College Preparation for Homeschoolers

As a high school homeschool parent, you may not be sure you are covering everything needed to prepare your teen for college. There are some simple steps you can take to assure you have accomplished all you need to.

If your teenager is just starting high school, you should look up your state requirements for public high school graduation. This is a good guideline to follow when planning what classes your high schooler should take. You will find there is a lot of room for electives while making sure you cover the basic required courses.

When choosing classes you should also take into consideration what your high schooler plans to pursue in college. This is where you can take advantage of the elective courses and fulfill requirements of how many years you need to have in a course area.

For example, when preparing for my older daughter to begin high school, I googled our state's high school graduation requirements. I found you needed to have at least three years of math, with Algebra 1 and Geometry being required and three years of science with Physical Science and Biology being required.

When we got to her junior year, we had the freedom to choose what she wanted to take. She knew she wanted to pursue business and computers, so she decided on Business Math and Computer Science. This fulfilled her three years for math and science and she was able to take classes that went with what she was pursuing.

If your high schooler is heading into their senior year with most of the required courses done and you want to make sure all the basics have been covered well, a good way to check is with a GED study book like McGraw-Hill's GED. It contains pretests of all the basic courses that will let you and your high schooler know if they have a good grasp on the concepts contained in these areas. If you find a weak area, the pretests let you know exactly what pages they need to study in the book. After studying what is needed, they take the coordinating post-test to see if the weak areas have been strengthened or if they need further study in that area. My daughter used this book at the beginning of her senior year and found it to be very helpful.

The senior year can also be used to take a couple of classes at a community college. It's another opportunity to take classes in what your high schooler desires to pursue in college. This is also the perfect time for students who are not sure what they want to pursue yet to take a few classes in different areas and get a better idea of what they enjoy and would be interested in as a career.

Depending on what college your high schooler wants to attend, transcripts may be required. To do transcripts, you need to keep grades on the classes that are taken each year. You can then go to a website like DonnaYoung.org to find easy to use formats and directions for creating transcripts. There are different examples, each containing different options of information you may want to include on the transcript.

SAT scores may also be required. You can make sure your high school student is ready to take the tests by getting a book like The Official SAT Study Guide from CollegBoard SAT, which is specifically written for SAT preparation. They also have a website CollegeBoard.com. where you can take online SAT courses. Another option is this DVD set Master It! SAT Prep System. We found the SAT study guide and the DVD set at our local library. When your high schooler is ready, you need to find a test location and get registered to take the test. According to The Official SAT Study Guide, SAT testing is done seven times a year at thousands of testing centers (usually schools) around the world. You can find a testing location and register on CollegeBoard.com.

With these few easy steps, you can make sure your homeschooled high schooler is headed in the right direction to being prepared for college with confidence.

McGrawHill Companies, Inc., McGraw-Hill's GED

College Entrance Examnation Board and Educational Testing Services, The Official SAT Study Guide, CollegBoard SAT

College Entrance Examnation Board and Educational Testing Services, CollegeBoard.com, CollegeBoard SAT

Goldhil Entertainment, Master It! SAT Prep System

Donna Young, DonnaYoung.org