Part 2 of the Davidson Institute series, “A Closer Look at Homeschooling for PG and 2e Families”
- Part 1: Getting Started with Homeschooling
- Part 2: What Homeschooling Can Look Like for Your Child’s Future
- Part 3: What Homeschooling Looks Like Day to Day and How to Get Started
- Part 4: What Happens When Things Feel Hard and How to Move Forward
If we homeschool, will my child be prepared for college?
Yes, homeschooling is flexible, so it can be designed to meet your student’s goals, including earning admission to college.
By the very nature of homeschooling, many homeschool students develop skills that colleges value, such as learning how to make informed decisions about your education, figuring out how you learn material best so that you can problem solve when the learning gets hard, and figuring out how to motivate yourself to learn when you aren’t in a classroom all day with a teacher telling you what to do every minute. Additionally, many homeschool students test their college abilities by taking one or more classes for high school credit at local universities or community colleges. This way they get a taste of the expectations and workings of university courses; it’s also a way to demonstrate college readiness on applications and perhaps connect with professors who can write letters of recommendation.
Read & Watch This: Homeschoolers have long been accepted at many prestigious universities. Back in 2006, then MIT admissions officer, Matt McGann, wrote about why MIT has a history of accepting homeschoolers.
If we homeschool, will we be homeschooling forever?
Not necessarily. Just like you can decide to homeschool at any point, you can also choose to return to a traditional school.
Sometimes families homeschool just to take a short break from school. Perhaps something else needs to be the focus for the moment—such as mental well-being, physical health, or navigating a big family transition. Or, it may be a temporary bridge to another opportunity. For example, you may decide to pull out a child in fourth grade and homeschool for just the rest of the year and the next because there are many more middle school options in the area that you can access once your child gets to 6th grade. Many families homeschool until high school, and then transition back to a brick-and-mortar. Others do make it a long-term educational choice for their family.
Try This: One reason that homeschooling can feel overwhelming is that you may not have seen anyone homeschool before; it can feel like some unknown, amorphous thing. What if you did a trial day? When you’re researching prospective schools, you often get a chance to tour the school, talk to others, and sometimes shadow a student. Search to see if there are any homeschooling groups or co-ops in your area. Could you drop in for a meeting? Beyond possibly meeting up with others, what might you do during the day? Take a day. Try it out. Don’t expect it will be 100% perfect. Debrief with your child afterwards. What did you learn? What might you want to do differently if you did decide to homeschool?
How will we track progress and make transcripts?
This may be good and bad news: There’s no universally accepted or expected format for transcripts.
Really. Some schools grade on the semester, trimester, quarter, term, or block. Some schools grade on a 4.0 scale (some weighted, some not), on a 1-4 scale (not decimated like the 4.0 scale; this is often a mastery score where 4 = exceed expectations or something similar), on a percentage base only (so 0-100, sometimes decimated), on a A-D or F scale (sometimes with pluses and minuses, sometimes not), on a 1-7 scale (this is the IB scale), or on a 9-1 scale (Cambridge curriculum). And, some only do narrative grades or pass/fail. Some transcripts indicate time spent in class by assigning credits, units, or hours, but others don’t make that distinction. Some include course descriptions. Bottom line: You can create a transcript that really showcases your student’s abilities, interests, growth, and achievements. And there are many resources that can help.
Start Here: In “Writing Transcripts: Excerpt from ‘Forging Paths: Beyond Traditional Schooling’,” Wes Beach offers concrete examples of homeschool transcripts and concrete ideas of how to chronicle your student’s educational journey.
Bonus Tip: Have a box or a binder that is dedicated to creating a paper trail of your student’s journey. When they get a certificate, complete a project of note, receive positive feedback from a teacher/mentor/coach, or get a grade report at the end of an online class, toss it in there. Once or twice a year, go through it, organize the materials, and make notes. Have your student reflect on their work as well. That way, when you compile a transcript, you have the raw materials to look back on. If you prefer a digital format, you can scan or save all of these documents to a Dropbox, cloud folder, or something similar.
Let’s discuss the daily operations of homeschooling and how to get started in part 3.
The Davidson Young Scholars Program is here to help.
Planning for your child’s future can bring up big questions, especially when considering nontraditional paths like homeschooling. Through the Davidson Young Scholars Program, families have access to guidance on long-term planning, including academic pathways, college preparation, and connecting with mentors who understand profoundly gifted learners.
Permission Statement
This article is provided as a service of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted young people 18 and under. To learn more about the Davidson Institute’s programs, please visit www.DavidsonGifted.org.
Comments