Home schools are a good option for parents who want to be involved hands on in the education process of their children. However, when home-schooled children reach the high school age, a critical question that parents face is whether to continue instructing them at home or enroll them in a public school.
Teenage is the stage in the life of any child when you need to be very cautious as a parent. During adolescence, children are easily influenced by negative thoughts and activities, and there are limits to how much you can keep an eye on them. If you want them to be under your guidance when they are passing through this often emotionally tumultuous period, then home schooling is certainly recommended. Though home schooling a child who has reached the high school stage can be a tough job, it can certainly be achieved with determination.
Home schooling through high school is beneficial, as your child can complete the studies at home in just 24 months or even less. This not only saves time compared to high schools where the tenure extends to 4 years, but also enables your child to focus energy and resources on specific subjects of his or her interest. Since your child will not have to face peer pressure, acts of bullying or even traces of negative influences like sex or drugs while being schooled at home, it could set an efficient learning environment.
If you send your child to a public school, a lot of time is spent on administrative duties, which includes roll calling for attendance, distributing out work and supplies, maintaining discipline, and the collection of homework and reports of each and every student. Commuting to and from school is also a time consuming activity that can exhaust your child. Home schooling can help children make optimum use of the time at their disposal.
Teenage children are the fastest growing group of the home-schooled population in the US that is currently estimated to be approximately two million. It has been proved that students, who have been home schooled, possess greater ability to absorb information and produce better results than students who have been educated in a public school. No surprise then that most colleges or universities in the US welcome home schooled students, provided they meet their basic eligibility criterion.
In order to start teaching your child at home through high school, you should make a plan that is based on their style of learning. You should place emphasis on the areas where they display specific interest. The curriculum should be conducive to their natural inclination along with covering the basics of all subjects so that they get to learn everything but master a few. If you are facing problems in covering difficult subjects, you could try using online school, educational software and videos. If you want your child to acquire a diploma or certification to apply for jobs in the future, you could help them prepare for the General Development Test (GDT) that is used to measure the skills and general knowledge of a home-schooled child.
With the help of a planned curriculum supplemented with real life experiences, home schooling of high school children can help them become mature and responsible human beings, and good decision makers.
Kris Koonar
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/high-school-for-home-schoolers-64872.html
#1 by Papiowner on May 28th, 2009
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Why (in some states) can home-schoolers not play high school sports?
Does anyone know why in some states home-schooled high schoolers can not play baseball, softball etc.?
#2 by betty k on May 29th, 2009
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because they are not actually going to school so one is to assume how they are not part of "school" sports. bettyk
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#3 by norelief13 on May 29th, 2009
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It's all about the money.
There is money in sports, and scholarships in sports. Yes, there are even professional scouts on the lookout for talent. The high school athletic associations fear homeschoolers because they think they will have unlimited time to "train" and that it would be an unfair advantage….leading to less money for them. Therefore, they lobby hard and effectively to keep us out.
They couch it in terms of "oh, the parents of homeschooled athletes will not educate them at all and allow them to only train and that is bad for their education" like they actually CARE about education, LOL.
Bottom line, it is pure discrimination, for the cash. Sound familiar?
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#4 by Wayne T on May 29th, 2009
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How can they be on a team where they don't go to school?
I think home schoolers could get together and form leagues for sports and music.
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#5 by nabdullah2001 on May 29th, 2009
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Because they're not enrolled in a state regulated public or private school and home schooled children can't take part in any sports unless they are enrolled and attending public or private school to be eligible for state and national competitions.
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#6 by Earl D on May 29th, 2009
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Because you are NOT financing the school.
The school gets FEDERAL FUNDING (especially for sports and PE) from DAILY ATTENDENCE, which is why they take it.
They have to show Uncle Sam how many were in school that day to get as much funding as possible.
YOU homeschools are denying them ONE body worth of funding.
It also might volate intercollegiate or intermural programs. In other words they'd consider your kid a RINGER because they don't actually go to that school.
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#7 by teacupn on May 29th, 2009
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Money. Some, if not most of the money that is spent on sports comes from your local school corporation. True, parents shell out a great deal of money for their child to participate, but a big part of that is subsidized by the school. Your child is not subsidized…the school would have to pick up the bill for your child who does not pay fees to the local public school. One interesting note on that. YOU are a tax payer, and as such, you did pay for the public schools with your property tax dollars….a point you may try on your local school officials.
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#8 by answer man on May 29th, 2009
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The answer is about power. Homeschoolers pay property taxes and much of that goes to the schools, so why not allow them to participate in school sports which they help finance? Because the school districts say so. Kind of like, "it's my ball and you can't play". There is no good reason for it. They resent people who don't buy into their form of education, so they take their money and refuse to let them play. Sad, isn't it?
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#9 by hofmannsydney on May 29th, 2009
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i REALLY DO NOT KNOW THAT.But I think cause it's against the law in that state.
Do u or do u not know how laws r made?
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#10 by glurpy on May 29th, 2009
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I would guess that in states where homeschoolers are looked upon as private schools that it just doesn't make technical sense–are you going to allow kids from private schools to go to public schools to participate in sports? Or somebody from one private school going to a different private school for sports? This might be what some places allow, but it definitely complicates things. It also affects team spirit in the sense that it's supposed to be representative of the school–when you've got members on the team who are not from the school, then…
I don't know how it works here, but I just don't see the point of approaching the schools for the most part. The community leagues for sports are so well developed, why have the hassle of dealing with a school?
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#11 by Cris O on May 29th, 2009
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There are different laws concerning this. Even in many places where homeschooled kids are allowed to participate, the local school will still not allow them to do so, even though they are in violation of the law.
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#12 by Terri on May 29th, 2009
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There are many reasons why this doesn't happen. In about 16 states, homeschool students are allowed to participate in publicschool extracurricular activities, but these states regulate homeschooling very closely. A couple more states allow their participation through part time attendance, but most highschool athletic associations frown on this and may remove a district from their league for allowing this. School districts also complain of this option stating it is just too hard to keep track of all the part time students for funding purposes.
This issue has made it to the Supreme Court, and the court upholds that the school districts have the right to set their own eligibility requirements for EC activities, and full time enrollment is not an outrageous request (haha, my wording not theirs!)
The school districts maintain that EC activities are a privelege and not a right, so they are not trampeling anyone's rights by denying access to Homeschool students, and the courts uphold that as well.
It's a tough situation. One the one hand, parents would like for their homeschooled children to have the exact same opportunities, and would like for those opportunites to be as effortless as they are in the public schools.
On the other hand, most homeschool families do not want the government interference in their lives as would come if they were given those opportunities.
Some states have had laws written up to allow homeschool students access to public school programs, only to have them thrown out because the cost in terms of parental freedom was too high.
But this is not a case of "oh, the poor homeschool students will never have the same opportunities as publicschool students, shame on those mean parents."
Not hardly. More and more homeschool families are coming together and forming homeschool sports leagues, bands, choirs, orchestras, you name it.
Every passing year brings more opportunities for homeschool students. I know we will see the time when the two sides are equal in opportunity.
It will happen.
Haha, probably more than you wanted! short answer is neither side wants the other involved in their business.
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#13 by Henry S on May 29th, 2009
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If you want to be a big dog, you have to run with the big dogs.
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#14 by soccer on May 29th, 2009
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We made our homeschool high school soccer team are now ohio acsi state champions and naca national champions.
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