3 Great Reasons To Homeschool High School

Have you ever noticed how the field narrows when you move from homeschooling the elementary years on up to homeschooling high school? As children transform into tweens and teens, families tend to enroll them into a traditional school. But why? There are so many great reasons to homeschool high school!

Great Reasons to Homeschool High School

I know that when the topic of homeschooling high school comes up in conversation,  many people can only come up with reasons why I shouldn’t homeschool high school:

• What about prom?
• Don’t they want to play sports?
• But they won’t have a graduation!
• What about advanced classes?

While some of their concerns may be valid, there are just as many, if not more, great reasons to homeschool high school!

Responsibility and Self-Discipline

When you homeschool high school you will find a shift in responsibility happening. Instead of you dictating and leading, they get to take the lead and devise a schedule that works for them. You get to become more of an idea bouncer and supporter than the one bearing the burden of their academic needs. And honestly, after all the work you put into their education, it is such a reward to come to this stage where they are blossoming into their own individual self.

BookShark curriculum can lead your teens towards more independent learning with History & Literature Packages that include both Student and Parent Guides.

Your guide still includes the reading assignments, discussion questions, mapping and timeline assignments, all of the answers, and notes specifically for the parent. But your teen gets a guide, too!

Student Guides help them stay on track with assignments and make them accountable for more of their own learning.

High School Electives

Homeschool high school means you can take far more advantage of high school electives than if you were confined to the school’s limited electives choices. Just about any interest your child has can be explored as an elective. So if your student is interested in sewing and hand work, pick a project or task and create an elective out of it. Have they always wanted to try photography? Great make an elective out of it!

Flexibility

When you homeschool high school, you gain flexibility to allow your student to work at things that interest them. If your kids attend a traditional high school, they don’t have as much free time to explore their interests to find what the future might hold for them. For instance, maybe they are interested in animals. As a homeschooler they have the time to volunteer at a vet office or the zoo to get a closer look at jobs that might interest them and gain experience in that field.

Answering the Objections

Homeschooling high school was a major worry of mine as my kids got closer and closer to that milestone. What I have found is that the burden of the day to day schooling tasks have been taken off my shoulders and put into my child’s lap. My worry of not being able to teach at that level has been dispelled because there are plenty of programs and resources out there to help you do it, or do it for you.

As far as sports are concerned, there are so many club sports and town sports options out there these days that the need to be in school to play sports is diminishing. I have a competitive gymnast, two travel soccer players, a competitive swimmer, and a horse lover. All these things can be done successfully outside the confines of the public high school. It should also be noted that depending on the state in which you live, your child may be able to participate in high school sports even if they are homeschooled.

As for things your student might be missing? First of all, many might argue that they aren’t missing out on anything. Not having things like prom or the usual social stress of high school is a good thing. Plus there are many groups that hold their own homeschool proms and graduations if that is what you are looking for.

All of this is to say that homeschooling high school is a valid and doable option. We have been so blessed by the flexibility and options of homeschool high school. It has freed up time for my daughter to attend college classes of her choice, explore volunteer, options, and given her downtime that she wouldn’t otherwise have if she were attending public school.

About the Author

Heidi Ciravola has been married to her husband for over seventeen years.  Together they have three children with whom they began their homeschooling journey with in 2006 when their oldest was beginning second grade.  Heidi is a mother, taxi service, and homeschool parent by day and an avid reader and homeschool blogger whenever there is time left over. You can visit Heidi at her blog Starts at Eight where she blogs about homeschool products and unit studies, homeschool organization and general tips, and homeschooling high school, as well as many book reviews, lists, and unit studies.