What NOBODY Tells You About Homeschooling Through High School!
Back to school season is upon us and I am seeing all of the typical homeschooling through high school blog posts and articles circulating online. They are packed full of useful information about classes, transcripts, curriculum, dual enrollment, college applications, and testing; everything you would expect to hear from the experts about the most concerning years of homeschooling. But there’s one thing you aren’t likely to see in those articles. What nobody tells you about homeschooling through high school is that your child needs to finish school before turning 18!
Is it a legal requirement that teenagers graduate from homeschooling by eighteen?
No. You are not legally required to graduate your homeschooler before they turn eighteen, but you should strive for it anyway. Read on to find out why.
A terrible thing happens to our kids when they get older, they turn into adults! (The horror!). As a parent you are abundantly aware that eighteen equals adult, but what no parent is ready for is the power struggle.
When the clock strikes twelve on their 18th…
wait…before that!
Shortly after turning seventeen teens start getting excited and begin exercising the freedom they hope to gain when they turn eighteen. Mommy, that means life as you know it is going to change.
I see your head shaking in disbelief. Thoughts of “not my child…” and “if they want to live in my home…my rules” blah blah blah.
Yeah…about that.
Sometimes they stop abiding by your rules, or worse, refuse all attempts you may have to be a loving, caring, concerned parent altogether.
The bottom line, sometimes teenagers move out before they turn 18. That means as a homeschool parent, you absolutely need to be sure your teen graduates before there is any possibility they will jump ship! — while you still have a voice that matters to them. While your pleas and requests to complete their studies still carry weight. We can’t lock our kids in the house and pretend life isn’t going to happen. But we can make sure they are ready to move forward when it’s time. Even if it’s time is ahead of our schedule.
Note: this is NOT a PSA only to parents with difficult or head-strong children. ANY child is capable of changing the parent-child relationship as a teen, and sometimes it’s the child you least expect more-so than the ones you are ready for.
While I don’t homeschool, I have a neighbor who does and her daughter is almost 16… my own daughter is 17 going on 18 in December and going into senior year now. I totally understand the I want more freedom, I hear it all the time lol.
I don’t home school myself. But I thought that this was a very interesting article. Thanks.
I am thinking about alternatives to public school, and these insights are very helpful- thank you.
Really eye opening, I never knew much about homeschooling.
Such an interesting article. My sister home schooled my niece. Was a lot of work.
I never homeschooled but my cousin homeschooled her last child up until high school. I found the article quite interesting. Seems like a lot of work
My daughter is in her junior year and we are homeschoolers. She should graduate a couple of months before she turns 18 but honestly I have not pressured her to do that. Your article does make good points as to why I should if it looks like things aren’t going to go as planned.
This is a great article even though I have never home schooled.
My daughter does not want to go back to in person. We have been doing distance learning since February but I might as well be homeschooling. I teach them everything. She is in 7th grade this year. I don’t know if I’m going to continue to keep them home after there is a vaccine but they seem to love being “home” schooled right now!
Very well put! It’s not possible to foresee what will happen in the future and we need to be able to preplan for everything as best as we can, including the possibility that our precious child will follow through and continue down the road we started them on, rather than to find a road that looks more appealing.
This is fantastic advice, thank you so much for sharing! I homeschool my kids and my oldest will be 13 next month. I am already thinking about high school and making sure that she is prepared, especially for what she wants to do after!
No kids NO homeschool but I always like to learn new things
This post was really informative and I learned a lot that I didn’t know before about home schooling a high school student.
more difficult than one thinks
I didn’t homeschool and never considered this before, Excellent point
Not homeschooling this year, but thought about going back to it. First year of High School for us. Very interesting points made!
I’m currently homeschooling 15 year old twins. Thank you for the advice.