How to Prepare a Homeschooler for College Applications

The thought of preparing a homeschooler for college strikes fear into the heart of many homeschooling parents. While it takes a good deal of planning and organization, the process of preparing a homeschooler for college does not have to be scary.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• File cabinet
• Camera
• Computer
• Blog

1. Plan ahead. You need to start preparing your homeschooler for college as soon as they begin taking highschool coursework. This can be as early as middle school. While this may seem quite young, the sooner you begin preparing your homeschooler for college, the easier college entry applications will be later on.
2. Choose a system for storing your child’s progress. You will probably need a combination of files, photographs, computer files, and online tools like blogs, but you will want to use one more heavily than the others. Choose which system you feel most comfortable with for your primary method of storing your child’s information.
3. Compile their coursework, records of their activities, and experiences. While you may not have a clue as to what the student plans to do as a career, you need to keep track of everything they do that might lend to a future career as well as making sure they meet basic college entry requirements. Therefore, as soon as your child is ready for Algebra and High School Literature classes, you need to start recording their progress. This is the beginnings of their homeschool portfolio, which can be used for college entry.
4. Become methodical about storing your child’s information. If he takes a course, keep a copy of the course description and grade. If you teach her geometry, record the name of the book, the amount of hours it took to complete the book, and an overall grade. If the child takes a standardized test for that course, keep that record. If your child is in a performance, take photographs and create a scrapbook page. If your child wins a competition, keep the certificate and record any pertinent information. This is really a very simple process. All you need to do is record things as they happen. The earlier you start, the sooner this will be come a habit.
5. When it is time to apply for college, sort through all of your information and compile a portfolio that includes your child’s best grades, best work, and accomplishments. This portfolio can be in the form of a small file box, with a short summary. It can be an online compilation (in the form of a blog or website) where the link can be sent and easily accessed. It can be a spreadsheet of sorts and sent as an attachment.

Tips & Warnings

• The sooner you start compiling information, the more information you will have to present.
• If you keep all of the rewards and accomplishments handy, you won’t forget to record them on your college application.
• Don’t procrastinate in recording your child’s information as it will be reflected in the quality of your homeschooler's portfolio.