It’s time for a reader question – how can I make HomeschoolThroughHighschool more useful for you? This is a question that I plan to begin asking every 6 to 12 months.

Why? Because I want to constantly be improving this blog, making it more effective in helping you with your homeschooling journey. I really want to hear your thoughts, so to help stimulate the discussion, here are some areas you might want to comment on:

• Topics - are there topics (specific or general) you’d like to see covered in the coming months? What are the main issues, challenges, and questions that you’re facing as a homeschooling family? What would you like covered for the remainder of the year?

• Types of Posts – reader questions, tutorials, short tips, guest posts, product reviews, news related to family & homeschoolers…. have your say about what you’d like most/least

• Posting Frequency – too many posts, not enough, just right?

• Design – I still have a lot to learn in this area, but are there any design features or changes that you would like to see?

• Blog Features – what would make your reader experience better?

• Community – Are there features that you’d like added to help you connect more with other HomeschoolThroughHighschool readers?

• Services and Tools – what could HomeschoolThroughHighschool offer you to help you improve, make easier your home education experience?

• What Frustrates You about HomeschoolThroughHighschool? What is Best about it?

• Other Ideas and Feedback – anything goes, big or little.

The ‘Rules’ - Any feedback, suggestions, dreams or ideas that you have are more than welcome! I can’t promise to respond to each comment or put every suggestion into place, but I do promise that I will to read anything & everything you have to say.

All that I ask in return is that you be honest, courteous and constructive with your feedback.

HomeschoolThroughHighschool is a project that I pour a lot of time and effort into – as a result sometimes criticism can be a little difficult to hear. However, hearing your honest thoughts are vital if HTH is to continue to be a valuable resource for homeschoolers wanting to improve their homeschool endeavors.

So…now it’s your turn . Feel free to either leave your feedback in the comments section below or share them privately with me via my Contact Page.

Hot off the presses! Finally!!! 50 Best Websites for Homeschooling Highschool is a directory that I have been working on for months and finally it is ready – yea!!!!

This terrific resource (if I do say so myself ) features 50 of the best and FREE online resources for home educated highschoolers.

When we began homeschool smack-dab in the middle of the school year, I frantically searched the web for sites appropriate for teens. I easily found a lot of information for younger grades, but finding sites appropriate for the middle or high school ages proved considerably more difficult.

As a result, I specifically targeted sites offering high school level information, lessons, etc., for this directory. The cool thing is many, if not most of these sites, Read the rest of this entry »

Now for a look at private distance learning options. The first thing to understand is that they are not free. Private schools don’t receive government money or the inherent government strings that come with government funding. Therefore, you will need to pay for the services of private distant learning but you also receive the inherent freedom to choose the who, what, when and where of your child’s education, especially important during the high school years.

There are many wonderful private options available to homeschoolers – so many that it can leave you feeling kind of like a kid in a candy shop. However, because there are so many options, it can be a bit overwhelming to wade through all the available choices. The good news is that for the parent considering the distance learning option, there is sure to be an option that fits you and your family.

Distance learning schools can be referred to as correspondence schools, umbrella schools, cyber schools and probably others. There are also schools catering to particular faiths, “gifted” children or “learning disabled” children. There are even colleges offering high school courses and schools that allow dual credits, meaning that the student gets both a high school and college credit. Additionally, there are schools, that offer individual courses for credit. Some schools provide K-12 instruction, while others only work at the high school level.

Keeping in mind that the distinctions between different distance learning schools and options are not always black & white, let’s look at three broad option categories. Read the rest of this entry »

As promised, here’s the rest of Charter & Other Free Online Schools as a distance learning option for homeschoolers. As discussed in the Part 1 a “free” school is a public school and therefore will be controlled to varying degrees by government regulations either at the local or state level.

People choose homeschool for many reasons and in my opinion the question to ask is:

Why are you homeschooling or considering homeschool?

• You don’t agree with what was/is being taught in the public school?
• For religious reasons – you want your children to learn from a faith perspective?
• You want to remove your child from the physical environment and influences of the public school?
• For health or some other reason, your child is unable to attend school?
• Frustration with the long hours that traditional public school requires, including the homework?
• To alleviate some of the stress you are observing, particularly in you highschool student’s life because of the demands and expectations place upon them?

Having given thought to why you want to homeschool, let’s take a quick look at the advantages and disadvantages of choosing an online government school or public brick & mortar charter school as a distance learning option. Read the rest of this entry »

Thinking back to your school days, some of your best memories were probably field trips. The memory was good, not necessarily because the subject was something you were interested in, but because you got out of classes for the day – Yea! – plus, it was a break for the norm. As homeschoolers, you have the advantage of doing as many field trips as you like even, during the high school years! The opportunities are virtually endless!

Living in or near a large city, presents literally countless field trip destinations. Even if you have to drive 2 hours, make a day of it and have a blast! If you can afford it, stay overnight and make it a real event! Another great option for a high school field trip is a city tour. Major cities such as Chicago, Washington D.C., New York, Boston, Nashville and Atlanta are just a few interesting choices worth considering.

Involve your high school students when planning a field trip. If the trip involves travel, Read the rest of this entry »

Looking for a fresh new way to approach highschool history? Here’s an idea – family genealogy! Have your kids trace your family back as far as you want to go in history. Not only will you cover history, you’ll learn some fascinating information about your family that can be passed on to future generations! Who knows, you may even discover a few “black sheep”

As you begin to put your family tree together, use it as the springboard for history. For each member or family group make pages on your computer to document such things as: Read the rest of this entry »

In my last post I mentioned a few sobering statistics re: new teen drivers, states GDL’s and some insurance questions to ask about before your teen gets their learner’s permit.

It doesn’t matter if you teen is homeschooled or in a traditional school setting, determining your ground rules ahead of time will ease much of the tension that is inherent when your child becomes a new driver. The old adage, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, applies.

Here are some ideas & questions to get the discussion ball rolling: Read the rest of this entry »