When Do You Graduate Your Homeschooler?
Last night, while participating in a focus group at our library, I was asked how homeschoolers know when a child has finished high school. It's an interesting question, and one that has been trickling through my brain all morning. I have one child who graduated, but how did I decide to graduate her?
There are a number of ways to make this decision, depending on the type of homeschooling you do, your purposes in homeschooling, and the future your teenager is planning. If you are using a curriculum or a public school program, the decision is essentially made for you. When you reach the end of the curriculum, you are finished. However, for those parents who write their own curriculum or who unschool, the decision is less clear.
Most often, the date of graduation is set by age. Most parents simply graduate the teen the year his peers are graduating. He then moves on to college or to the workforce. If a teenager has average or better academic skills and maturity, this is a sensible solution. He stays in step with his peers and has most likely learned as much or more than his public school counterparts. If no special factors are involved, use this as a basic guideline.
Not all teenagers are on a traditional path however. Many are far beyond their peers and are ready for college at an early age. Of course, since homeschoolers can work at their own level, it's easy for homeschoolers to simply choose harder materials and continue to study independently. However, many states allow teenagers to attend two-year community colleges by the age of sixteen, and many homeschoolers begin attending classes there as soon as possible. They can take one or two classes and get a feel for classroom learning before facing a full-time schedule. This is especially valuable for teens who have never attended a school. It's also a good time to take those subjects the student expects to find difficult. He can take a lighter load and concentrate on the challenging courses. We put off languages until the children were old enough to take them at a college. Using this option, a teenager may wander seamlessly from homeschool to college with no official ending--he simply keeps taking a larger course load.
Another option is to decide in the freshman year on a set of graduation requirements. You may want to look at the entrance requirements for five universities your teen may want to attend and create graduation requirements based on these. When your teen finishes the work, he's a high school graduate. Be sure the work is to a standard that will prepare him for whatever course he chooses in the future.
Some states offer exit exams of one sort or another. If your state is one of them, consider preparing your teen to take this exam. I don't recommend the GED, since for some foolish reason, many employers look at this as a negative. However, if your high school diploma isn't legally recognized in your state, this may be one option for you.
Finally, many parents simply stop whenever the teenager feels ready to move on, whether that's a year early or late. My oldest daughter wanted to be a high school graduate in 2000, because it was the year 2000. However, after finishing her required work, she found herself reluctant to move on. She had left a few subjects untouched, and wanted to pursue them in-depth before tackling the regimentation of college. She lists her graduation as the year 2000, but then explains that she spent one year in independent study before moving on. A student with learning disabilities might want to take one extra year just to learn the skills he will need in a college or workplace, enhancing his abilities without the pressure of a formal curriculum. If you aren't doing a broad curriculum, be sure to graduate your teen according to state laws first, so that you won't be questioned about the work done that year.
Remember that flexibility is one of the most important virtues of homeschooling. Beyond the legal requirements of your state, choose your exit year by the needs of your teenager, rather than by the arbitrary requirements of tradition.