Homeschooling High School: Bring It On!
High School.
In one week I will graduate my oldest child from 8th grade. High School is looming. Well, actually not looming, but speeding towards me rapidly. Four more years and this kid will potentially not be sleeping nightly in my home any longer. Four. Short. Years.
I am not one who started out with homeschooling dreams for my family.
Our journey started with me kicking and screaming for a year, or maybe even two. Now entering year five, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Neither would the rest of my family.
….but high school? I have doubted it. I have.
I think all too many times in life, I let my day-to-day little things decide my life-altering big things, and really it should be the other way around. I believe whole heartedly that God has called my family to homeschooling. That is the reason that we do what we do. If I allow the good days or the bad days to define my decision, it may end up looking all together different. If I let the voices in my life that don’t agree with our education choice, or the stranger’s comments, or a teenage bad attitude, or my grumpy days, my fears, or even Biology itself, make my decision…it WILL look all together different.
Sitting down to write posts for HHM, I sometimes feel that I should come up with some big fat encouraging string of words that will make everyone run full speed ahead to this life of homeschooling. Anyone who has home schooled for even one hour knows that while there are MANY tiptoe-through-the-tulips moments that are full of gumdrops and ponies, there are also those moments that you lock yourself in the bathroom and shed buckets of tears. There is beauty in the easy and also beauty in the difficult. We desperately need them both.
…and even that beauty does not define my decisions. God does and I need to follow Him regardless of what the day looks like. Even if it is hard and seems undoable, He will make a way. It doesn’t necessarily mean it is time to change plans.
I have spent a couple of months battling fear, anxiety, and that very loud voice in my head saying “AM I SCREWING MY CHILD UP IRREVERSIBLY?” Yet again, I will choose to put my faith in the One who made my child in the first place. I will trust Him.
He has given us everything we need for life and godliness. 2 Peter 1:3
I will rest in the decision that we made for homeschooling and unless the Lord leads us otherwise, we will continue. I will stop spending moments doubting if I should, but spend those moments saying, “Teach me Lord.” He isn’t going to lead us somewhere I can’t follow.
Even into high school…
Bring it on.
🙂
🙂
We have homeschooled 5 through highschool, well mostly five. The fifth went to highschool for grade 12. They are all great adults, raising great families. Last year I began highschool again with our second youngest, and the youngest is in grade 7. Exciting times. I have loved it! Highschool was not that much different from elementary. A little more work, some focus on life skills that prepare them for the world and adulthood. More independent learning. Continue trusting God to guide you and place them in God’s hands. Love them. Show them a godly example! Enjoy. The years go fast.
So awesome and encouraging Anita! Thank you for sharing!
Darcy, I have homeschooled my 5 kids through high school. They have been the best years of all. You won’t screw yours up- and maybe they’ll learn to find God’s plans for themselves.
Thanks Vicki! I appreciate it! I am excited to see what the next four years brings!
Awesome. I actually copied a couple paragraphs into a word document so I have a better chance of remembering it. It is also refreshing to know that other people have those lesson than beautiful experiences too – I am not alone. But the thing that hit me the most was allowing other things to make my decision for me! Life altering – seriously!! Thanks
Mindy! Thanks for your comments! Best wishes to you!
WOW! That is practically word for word my story too! A definite calling to home school … fought passionately against my Father who knew what would be best for me + our boys. So grateful I heard His call and obeyed! He really does supply every need … even those overwhelming: ‘there-is-no-way-I-can-do-this!’ problems.
Love your posts!
Thanks Janine! It’s nice to not I am not alone either 🙂 Have a great summer!!!
well, Winter, as I’m in South Africa … LOVE SUMMER though, so loads to looks forward to without missing what God has for me today! Enjoy your summer! 😀
Definitely come join us over at LetsHomeschoolHighschool.com if you haven’t already. It’s so much better to travel this high school homeschooling journey together rather than alone. Best wishes for your exciting upcoming adventure!! 😀
Thank you Kerry ! I will come check it out!!!!
It isn’t always about the destination, but about the journey we take. As homeschooling families, we often fret and worry about where this will all lead to, but I’m often reminded that God lives with us in the details. It is in the moments that He greets us with open arms. So as daunting as high school may be (and I’m a couple of years away from that), consider the journey thus far and all the ways God has been faithful to lead us on the path He paved out for us, long before homeschool was even a thought.
I love this comment! Thank you Julia!!!
Hi Darcy,
Congratulations on making it to High School! This in itself is an accomplishment! There have been so many times that I have questioned our decision, felt inadequate, or spent days crying over frustration in our progress (or lack thereof). I hope you two take an afternoon to go have fun together (arcade, lunch date, whatever) and celebrate the accomplishment you both have made.
Prayers to you and your young adult for the next stage of your homeschooling!
~Victoria
DenSchool
Thank you Victoria! Young adult! EEEK 🙂 You are correct!
Great post, Darcy! Brought back memories and spoke to my “today”. I reluctantly started homeschooling at my daughter’s request. She is now 22, is within a year of completing her bachelor’s degree and is planning to get a PhD. My son is also doing well in college and my twins are half way through homeschooling high school. I remember my oldest – and I – sitting together sobbing as we were overwhelmed with anxieties about approaching high school. There were lots of tears and lots of joys, and as you mentioned, I would’t trade a single one of the easy days or the tough days. They come together to make us who we are.
My favorite part of your post is the reminder that the little things should be determined by the big things, not the other way around, SO TRUE!
This post has some great info for approaching high school as a homeschooler. http://7sistershomeschool.com/2013/03/05/the-4-short-years-of-homeschool-high-school-how-to-plot-the-plan/ Hopefully you will find it helpful too!
Thank you Kym!!! It is so helpful to hear of families who have “successfully” completed high school! Thank you for the link!!!
Love it! Homeschooling in high school is the best! We’ve homeschooled 2 through high school and 3 more to go! For me, out of all the years of homeschooling, these next 4 are the most crucial…not academically as much as psychologically and foremost SPIRITUALLY for our kids! I am proud of our 2 graduates’ accomplisments thus far, and one college professor was so impressed with one of our sons’ skills that, truthfully, I had never realized that an extensive reading list over all those years of homeschooling would have such a positive effect our son’s performance in college. May God bless the work of your hands as you bring it on! Prayers for you and your family!
Hi Darcy and all!
I just wanted to offer a FREEBIE that we have running now that may be of help. It’s free through midnight PST of Thursday, July 4
Hi Darcy and all!
I just wanted to offer a FREEBIE that we have running now that may be of help. It’s free through midnight PST of Thursday, July 4.
Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/Homeschool-High-School-You-ebook/dp/B00D9SJATC/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1372532990&sr=8-5&keywords=homeschool+high+school
I was not a supporter of homeschool. Until it was the best option for my High Schooler who had been public school educated from 1st to 9th grade. Prior to that she was in a Private school. When we moved homeschooling worked out for her since the school she would be going to had major problems. She was only homeschooled for 1 year where she took most all of her courses at the Community College for dual credit and graduated from our Umbrella (oversite org) within 1 yr with 24 credits towards her AA degree. However, she wasn’t the only kid of mine I considered it for, my youngest 2 kids were no longer thriving in public school. The 4th grader had been bullied by teachers (physically bruised by one) and his peers. He started suffering from depression at age 9. My 7th grader, became more and more introverted only at school because she told me that most of the kids were mean to her because she wasn’t into what they were doing. I asked what the other kids were doing, she said drugs, sex, or other things. She had a few really good friends which made it bearable for me when I constantly notice her being alone while I visited her school. When we moved, I put them in a Private school that seemed to work out well until I met my son’s teacher for the next grade and realized my daughter’s class didn’t even have recess. So even though my husband and I work outside the home, I changed my work schedule and he changed his, so we could homeschool our younger 2 kids. I believe is you homeschool the kids since they are young, you may as well homeschool them through til college. High School can be a difficult place to figure things out, and College is so much better. Both of my oldest kids who went to Public Highschool say, they preferred their college experience so much more. They even told me to keep the younger 2 out of high school and save myself some frustration, lol!