching the discovery channel. He loved watching Steve Irwin (RIP) among other DC shows. He also researched politics, religion, and other subjects he wanted to learn more about.

Seth just didn't like the fact that the curriculum was the same every year. The lessons would be the same but would expand on the information taught the year before. Again, he became bored and uninterested in schooling. Grades started slipping and we "threatened" them by saying if grades didn't get better then we'd would stop paying additional money for them to be homeschooled and send them to public school. The actual threat here was not that they would be in public school, it was they'd have to get up early, get dressed every day, and leave the house for school. They didn't want to give up schooling in their PJ's or starting their day whenever they woke up.

We needed to do something. Josh was finishing eleventh grade and Seth was finishing ninth grade. My wife and I talked and we really wanted them to be in more of a traditional class setting at this point but still didn't really want to send them to the district that let us down years before. I did some research and found that most Community Colleges had programs with dual enrollment. Students could take college courses that would both fulfill their high school requirements and provide credits towards a college degree.

One CC near my work had advisers to specifically help homeschooled students enroll in this type of program. Josh and I met with an adviser and he ended up taking a placement test. Math was a little lacking (he took after me there), but he could still take a non-credit college math course as well as courses that would go towards his 30 credits for an associates degree, and finish high school. He started there in what would have been his senior year of high school. The adviser told us that SAT's would not be necessary and that we just needed to get his transcripts from our virtual school. The CC's have also affiliated with traditional four year colleges and universities making it easier for students to transfer after achieving their associates degree. As of this writing, Josh is enrolled in his second semester of a four year university after transferring there this year.

Seth took his placement test for the CC when he was sixteen and going into eleventh grade. This year, when he was technically graduating from high school, he is almost done achieving his associates degree. He changed his major this past semester and needs a few more required courses to get that. After next semester, he'll most likely be transferring to the same university Josh attends.

College for homeschooled students is no different than for regular students, this is a real thing! One of the things I did find out during my research was what seemed to be the hardest thing for homeschoolers to adapt to when entering a more traditional academic setting. That "thing?", remembering to put their names on assignments they had to hand in to a teacher!