Name: ICHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-05T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-07T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Bourbonnais, IL

Tagged: college, non-college, scholarships

This topic has 36 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 9 months ago by Claire.

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March 4, 2013 at 6:16 pm
rhondajennings68
Participant
I am curious as to statistics on how many home schooled children attend college and the general thought of college for home schooled children. I know that some parents don’t see that as a necessity. But as a parent with a doctorate degree, I consider college an absolute necessity unless my son simply is unable to attend college for health reasons.
Any thoughts or guidance on this? Although my son is just 5 yrs old, I don’t want to get down the road with home schooling and realize that he isn’t ready for college.
Thanks, Rhonda
March 4, 2013 at 6:28 pm
amyjane
Participant
Rhonda, I understand your concerns. When I was considering homeschooling I did some research on how homeschooled children fair in college. I read an article (don’t ask me to find it – few years ago) written by a president of a college that said that they saw a huge difference in the capibilites of homeschooled vs public school children. This was especially in the area of being self-learners and taking personal responsibility for getting their work done. Not sure if that helps any. It is our intentions for our children to go to college for both the education and the life experience. I am not sure that everyone will agree on this site but I am ok with that. If you teach your child how to become a self learner then any gaps that you fear he may have will be easy for him to fill himslef. And to be honest, most public schools today are focuse on teaching to the standardized test so that they can recive their federal money that many children are leaving with huge gaps. Just my thoughts.
March 4, 2013 at 7:57 pm
sheraz
Participant
Rhonda – Bookworm on this forum homeschools her children and one is a National Merit Scholar with the accompanying scholarship. Most of us here prepare our children to enter college if that is what they decide to do – others may choose to attend a trade school or some other preparation for higher education. Some of us are teaching children at home who would fall between the cracks at public school and college may or may not be for those children.
Whether or not all our children decide on college, most of us are trying to teach our children to be life-long learners, to be responsible adults who be productive members of society.
Others will have more advice/statistics on what to do to help ensure that you feel more comfortable with your decisions, but I think that you can give your children a wonderful, broad education by homeschooling that a lot of children miss out on in PS, due to budget, impositions/limitations on teachers, or apathetic students/parents. And yes, absolutely college ready! 😉
March 4, 2013 at 8:16 pm
ServingwithJoy
Participant
I, too, have looked for statistics, but to no avail! If someone has a link to any studies, that would be great!
I am short on time now…but I will tell you that in our ‘mentor’ family – Christian homeschoolers with 7 children – this is how they did in life/college:
Oldest daughter – a homeschooling mom of 6
Next oldest, son – heart surgeon
Next, son – insurance agent
Next, daughter – former missionary and now marketing director for a large church
Next, son – yacht captain
Next, son – chiropractor
Next, daughter – entering college this year
All of their kids who chose to go to college did extremely well at major universities, many of them 4.0 students. The homeschool mom and yacht captain followed their hearts into arenas that didn’t require college, but they still have a strong sense of purpose and are excellent at their vocations.
I know one family isn’t representative of all, but they are an encouragement to me because they have all done so well in such varied fields, and continued to be strong Christians throughout college and into adulthood. Hope that encourages you, too!
March 4, 2013 at 8:31 pm
Scoathy
Participant
Wow! that family has created an amazing Homeschooling legacy!! I love the Yacht Captain career choice. Looking at the diversity, it looks like they all chose careers they were passionate about. Non of those are just “accidental” carees that they just fell into.
March 4, 2013 at 8:54 pm
Bookworm
Participant
I don’t have statistics, either, but I have one son in college and one preparing to go soon (taking SAT’s, will apply in fall, for admission the following fall.) I am on a list at yahoogroups of families who homeschool and whose children are in/applyingfor/preparing for college. It is hs2coll at yahoogroups. There are many, many families represented there—many are not religious, but a few of us are. Each week we get an email listing all the colleges who have accepted our terrific children–it is a LONG LONG list! There are only a few colleges in the country left who make life difficult for homeschoolers, but most welcome homeschooled students, and some actively recruit them. The college my son is attending has an admissions counselor dedicated just to homeschooled applicants. It is not only possible but not even particularly difficult to get homeschooled children into college. In fact, a great many homeschooled students earn many college credits before they ever turn 18. 🙂 Mine did and are. There are SO MANY options available to help with college prep and college admisssions and entrance. Your children will have many opportunities and everything will work just fine–most likely it will be even easier than it is now! As you grow and learn together and discover your children’s learning styles and interests, you will just naturally find the information you need (the forum here is great) and the whole wide world will be open for them as they continue their education.
March 4, 2013 at 9:07 pm
missceegee
Participant
Some articles, studies, etc. from a quick search.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/01/homeschooled-students-wel_n_1562425.html
http://www.onlinecollege.org/2011/09/13/15-key-facts-about-homeschooled-kids-in-college/
http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000000/00000017.asp
http://home-school.lovetoknow.com/Statistics_on_Public_School_Vs_Homeschooling
http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/rudner1999/Rudner2.asp
That should get you started. Never forget all of those who came before who were homeschooled –
- PRESIDENTS – John Adams, John Quincy Adams, James Garfield, William, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson,Abraham Lincoln, James Polk,Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt , George Washington, Woodrow Wilson
- SCIENTISTS – Einstein, Faraday, ….
- ARTISTS – Grandma Moses, Money, Andrew Wyeth…
- and the list goes on…http://www.homeschoolacademy.com/famoushomeschoolers.htm
Also, consider whether college is the goal of educating your kids. For our four, we will prepare them fully, but they will have other options to consider as well. College, as it is in America, is overdone. So many have no need or desire to attend, but do so because it’s the next step. I want my kids to know why they are there and what they are about should they choose to go.
HTH,
Christie
March 4, 2013 at 9:22 pm
ServingwithJoy
Participant
@ Scoathy – Yes, that is what I find inspiring about their family – they all followed their passions and love what they do!
@ Christie – Thank you for the reminder that college isn’t a necessity to a a fulfilling, and happy life or career!
@ Rhonda – At the risk of offending you (sorry, in advance!)I think as you go down the road of homeschooling a little farther you will find that there are many perspectives you hold about education that change. Our generation has been very institutionally wired to consider a degree as a means to vocational and relational success.
The fact is that, even if that was true in the world system, it isn’t true for God’s people. And today, even in the world system, a degree doesn’t guarantee anything. An education, however, does!
As your children learn to think, learn the ‘science of relations’ and learn their value as God’s children, they will become truly well educated – and THAT will set them apart in any environment.
Be blessed on your home-educating journey!
Heather
March 4, 2013 at 9:23 pm
ServingwithJoy
Participant
Oh – also wanted to point out that the mentor family I mentioned are wonderful, faithful Christians….who have made many mistakes along the way. They aren’t perfect people, they just kept trying ;0). Heather
March 4, 2013 at 10:20 pm
4myboys
Participant
At the last conventional I was at we had a speaker address the issue of college. He was saying that homeschooling families will probably need to be prepared to put much more effort into having their children enrolled where they do not have a traditional transcript. Portfolios will be much more important. Many colleges do not yet have a system in place to evaluate homeschooler’s portfolios. Those schools that would prefer to just plug the grades into a computer and let it decide who is accepted (more for revenue than an actual interest in students) are less willing to look at the students merits or accomplishments. However, more prestigious, academic colleges and universities have been quicker to recognize that homeschooler’s tend to be more independent leaders and are usually better academically prepared. These schools are looking for recognition for turning out highly successful graduates are are far more likely to put the effort into reviewing a portfolio from a homeschooler’s in search of those students who show potential for success in their programs. The speaker highly recommended contacting potential colleges well in advance for a list of entrance requirements (good thing to have ahead of time when planning high school credits) as well as to contact faculty and heads of departments who can often request to have a student enrolled if they are suitably impressed. I’m not there yet, but this is the info we were given, so take it as you like.
Having said that, I do not believe that college is for everyone, though I agree that post secondary training of some kind is to be highly encouraged. Sometimes thousands of dollars are spent on education that is never fully utilized or could have been acquired in a much less expensive and more efficient manner. Many students begin college unprepared, or simply go because it’s “the next step” without really knowing what they want to do with their lives. They are looking for the freedom that comes from no longer being under mom and dad’s thumb, making their own choices.

March 5, 2013 at 2:37 am
Bookworm
Participant
I have to say in our experience–there really isn’t that much of a bias. There’s no reason a homeschooler can’t submit a transcript. It’s not that hard. And if your child has a really interesting education that doesn’t translate well to a trasncript–say, heavy on music performance or something—then you aren’t going to be applying to some of the very, very traditional schools that WANT a traditional transcript. Most schools are DELIGHTED to have homeschoolers apply, and only a very, very few (really–just a handful) even have any different requirements for homeschoolers–we encountered ONE that wanted a personal interview (not a bad idea for a homeschooler and not a hardship for us since we were not too far away) and a few that required 2 SAT II tests of homeschoolers when they were only recommended for nonhomeschoolers. And almost all of these schools are in either California or New York. It is EASY to find a school and apply and make a transcript and get admitted. It’s just not all that difficult. My son only had one school turn him down–and it was a very, very selective school (less than 15% of applicants admitted.)
And college may not be for everyone. There are LOTS of exciting things going on in higher ed, though. I do think it is dumb to go to college, major in something like English and take on 100,000 dollars in debt. But my sons want to do sciences and go to graduate school. There really isn’t a route there that skips a real, brick and mortar college. But with the proliferation of great community colleges, technical programs, online options, some signs that things like internships might be making their way back—there are so many options. Don’t rule anything out yet!
March 5, 2013 at 4:15 am
RobinP
Participant
My husband and I were on our state’s homeschool board for 8 years. I got calls and emails frequently from colleges asking me to get word out to “my people” about their college. They said they wanted a high enrollment of homeschoolers because those students excelled in all areas. My oldest is 22 and was accepted to every college he applied at with a good ACT score and a hand-written transcript from the umbrella school.
March 5, 2013 at 6:00 am
HiddenJewel
Participant
We are preparing our children to be prepared for whatever path to which God calls them. This may or may not include college. We do discourage them from taking on debt. Our oldest made National Merit Finalist this year and can receive a full tuition-waver at our state university. She is, however, hoping she will be accepted and receive a scholarship to Hillsdale. Our second daughter is thinking on pursuing linguistics.
I have encouraged our girls to learn a skill which will enable them to earn money even if they are home with a family. Our futures are uncertain and I don’t want them in a position of needing to provide for their family and having no skills to do so. Injuries, death, and other things happen in a heartbeat.
March 5, 2013 at 4:54 pm
rhondajennings68
Participant
Thanks for all of the responses. While I agree that college isn’t for everyone, I do believe to be competitive in an ever changing job market, having an education is important. A college degree doesn’t guarantee that you have had “education” though, but without a college degree or some type of degree beyond high school, you can’t even get your foot in the door. I want my son to be able to provide for a family one day should God bless him with one and I want to help prepare him to do so. I know many intelligent people who are stuck in jobs well below their capabilities because they do not have a college education or a master’s degree. Of course, I have also seen people waste their college degrees, too. It works both ways.
My father died when I was a baby and my mother was left to raise two children by herself. I saw her struggle financially. I always knew I would go to college so that I would be prepared to support myself. I wasn’t planning on being single, adopting a child and also providing for my mother, but guess what? That is where God called me and it has been my education and degree that opened the doors to my current career and allowed me the financial means to provide for my family. I love what HiddenJewel said about not wanting her children to be in a position to provide for a family and not having the skills to do so.
Thanks again for all of the wonderful responses!
March 5, 2013 at 7:20 pm
4myboys
Participant
I am Canadian, so perhaps the information I offered earlier is more relevant to Canadian homeschoolers. Having said that, I noticed the three top universities in our province represented at the convention last June. I saw on the website that they are expecting more at this year’s convention. An excellent sign for sure.