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A., I work in the admissions department at Lamar University. The requirements to get into Lamar with a home school high school are. A partial HS transcript from his regular hign school and a notarized home school transcript. Along with SAT or ACT scores. Hope this helps :-)

It isn't too late at all. If she is in AR, then she will have to file an "Intent to Homeschool" form by taking it to the district office. It may take 2 weeks for her to be able to pull him out of school, which would give her time to get books, etc. Our oldest graduated last year from our homeschool and is now attending college. I'd be happy to answer any questions she may have via email. I also think it would be a good idea for her to attend the Northwest AR Christian Home Educators Association curriculum fair, March 30-31 in Siloam Springs. Whether she is a Christian or not, there will be tons of curriculum to view, as well as conference sessions to answer alot of questions. I know that this year in particular there are sessions about homeschooling in high school, getting started, etc. She can google NWACHEA and get the info, or email me personally at ____@____.com .

A., I suggest homeschooling through www.abekaacademy.org

It is an accredited homeschool for the South. One of the best private schools in our aread uses this program. You can order the DVD program or do it the traditional way. It is not very expensive either and the school year last 6 months! Best of luck and God bless you. Over 40,000 students were enrolled in the A Beka Academy last year online.

First she needs to find out about the requirements for her state. The Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) has a list of the requirements. Texas is easy. I was homeschooled using a variety of curiculem. I think pulling him out at this age shouldn't be a problem unless he won't do the work.

College requirements are different depending on the college. Most require an SAT score, all require a highschool deploma or GED (I got my diploma from a homeschool co-op after turning in my transcripts to show that I did do the work.) Most colleges are very homeschool friendly and many have classes available for homeschoolers to take for dual credit (highschool+college credits.)

S. (homeschooled 4rth through graduation, got my child development associates at 22)

A., The first thing your sister should do is talk with the school counselor. (They may already be having conversations since he is having difficulty) There is a program through Texas Tech that will provide correspondence courses which are accepted in the Cy Fair school district. Starting in the middle of the semester, he may lose some of his credits, and have to start over, so that is a consideration. She should also consider getting him into some sort of counseling for the issues he is having. If money is a problem, email me back and I can let you know of a good place in the Cypress area which charges on a sliding scale based on income. Hopefully, he can get back on track to finish his senior year at his home high school, and maybe enjoy some of those fun times during that senior year. Good Luck! S.

The best websites I know for homeschooling advice are the following.

This a message board. There are some very knowledgable people there.
http://www.theswap.com

This is a read and click website. It has information about beginning to homeschool, laws for your state, where to find a support group and so so much more.
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/

There are places to sign up with who will keep track of grades, credits, etc. and send you an actual diploma. I see them in my homeschool magazines often. God Bless you in this journey.

My cousin is homeschooling at American Christian Academy and she's been in it for a year. I know when she started, it had to be at the beginning of a semester or quarter; and they have a graduation just like every other high school. The Principal is an older woman and she is very nice. Its like $100 a semester or quarter, Im not all that sure about the pricing. He would do the work and then you or your sister grade it and then turn it in to the school and pick up your new set or work a week later. I know since she's been schooling there, her grades have improved dramatically, she went from making B's and C's to making All A's and some High B's. I hope this information has helped some.

I don't know anything about homeschooling but when I was in high school my jr. year I did what they called independant studies. I went once a week to school and collected any work and took all my tests. I was able to make up a lot of cedits in a short amount of time and still graduate with my class. This may be an easier solution for them and would still have him at home where she could help him. Hope this gives you something to think about.

Hi!
I am a homeschooling mom, and I think that he will definitly be able to go to college. One of the things, if he graduates from homeschool, is that he will have to get his GED. He can begin at a community college, but more and more universities are accepting homeschoolers. Also, she might check into either online schools for his grade, Missouri just annouced theirs, or she can use an umbrella school to help her with cirriculum chioices, etc. Technically, in Missouri, all she must do according to law is teach him 1000 hours, from July to July, the basic subjects. (Math, Science, History, Language and literature, and anything else he chooses!) You can google search and find alot of resources. The Homeschool Legal Defense website has a list of all the states, and the laws of each one so you can be clear about the requirements. My advise, though, is to give him some freedom in his cirriculum. :) It works well for my family, anyway. :) If you need some more resources for information about homeschool, feel free to email me. :)
A.

A.~
Good for your sister! I am an advocate of homeschooling ~ I helped my mother homeschool my brother (we pulled him out of school in the 7th grade) and I homeschool my own children. You can start homeschooling at any age. I use the A Beka Books (www.abeka.com) but the Bob Jones University Press is also very good - especially for high school age children. I believe that they both also have DVD programs that your nephew can use if your sister is a little leary about trying to teach him (I know A Beka has one for certain). Your sister needs to order a complete grade level for her son so that he gets all the credits that he needs for his junior and senior years. Have her take a look at the transcript from his highschool and then call a local college to find out how many credits a student needs in each subject in order to apply to college. She needs to keep good records of his grades and projects that he does while he is homeschooled. She can design and print her own transcript for the time he is homeschooled to present to any college along with his transcripts from his public high school - just use the public highschool one as a template. We actually named our homeschool (FarFam Academy) so that when the children are asked where they go to school they have a name for their school and we have a name that we can put on their records. I also used to work in the Student Records/Admissions office at a college. When homeschooled students applied for admission we accepted their homeschool transcript and required that they take the admissions test - that's all. Also, he will need to take the ACT and/or the SATs (which he might already have taken). As for "graduating", once he has completed all the credits that he needs he is done. That's it! Pretty simple. If your sister wants to have a graduation party for him, you can usually rent/buy a graduation gown from a Teacher Supply store in your area. To put your sister's mind at ease about him applying to college you can tell her that Ivy League schools are now actively recruiting homeschooled students as they are often better students and more prepared for college!

I hope this helps. If you have any other questions let me know and I will answer them if I can. Good luck!

Also, to respond to one posters comment that students using A Beka are behind let me say this. My daughter is in first grade and we are using the A Beka books. She is doing multiplication and writing short stories already! A Beka books are actually 1 to 2 grades beyond those of public schools.

http://www.nhen.org/

My 1st question is, Why is she wanting to pull him out of regular school? Is it behavior problems, bad grades, personality clashes? Or is it that he's bright beyond what they are able to teach him at his school? Either way, it is best to do ALL of your homework before she just pulls him out of school.

Not to bash a previous post about A Beka, but my mom worked in the school system for 20 years and dealt a lot w/home-schooling. She just told me the other day (again) that if I ever heard of a place offering that curriculum to go the other direction. We have a cousin who pulled her kids out of public school and they were thrilled that the kids were making straight A's -- the only problem was that the curriculum was about 2-3 years behind what they should have been! YIKES!!

I suggest your sister research as many curricula as possible, as in-depth as possible. A great help would be to check with the school system where she lives. The counselors there should have a wealth of knowledge on the best home-schooling programs. They could even refer her to other home-schoolers and their parents who can share info as well.

Your nephew CAN go to college after home-schooling, and I suggest that y'all push him to do so no matter what ends up happening! HOWEVER: Home-schooled kids have to make higher on entrance exams than public/private schoolers. For example, my alma mater (in Mississippi) has a minimum ACT of *16*. . . unless you were home-schooled. Then they have a minimum requirement of *20*. (I checked with one of their counselors for one of my home-schooled cousins that I mentioned.) That 4 points may not mean anything to a person who tests well and has a great background

It's not too late to change to home-schooling, and it can be a great thing and offer lots of opportunities that you can't always get in a "regular" school. But there is a LOT to know about it, and several things that can trip you up if you want to end up working anywhere outside of a KFC cook line.

This website seems to have lots of information on homeschooling - good luck.

http://www.homeeddirectory.com/index.htm