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High School Diplomas
- This topic has 8 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 7 months ago by
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Hi,
Could some of you ladies who have graduated high school students comment on this: I just heard some rather disturbing news today from an admittedly “Eyore” type homeschooling mom I know. She has not had a good experience homeschooling her children from 8th grade on- says she wouldn’t recommend to anyone that they homeschool- my heart just breaks for her, as, for the most part, I love having my children at home and learning along with them. I see the incredible benefits to educating my children at home, and while it is hard work and there are definately frustrating days and seasons, there are such blessings, freedom, and growing expreriences for not just my girls individually, but for our family as a unit.
Anyway, we were talking about high school (her children are seniors this year) and what colleges require from students. She said, as far as she has researched, that a home school diploma means nothing and most colleges will require homeschooled students to obtain a GED, regardless of their transcript and academic courses. I find this hard to believe, as I was never asked to produce my diploma for any college that I applied for- only my transcript. A diploma, from any institution, really proves nothing as far as ability goes (other than that you made it to the finish line). A student with C’s and D’s receives the same diploma that an A’s and B’s student receives. Has anyone else experienced this requirement for an “official” diploma when applying to colleges or even for job applications? I don’t like to think that my girls will put in all the work of earning high school credits from our homeschool and then have to get a GED. A GED does carry a bit of a stigma with it. People assume a GED graduate dropped out of high school for whatever reason. What has been your experience with transcripts, diplomas, college admissions offices, military, etc?
Thank you
Kim
I think much depends upon the college and the state with which you’re dealing. Also, please don’t let one woman’s experience be too much of a discouragement. It is sad to hear that her joy has been taken from her regarding these most important years.
It is my impression, too that some colleges, just like counties during grammar and middle school years, ask things of homeschoolers that are illegal. I would recommend joining HSLDA for your defense, as well as guidance.
Here’s the page for high homeschooling.
Rachel
Kim,
Don’t worry. Most colleges do NOT require a GED. They do want to see a transcript. Diplomas–some want them, some don’t. You can just print one up. There are a very few stickler schools that still want you to do something dumb like a GED. Avoid them–it’s easy to do. There are thousands of homeschoolers in college right now, most of whom did not take the GED. Many colleges LOVE homeschoolers and take them very willingly. If you are interested in the military, I know that HSLDA has been active in negotiating agreements that treat homeschoolers as high school graduates (since they are!) I don’t know more details but you could likely find it on their website. We are communicating with many colleges now, visiting them and deciding which ones to apply to, and not one has yet asked me for anything weird like a GED. A few do want something like SAT subject tests along with the standard SAT/ACT testing. No problem. 🙂 Many homeschoolers have broken the ground before you and it is all ready for your kids to make their own mark.
I called a few colleges we might be interested in when my son started high school. They said they just want a transcript and an ACT score of “whatever”–they were all different. So when my son started at our community college last year, it was totally fine.
But he did receive a music scholarship. We could not get actually get that money unless he had a GED or diploma. I really think this was related to the fact that our community college is heavily subsidized. So it was a government thing. Luckily, we had used an umbrella school while we were in Tennessee last year, and they were able to issue him a diploma after I supplied all his grades and records from the past year. He got the diploma, but I really don’t know how it would have all turned out, because we had to eventually turn down the money since we were going to move out of the area suddenly. My husband doesn’t believe he would have ever gotten the money. They kept telling him he had to do one more thing after another. Government. Boy am I glad my homeschool isn’t run by them.
Overall I wouldn’t worry about it, but the umbrella school advisor says she has seen it before. I don’t know if it involved scholarships though. Just for peace of mind, I have my other kids enrolled in the umbrella school (they serve people in any state, even though they are a TN recognized school). I just have them keep our records, and when it comes time we’ll get TN state dipmlomas for everyone.
After reading your post, I decided to check what my alma mater had to say about homeschooled students. They want a transcript that includes course of study, grades if available, and standardized test scores.
The community college where I work has a similar policy.
HTH,
Karen
We have graduated 4 children to date. 3 out of the 4 wanted to go on to college. The first one, attended a community college via online classes. (Because she was only 16 when done with school) She was recommended to a 4 yr school by her professor at comm’ty college because she was adv for them. She went on to a 4 yr school and then to grad school . Never was she asked even so much as a transcript (this was in 1996) in NY state…She never took the SAT’s but after her first year of school, her grades were so good, she qualified for lots of scholarships. The next child,wanted to go on to a 4 yr private school in another state (PA) they were very homeschooler friendly, but they did look at his SAT scores which were satisfactory. He was accepted and got scholarships based on his SAT and I believe the rest had to do with his minority status (he is adopted) The next child was very shy about going to a 4 yr school , and went the community college route in NY state in 2006. they had changed some of their requirements by then for homeschoolers, but all they asked is that she would apply for a GED after she finished 20 credit hours. After 2 yrs she transferred to a 4 yr college in PA and they never asked anything..
I think this shows you as someone mentioned above there are lots of options, and you can call school admissions ahead of time to find out their policies. Even if your child enters college without much financial aid, if they do maintain a good GPA there will be scholarships available from that point on. One word of caution, I have heard that it is financial aid that is being more difficult to obtain, that is different than scholarships..
2 of our children that didn’t want to go to college have fared remarkably well in the “world” One married and after having 2 children decided at 30+(she was never homeschooled) that she wanted to go to nursing school. She entered academia and maintained an excellent GPA and was awarded many scholarships for her achievements that she barely has any debt (she just graduated 2 weeks ago, with a straight A ) all this while holding down a job, (her husband had a severe heart attack and they had to file bankruptcy as he was self employed and no longer able to do the physical work, and raising 2 children-talk about stress)My other child, now 31. had a job fall into his lap, with a private business, he has since been promoted to office manager and makes a 6 figure income, no college, no diploma, no GED, …
We still have 2 more at home 14 and 7 (adopted) Our philosophy has changed or should I say become more clear to us over the years.We are not homeschooling our children towards a goal of college. We are aiming to raise godly children for the kingdom, if they believe God has directed them on to college , so be it. But if not, that is fine as well. In providing for their education, we try not to limit their options for the future . I can sum this up and say, but for the grace of God, because when we first started out, we were fumbling along fairly unchartered paths.. and God has provided…
Blessings
Kk
I have graduated 2 dc. The eldest just graduated from a community college w/ two degrees. He did receive scholarship money from private sources and his lack of a GED did not hinder him in the least. Actually I sent his transcripts with him to his first appointment with his counselor who glanced at it, laid it aside, and paid **zero** attention to it from that point on.
All of the other homeschool parents whom I’ve spoken with have not had any problem whatsoever with their children entering any of the colleges they’ve attended from the local community colleges to Big Ten and Ivy League. Maybe this particular parent found one of the very few schools that are a bit slow to figure out that, in general, home schooled children are assets to their institutions and represent their alma mater’s admirably.
I have graduated five from homeschool. Four went on to college with no problem. The first one chose to get married instead and raise a family. She is now homeschooling her children. My last one is still homeschooling and I anticipate no college admission problems for her either.
I just have to say that I was actually homeschooled through high school, and had no problem getting into a state university. I had excellent ACT and SAT scores, and we provided plenty of documentation (the univ. actually required that we bring in boxes of stuff to “prove” my work and grades!) I had a professional, detailed transcript , and, like I said, there was no delay or raised eyebrows or anything like that. A GED was never even referenced.
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