When homeschooling a teenager?

Homeschooling: How to begin as a teenager?

• I am in 11th grade. The year just began and I have been considering home schooling for awhile, and my parents are willing to consider it. My choice has to do with my personal pace. ...show more

• Answer:

  My kids were homeschooling long before high school age, but basically the process is the same-- your parents have to learn and comply with the state homeschooling laws. My oldest started homeschooling in 3rd grade, the rest of my kids never went to school at all. Most of their learning is independent through a variety of means, both traditional and alternative. My daughter was unschooled-- which means no heavy structure at all. She pursued academics, like math & writing, on her own via independent studies. She was heavy into performing arts & music, took co-op classes for science, got involved in local writing groups, she started dual enrollment classes at the community college at age 15 and went on to university on scholarship at age 18. She also learned a lot of practical skills through volunteering. My son who is 13 does unit studies at home (math, reading, writing, social studies), he takes an on-ine cooking course for high schoolers-- wants to go to culinary school and become a chef-- and he takes science & engineering classes at a homeschool co-op. He also takes karate at the community center. Also volunteers a lot, gets in on a lot of field trips and projects with other homeschoolers, etc. There's a lot of freedom in homeschooling, so it helps to start looking at the entire concept of "education" ina whole new way. Try the Teen Liberation Handbook and look for homeschooling teen message boards to get some ideas. There are a lot of different ways to approach learning.