I have a question about homeshooling in the USA

[Mody_Jess_Pony]

Okay first off I AM not dissing home school I'm just HONESTLY wondering if it's the same there as here.
Here you can only home school up in till grade 9 than you have to mainstream your child if you want them to go to post secondary. All the home schoolers in our area have always had their kids join in grade 9 so as to increas chances of getting into post secondary. The only reason I ever found this out was we had a home school girl join our music class in her first year there. So I'm asking in the states is there a point where you have to mainstream your home schooled children? Or is it a thing of choice? How does it effect post secondary over there?
I'm sorry if I sound rude I'm just seriously courious!

[Amy C.]

I am positive that the homeschoolers will chime in.

Children's education is largely controlled by the state governments in the US. I don't know of any state where a child cannot be homeschooled until grade 12, but some states have more strict laws than others. In Texas, it is quite easy to homeschool your child. The ones I know seem to go on to college as well.

Universities are recongnizing the pool of homeschoolers is large and have ways for these students to apply -- documentation that substitutes for the transcription of grades from high school.

[Java]

We can home school here in Tennessee all the way to 12th. I did not start homeschooling my son until the 9th grade. Drugs and gangs are really bad here in high school.

[dqmomof3]

In North Carolina we can homeschool through the 12th grade. Mandatory age to begin school is seven years old by October 16th of the school year in which you begin schooling, which could actually be more like second grade than kindergarten for some kids.

I am not aware of any state in which you are required to mainstream your children by a certain age. Some states are definitely more difficult to homeschool in than others, but I'm pretty sure it can be done all the way through in any state.

[czardoust]

Down here your child can homeschool all the way thru graduation. Most colleges here prefer homeschooled kids because they tend to be more serious and dedicated to school work (less likely to party). Still, only 10% or so of college students are homeschooled. We did it for just 4 yrs, I miss it.

[Karenwith4]

Just a point of clarification:
There are a number of Canadian universities (most of the major ones) and colleges that accept homeschoolers without them having to go through the traditional school system. The list of institutions that accept homeschoolers is growing every year. It's not necessary for homeschoolers to attend public school to continue with post secondary education. I personally know a number of young people who have gone from homeschooling directly to college or University in Canada.

Karen

[Mody_Jess_Pony]

Just a point of clarification:
There are a number of Canadian universities (most of the major ones) and colleges that accept homeschoolers without them having to go through the traditional school system. The list of institutions that accept homeschoolers is growing every year. It's not necessary for homeschoolers to attend public school to continue with post secondary education. I personally know a number of young people who have gone from homeschooling directly to college or University in Canada.

Karen
Thanks guys I was just corious about how the whole thing works :) I'm not trashing it just WONDERING about it. I was worried about how people would react when I posted this but I'm learning something new so thats cool :)

[diamondback688]

My parents home schooled me from 9th until 12th. As for getting into college, I'm just going to a local community college now to get my 2 year degree.

[LantusFiend]

I homeschooled for 3rd grade and for high school. Most colleges have a homeschooler admission person. There are a lot of different ways to homeschool and one of them is with correspondance courses sorts of things, so that at the end you get a high school diploma. I personally didn't do that and don't have a diploma from high school, but I'm about to get one from college!

[BozziesMom]

I homeschool my son who's 12, and homeschooled my daughter until she was 16 at which point she entered college. She just took the entrance exams and placed right into all her college level classes. You just need to put together a transcript and a diploma. Here in CA you register as a private school.

We did go with the 2 year college initially because it's way cheaper than the 4 year. $20 per credit vs. $260 per credit I think. She'll transfer to the 4 year when she's done with this next fall (she will have gone 3 years to the 2 year college because she's so busy trying everything out. lol.)

[CButler]

This shows the laws for homeschooling in the different states.

http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp

[czardoust]

HSLDA rocks!! We had them on our backs when we homeschooled, which was good because one year one of my husbands fellow soldiers decided to wear his rear-end for a hat and call CPS on us for homeschooling. It was funny.

[RosemaryCinNJ]

If I had to home school I would be in the looney bin for sure...:) God Bless those who can do it, I have nothing but respect and admiration for you. Maybe one child I could..naaaa who am I kidding?? :)

[CButler]

In my experience, it's easier to teach my own. When the older ones were in public school, I'd try to help them with homework and they'd say, "But the the teacher said to do it THIS way." They can't say that now.

[wilowndmomof3]

In WV you can homeschool all the way through graduation. There used to be a requirement that you had to have 4 more yrs education than the grade level you were teaching, but they dropped that a few yrs ago.

My daughter is currently checking into colleges and most of the ones she has looked up online have info on homeschoolers applying and it is basically the same as any other child although some do require you to get a GED also.