Can I Homeschool Effectively in High School?

Written by Zan Tyler

"And, Mrs. Tyler, how long do you plan to homeschool?" I remember this question like it was yesterday, as I testified before a committee of the South Carolina State Board of Education in 1986. I was the de facto homeschooling expert in South Carolina because I had managed to avoid threats of jail and had actually homeschooled my sons for all of two years.

My heroic answer was this: "I plan to homeschool my sons all the way through the third grade." And I can remember thinking to myself, "If I make it that long, someone should pin some type of medal on my chest!'

7 Tools for Cultivating Your Child's Potential

Lest you judge me too harshly for my lack of vision, let me remind you of the times. When I began homeschooling in 1984, I knew no one else in the state who was homeschooling. The local school board denied my application to homeschool, and the State Superintendent of Education threatened to put me in jail. Homeschool Legal Defense Association had just begun on the West Coast, but I had never heard of it. There were no state homeschooling organizations and no local support groups. The prevailing wisdom seemed to promote homeschooling through the third grade. The thought of homeschooling my children in high school didn't even cross my mind in those days. I had never even thought of it.

In 1990 my husband and I founded the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools (SCAIHS), a support and accrediting organization for homeschools in South Carolina. That first year we began with 120 member families, which represented about 150 students; only 5 of those students were in high school. Today SCAIHS has approximately 2,400 students enrolled, and about 450-500 of those are high school students, with another 200 middle school students taking one or more high school courses for credit.

All across the country, thousands of families are successfully homeschooling their high school students. Colleges are actively recruiting these students, and showering many of them with scholarships and incentives. What accounts for this dramatic shift in attitudes and numbers concerning high school at home during the last decade?

I think several factors come into play:

Families who began homeschooling in the early and mid 1980s got hooked on it. They did not want to forfeit the fruit they were beginning to see in their family lives and in their students' lives by putting their children in school.
As more and more families began to homeschool-and homeschooled for longer periods of time-more statistical data became available on the academic success of the homeschooling option. With the continued increase in research findings, homeschooling no longer seems like a risk-the scores are in, and boy, are they good!
The growing number of homeschoolers has resulted in an exponential growth of curriculum and resource materials available to homeschooling parents and students. Gone are the days when publishers refused to sell to us; now they actively seek our business. In addition, many outstanding resources are available that have been developed particularly for the homeschooling environment.
The technological revolution provides many homeschoolers with the resources and confidence they need to continue homeschooling at the high school level. Courses on tape are available-all you need is a VCR-and you can have an excellent calculus or chemistry teacher lecturing in your very own living room. Courses with sophisticated content are available through satellite downlinks, over the Internet, and through media (like CDs and DVD's) that just five years ago seemed like sci-fi. In addition to course options, the Internet puts a world of research and knowledge at the homeschooled students' fingertips.
Many colleges are getting into the act by offering dual enrollment status to homeschooled students. This means students can take college courses during their high school years and receive both high school and college credit simultaneously.
Parents want to preserve their children's morality and spirituality, as well as family unity.
The events of Columbine High in April 1999, coupled with burgeoning acts of violence on school campuses across America, have triggered a ground swell of interest in homeschooling as parents become more and more concerned about the day-to-day safety of their children.

Can you homeschool effectively at the high school level? Of course you can. The Homeschool Channel is designed to acquaint you with the tools you need to accomplish the task, coupled with the inspiration you need to bolster your confidence. Today, thousands of parents just like you are successfully homeschooling their high-school-aged children, and doing it quite well.

Zan Tyler is the Homeschool Resource Consultant and Homeschool Editor for LifeWay Christian Resources, on the Web at www.lifeway.com/homeschool. She and her husband Joe homeschooled for 21 years, teaching all of their children from kindergarten through high school. Zan is the author of Seven Tools for Cultivating Your Child's Potential.