Homeschooled students are often placed back in school at the high school level. While it is possible that placing a homeschooled student back in traditional school for high school will be advantageous, there are distinct advantages to keeping the student home and homeschooling high school.
Time Management
By the time a homeschooled student has reached the high school level he is generally had to learn how to manage his schedule to complete assignments in a timely manner. Time management is a real world skill, and one that will be useful in any future endeavor whether that is college or the work place.
Why would a homeschooled high school student have more of a chance to learn time management skills than a traditionally schooled student? Primarily because the traditionally schooled student is not allowed to manage their own time, but most homeschooling parents encourage students to take responsibility for their own schedules. Traditionally educated students are told when to change classes, when assignments are due, and are held to a schedule that is designed to fit the majority of students. A homeschooled high school student is not dependent on the schedules or abilities of others.
Part of the benefit of homeschooling, especially in high school, is that the education is customizable. If a student needs a little longer to master an advanced math skill it is possible to adapt the homeschool schedule to accommodate that. If the student finishes a literature assignment early, the student can move on and it is not necessary for him to wait until all the other students in the classroom have completed the assignment.
Independence
Homeschooled students who have reached the high school stage have generally achieved some level of independence. By placing a formerly homeschooled student back in the traditional high school setting some measure of the independence the student is accustomed to is removed. As with time management, the student’s schedule is no longer their own when they must adhere to the schedule of others.
High school level homeschooled students often have more input into their education, not just in what they want to learn but also how they will learn it. Homeschooled students will have the ability to determine how long they will work on a particular subject. An example of this is science experiments. In traditional school it does not matter if an experiment is completed in the 50 minutes allotted, when the bell rings, the student needs to move on to a different class. In homeschooled high school the student would continue the experiment to completion, not interrupted by the end of a class period.
Acceleration/Specialization
A third benefit to the homeschooled high school student is somewhat related to the time management and independence benefits of homeschooling. Most traditional schools must teach to the masses. That is their purpose and with the reductions of funds, most schools do not have the ability to allow students to accelerate to a higher grade, or specialize in a certain subject.
Homeschooling, with its inherent flexibility and individualization can accommodate both. Some homeschooled high school students take dual credit, which is a way to gain not only high school credit but also college credit for courses.
Other homeschooled high school students find that they can finish academic classes more quickly, and therefore can spend more time practicing a specialty. This would allow a student who was a musician more time to practice her musical instrument, or a student who excels in dance or gymnastics to complete schoolwork around necessary practices and coaches schedule.
Some might worry that homeschooled high school students might be isolated from the socialization available through traditional education. The reality is that socialization is about teaching the students the things they will need to know to be functioning adults in the world they are about to step into after graduation. Homeschooling high school is a great way to foster real world skills such as time management and independence. By allowing homeschooled high school students to excel in one area, or accelerate their entire high school education, we are encouraging the real world skills of management and independence that will make them sought after by colleges and employers alike.
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