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Greetings,

I am a 16 year old high school sophmore who is home schooled and need advice on the best possible courses to take for college preparation even if it means 3 or 4 times a normal high school work load. I'm going to work through the summer to "hurry up" and get enough credits to graduate and get into college. My current curiculum is very rigorus and my GPA is 3.93. However I aim high and am aiming for Princeton. All advice is greatly appreciated.

By Eri (Eri) on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 01:56 am: Edit

Hi Wesley.

From what I've read on many websites, the MINIMUM suggestion (which means, not necessarily a requirement for admissions, but most likely it is) is approximately:

2 years of History
4 years of Mathematics
4 years of English
4 years of Science (they suggest physics, biology, and chemistry, plus, in your final year, an advanced course in one of those three subjects)
3 years (some say 2, some say 4) of Foreign Language
1 year of Fine Arts (this differs from school to school)

I REALLY suggest going to individual University websites, like www.harvard.edu, www.brown.edu, etc., (if you arent sure of the website, you can always do a search). There you should look for a link to a "prospective students" section, or an "admissions" section, where further information, even a list of what the school recommends for your four years of secondary school, is provided. Good luck!

Erika

By Brown2006 (Brown2006) on Sunday, June 22, 2003 - 12:22 pm: Edit

Your gpa is 3.93...based on what?? the grades your mother gives you??

how is any grade a homeschooler receives relevant to anything?

By Morgantruce (Morgantruce) on Sunday, June 22, 2003 - 06:40 pm: Edit

It's not a very good idea to knock something you don't know anything about. Your statement might have some interest here if you had first bothered to research the subject of homeschooler's grades beforehand.

For your information, a parent is much less inclined to give a son or daughter an A---than a teacher at a public or private school: where politics, tenure, and just keeping one's job are very much involved with the grade book.

Many parents do not give their students any grades at all--preferring to just say, "Very good" and moving on, or, "Let's work on that some more" and try a different approach.

Brown... just ask yourself one honest question: How could it be possible that you got an A in any class you took---when you never even completed the last 40% of the textbook? (That's about average in many schools.)

Home schoolers are much harder on themselves than any school teacher would have the nerve or inclination to be.

Those are just some of the reasons why home schooled students are getting into colleges with or without grades and diplomas. They are very well prepared.

By Bradk (Bradk) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 03:26 am: Edit

Ok, so probably no one's going to read or care about this so long after it's been posted, but anyway... So I understand from Morgantruce that parents will grade a harder than teachers at some schools, which makes a lot of sense. It's true that Brown obviously didn't research his stuff.

But isn't it unfair to so directly assume (or at least state) that Brown had "never even completed the last 40% of the textbook"? It sounds like just as generalized a statement as Brown delivered. I'm sure it's true that some homeschool parents are more difficult than others, just as some high schools are more difficult. In both cases, such a broad point of view only makes people more angry. The only instance where I will finish only 60% of the textbook is in AP Physics C, where we will delve deeply into mechanics, electricity, and magnetism and less in other topics of physics. Let's avoid such general statements in the future

By Morgantruce (Morgantruce) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 08:16 am: Edit

I'll stick with the 40% figure for most schools.

It's possible that Brown, and perhaps you, are lucky enough to attend two of that minority of schools that do better.

Understand that it's not likely that people living within an excellent school district would choose to homeschool for academic reasons. They seem to come out of the woodwork though, when the local school district is average to mediocre---and these are plentiful.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 09:47 am: Edit

Certainly homeschooling becomes a more attractive option when the schools are mediocre. But families with kids who need to learn faster/slower/differently might choose to homeschool for academic reasons even if the local schools are excellent. There are a lot of kids who fall through the cracks of the "one size fits all" approach schools generally have to take.

About grades - at least some homeschooling families take the "mastery" approach to parental grading. Basically that means you just keep at it until you've "mastered" enough material to be worth an A, regardless of how long that takes. If a homeschooled student knows enough to get a C in school, that doesn't mean the parent gives them a C. It means the student isn't finished with the subject yet.

Sometimes families document what the student has done on their own by having the student take an AP or SAT subject exam, and then translate that into a grade. So a 5 on an AP exam equals an A, say. Sometimes the student takes a structured distance learning course with an externally generated grade.

By Eri (Eri) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 11:48 pm: Edit

Can I get an AMEN, Morgantruce! ;)

Peace,
Erika

P.S. what is someone who isn't a homeschooler or someone who isn't a potential homeschooler even doing on this section of the boards? Seems silly, to me...

By Morgantruce (Morgantruce) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 08:57 am: Edit

I'll give my kudos to anyone who takes full responsibility for the mastery of a subject--whether it's in a crowded classroom or home at the kitchen table.