Are there any parents here who are homeschooling high school students? How do have the knowledge and experience to teach high school level classes in various subjects? A typical college prep high school student will take classes in
biology
calculus
foreign language
trigonometry
chemistry
English
speech
history
social studies
algebra
geometry
physics
I’m probably forgetting something
and possibly classes in
statistics
economics
computer science
art
music
philosophy
etc.
Do you have to hire tutors in various subjects? Or do you use teaching aides (guides) and do these really give you enough of an understanding to teach these classes?
I don’t doubt there are some very smart people who home school their children, but I don’t see how anyone could think they have the knowledge to teach every subject.
I am not a homeschooler (yet?), nor do I have a highschool student. But here is my understanding, gleaned from books on the subject.
By the time homeschooled kids are HS age, they are usually expected to be doing a lot on their own. A primary goal of homeschoolers is to develop the capacity to learn on one’s own, so as to continue throughout life. So a teen might be pursuing a reading program on their own, working through the math book as much as possible on their own, etc. By this time, Mom-n-Dad are keeping tabs and helping with problems, but leaving as much as possible up to the student.
HS kids frequently have at least one tutor for advanced subjects. For one thing, you gotta get those college recommendations!
They also take a lot of community college courses. It isn’t unusual for a 15-yo to be at the local junior college for some subjects.
They get internships and whatnot. By HS age, many homeschooling teens have found one or two things they really like and want to focus on. They may spend a lot of energy learning about those things, finding contacts and mentors, and working. Meanwhile, they will keep up in the other areas, but not so much.
And they often belong to some kind of program–an umbrella school, a local independent study program, or something–which keeps up with their progress and monitors their work. They’ll meet with a teacher once a week or something.
I hope that helps you, but I can’t pretend that I really know what I’m talking about. Perhaps you could find a board that hosts homeschooled teens–there are many.
I’m homeschooling a 16-year-old, and dangermom has it pretty much right. The curriculum she was using last year, and is using, partly, this year, is canned. The answer books come with it, so we can gage whether she’s actually learning the material or not. She’s currently taking two classes at the local community college, and next semester, we’ll increase her to three or four classes, and then finally to a full course load. Community colleges don’t require a high school degree for registration.
I’ll toss in my .02 from the other side. I was homeschooled from 5th grade through HS, and I have to agree that tutoring and/or at least access to study groups would be essential. I had neither, and my mom, although extremely bright, had limited academic knowledge (HS drop-out and GED at age 16).
We used a formal curriculum for most subjects. By the time I started 9th grade, I was pretty self-sufficient, and managed to get through 3 years of algebra and trig, as well as bio and earth science. My weekly piano lesson counted as music and I learned to speak Spanish fluently from a neighbor, enough to place into 2nd semester in college. I started CC at 16 and transferred into a large uni, but only through perserverence and a lot of hard work. If you’re thinking of doing this, please join a homeschooling support group (they’re pretty common nowadays) and ask your local HS about teachers who might be willing to tutor for some extra income. Also look into the possibility of summer school at local private schools–this may be the only way to get access to the lab equipment necessary for chem and bio.
FWIW, even though I struggled through the dark ages of homeschooling, I still scored in the top 5% on the SATs and had 2 full scholarship offers. Kids can be very resourceful when a lot is expected of them.