Homeschooled & Headed for College

Your Road Map for a Successful Journey

Denise Boiko

• Publisher: Denise Boiko
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781087888859
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación inclusiva

Can homeschoolers successfully navigate the path to college?

The answer is an enthusiastic "Yes!"

If you love homeschooling but need a clear road map for the journey from high school to college, this is the book for you.

You'll appreciate this practical, detailed guide that walks you step by step through the entire process-from the beginning of middle school to the day you give your college freshman one last goodbye hug.

Countless "how to" tips packed into 440 pages will relieve stress as you creatively design a high school program strong enough to stand up to even the most rigorous admissions process.

You'll discover how to use the middle school years to jump-start your high school planning, how to create customized curricula, and how to find materials, support, and sources for courses-often in the most unlikely places!

You'll gain confidence in keeping orderly records, calculating GPAs, and constructing professional-looking transcripts and portfolios.

You'll thoroughly grasp the entire spectrum of college prep considerations:

• - Locating or designing honors and advanced courses
• - Seeking out leadership opportunities that provide fun, growth, and positive attention from admissions staff-even at highly selective universities
• - Preparing your student for college entrance exams
• - Helping your high schooler navigate community college courses
• - Tackling college applications and coaching your student through personal statements
• - Gathering insightful recommendation letters
• - Scouting out scholarships
• - Planning a gap year if your student desires a time of exploration
• - Best of all, you'll learn how to leverage the #1 college admissions secret, for which homeschoolers are excellently positioned.

Packed with tips and advice based on years of meticulous research and personal experience, this expanded second edition of Homeschooled & Headed for College brings you insights from a veteran homeschooling parent who has successfully navigated the selective college path for her own children and has guided hundreds of other students through the college prep process.

Homeschooled & Headed for College maps out your itinerary so you can relax and enjoy the journey!

You'll love this book, because the journey of a lifetime deserves a personalized GPS.

Grab a copy today to gain momentum for your own adventurous road trip.

Named one of BookAuthority's "Best New Homeschooling Books to Read in 2021."

1

Daunting But Do-Able: Homeschooling the College Bound Student

When our daughter, Julie, was three years old, she loved to shop. Accompanying us on shopping trips, whether for groceries, clothing, or common household items, was a big delight, and she enjoyed exploring each new store. One day, my husband and I mentioned the word college in our conversation. Julie perked up right away and exclaimed, “College? That’s my favorite store!”

Though we have no idea why she was already fascinated by the concept of college at age three, her statement proved prophetic. From about seventh grade on, Julie became increasingly interested in researching colleges to discover how she, as a homeschooler, could maximize her chances of being accepted at a selective college. Her research paid off admirably and became the subject of this book.

Meet the Boiko Family

To back up a bit, I’d like to introduce my family. My husband, Ron, and I took the plunge into the homeschooling adventure when our daughter was a kindergartner and our son was two years old. Since then, we’ve navigated the college application process not once, but twice. During our active years of schooling, our house was a typical homeschooling house, with piles of books and papers adorning our tables and other surfaces. Science projects often lurked in our kitchen, competing with hungry teenagers—Julie once accidentally ate her brother’s science experiment relating to growing mold on bread!

Our family was originally drawn to homeschooling because it allowed us to teach godly values and to spend time with our children. We also appreciated teaching them according to their own learning styles and at their most appropriate pace. Although at first we planned to homeschool for only three or four years, those years swiftly grew to nine, and suddenly our homeschooling had naturally progressed into the high school years.

Little did we realize at the outset of this adventure that, though daunting, even high school at home could be a rewarding and “do-able” endeavor. Yet that progression from grade school to high school raised dozens of major questions and hundreds of smaller ones that needed answers. The most insistent of those questions was “What about college?”

We are now on the other side of that question, with a successful conclusion. Having been accepted by five universities, Julie chose to attend Stanford University for her undergraduate education, earning both a B.S. and an M.S. in biology. From there, she went on to complete medical school and is now a pediatrician. Her journey prepared us well for the second round of college applications with our son. After receiving acceptances from six public and private universities, he chose to attend the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (USC), where he earned an engineering degree. He is now putting that degree to good use in the technology industry.

As for me, over the past thirteen-plus years I have taught homeschool group classes in biology, literature, and composition. Additionally, I have provided personal college application help and advice to more than 150 students and have presented numerous workshops and seminars on college prep topics.

Searching and Researching

As Julie entered her high school years, she began to search out information about the college admissions process. In a traditional school, much of this information is doled out to students by their teachers and guidance counselors. Homeschoolers, however, need to do more digging to seek it out. What types of courses should a student take? How can a homeschooler take honors or Advanced Placement® (AP®) courses? Is community college an option? How does a student prepare for the SAT® and ACT® exams? How can a home educated student show leadership ability without being elected class president?

Julie’s high school journey and her intense desire not to be left out of the running for the more selective colleges fueled her search for answers, and I, the persevering but frequently perplexed mom, followed along in her wake.

In the process, we read nearly twenty books and perused countless websites. Some of these dealt with the subject of high school for homeschoolers. Others covered college admissions for students in traditional schools. While the books for homeschoolers did an excellent job of describing how to do high school at home, they did not provide enough detail on the college entrance process—especially for selective colleges. And although the college admissions books presented helpful tips about applications, essays, and academic planning, they did not address the specific needs of homeschoolers. The story was incomplete. Though we picked up a wealth of information from both types of books, we did not find an exhaustive resource specifically for homeschoolers seeking advice about the often-competitive area of college admissions. Nor did we come across a book that addressed in great detail some of the key issues (such as Advanced Placement courses) for students who wish to apply to selective universities.

Additionally, we recognized that the task of teaching high school still seems daunting to many homeschoolers. Foreign languages, higher math, and lab science require some specific planning and strategizing. Extracurricular activities, particularly the pursuit of leadership roles,take some ingenuity. Yet parents still desire to provide a home-directed education for their children. As we delved more deeply into our research, Julie and I were gratified to discover that college prep homeschooling was quite possible. In fact, it could be extremely rewarding.

Recognizing a Growing Trend

Homeschooling is a rapidly growing form of education in America. Estimates are that as of 2016, about 2.3 million students were being homeschooled in the U.S., and that number is increasing by 2 to 8% every year.¹ As a result, more students continue to homeschool through high school. Colleges have witnessed a surge in homeschooled applicants and have, for the most part, opened their doors to them and made the process more straightforward than it once was. Many colleges have created policies specifically designed to evaluate homeschooled applicants. To thrive in this environment, homeschooling families need practical information about high school courses, record keeping, and, of course, college admissions.

Sharing Our Findings

Eventually, Julie and I decided that we should write the book we would have found so useful in the college preparation process. We wanted to show that high school at home can be accomplished successfully and that parents should not give up just when their efforts are beginning to bear fruit. In particular, we wanted to help students aiming to apply as freshmen to four-year colleges, where admissions staffs might be looking for Advanced Placement or honors courses, strong recommendations, and evidence of leadership ability. However, we wanted the book to be helpful to all homeschooled students, regardless of the level of competition they would face in college admissions.

So, beginning in Julie’s freshman year of high school, we tackled this project. Though Julie did much of the research and drafted some of the initial chapters, her busy high school (and later, college) schedule prevented more involvement. The task became mine to finish, but because I would never have launched this project without her, I am indebted to Julie’s enthusiastic “digging” early on.

Promoting Visibility and Credibility

A key focus of this book is helping homeschoolers gain visibility and credibility as they apply to college. By visibility, we mean that colleges, particularly selective colleges, are seeing homeschooled applicants in greater and greater numbers. But beyond this, they need to recognize the achievements and unique educational experiences homeschoolers can bring to their campuses. We want colleges to know that homeschoolers are not confined to the home but are out in the community learning, contributing, and innovating with passion and commitment. Visibility is crucial.

Credibility of homeschoolers is also essential. Though it is natural to dislike the extra scrutiny that homeschoolers’ applications receive from certain colleges, it is not difficult to understand why some colleges hesitate to admit homeschoolers without the extra requirements. A home-directed education is stimulating and innovative, but it is also nonstandard and difficult to compare to that of other applicants. Without some standard benchmarks such as detailed curriculum descriptions or college entrance exam scores, colleges would be taking a guess as to the potential success of a particular homeschooled applicant. Valid or not, this additional scrutiny has been a factor in many colleges’ treatment of homeschooled applicants.

Consequently, one major goal of this book is to help families learn how to make their students’ applications comparable to—though certainly not identical to—those of their traditionally-schooled peers. By taking advantage of community college courses, AP courses, techniques to improve SAT or ACT scores, and other strategies, homeschoolers can pursue their individualized style of education while still presenting themselves favorably before admissions committees. Our method of education is credible, but we need to demonstrate it, not just defend it.

Reporting Some Good News

Fortunately, most colleges have put in the effort to understand homeschooling and to welcome homeschoolers through their front gates. These changes include adding homeschool-specific instructions to their websites, allowing student portfolios in place of or in addition to transcripts, accepting parental evaluations in place of a guidance counselor’s letter, or simply expressing enthusiasm for the diversity that homeschooled applicants bring. Revamping application policies to view the applicant more holistically, instead of “statistically” as a collection of GPAs and test scores, even a few of the large state university systems are now more welcoming to homeschoolers and other nontraditional applicants.

Even top-tier universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford have become more homeschool-friendly as they have seen homeschoolers excel. Jon Reider, a former senior associate director of admissions at Stanford University and a recognized college admissions expert, commented some years ago, “Home-schoolers bring certain skills—motivation, curiosity, the capacity to be responsible for their education—that high schools don’t induce very well.”² Similarly, Katie Fretwell, Amherst College Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, told NBC News in 2016 that homeschoolers have “thicker folders, in a good way” and that they are often “innovative thinkers with a lot to bring to the table.”³

In the 1990s and 2000s, the first college bound homeschoolers blazed the trail for other homeschoolers. With their excellence in academics, their love of learning, and their passions and involvement, they set a shining example for those who would follow them. Many were admitted to top colleges—primarily because of their abilities, of course, but perhaps partially because of the innovative, fascinating features of their education. Even today, homeschoolers frequently retain an edge because of the uniqueness of their education. However, in some cases they still meet difficulties at colleges that are not homeschool-friendly or that insist on adhering to traditional methods of evaluating applicants. And of course, homeschoolers now face competition from fellow homeschoolers for limited spots in selective colleges.

Our Purposes

Recognizing this competitive atmosphere and wanting to help homeschoolers shine, we outlined four main purposes as we planned this book.

To offer encouragement for all college bound students

Because homeschoolers pursue all kinds of educational paths, we want to encourage and advise homeschoolers aspiring to attend a college of any type—two-year or four-year, highly competitive or less competitive. And despite the disgusting presence of cheating and fraud in the college admissions world—as evidenced by the massive scandal uncovered early in 2019—we want to encourage homeschoolers with legal, ethical, common sense advice. “Connections” and falsified credentials have no rightful place in the application process; hard work, motivation, and genuine pursuit of passions all have a prime place.

To provide insight into selective college admissions

We want to describe the traits that colleges, especially the selective ones with unbelievably low acceptance rates, are looking for in a student. More importantly, we want to present ideas for providing these elements in a home-directed environment. For example, we include detailed discussions of Advanced Placement courses and community college courses as stepping stones to four-year colleges. And if you were intrigued by the reference on this book’s back cover to the “number one secret” for college admissions, we won’t leave you in susp...