How can you homeschool high school with college in mind?

Many families worry that their homeschooled teen may not get into college.  No worries.  Here are key first steps for getting into college.  Note - This post may included affiliate links to products that we love and use in our own homeschool. Please see my disclosure policy.


Are you homeschooling a high schooler who might want to go to college?  

What do you need to know then?  

Does going through the college entrance process with your teen give you pause?

Here is a good place to start:

For the first important steps in getting your homeschooled high schooler into college, click here. 

How to Know What is Needed to Get into College.

I have been blogging about college awhile now, and many of my posts are on my blog are now put into this frugal High School Guide below. 

Why did I write this book?

I was so anxious about the college admissions process when I began helping our teen.  

But I needn't have been!  

My teen got into each college that she applied to, with scholarship offers.  

And our homeschool transcript was accepted everywhere.

We as homeschoolers often worry whether.....

• Do we need an accredited transcript?  
• Are there extra hoops to jump through for homeschoolers? 

Homeschooling High School with College in Mind will not only make the whole college application process easier........ 

It will also guide you to:

• make your teen's homeschool transcripts
• write their course descriptions
• guide you to assign high school credit in 3 easy ways
• help you choose frugal homeschool high school curriculum
• find your teen's college admission requirements
• find college scholarships
• prepare for SAT/ACT testing

and more.

Our homeschooled teens do lots of great learning and sometimes volunteering or working part time during the high school years. 

And they all count!  

But what's the best way to share them?  That's in my book, too.

Showcase your student's accomplishments to the colleges!

What exactly is in the book?

It also includes 12 exclusive planning forms and.......

...a transcript form, the kind the colleges are used to seeing, ready for you to fill in.  With complete instructions!

But what are people saying about the book?

"Have you wondered about how to calculate your teen's GPA, how to assign credits, or how to create a transcript?  It's all in there! The included downloads are wonderful resources as well.  Thank you, Betsy, for writing this amazing book.  Once again, you've set my mind at ease!"

Kelly Maddick, President of WA's Homeschool Support Association

"As a homeschool advisor, I can attest that the information is spot on.  Also the book is chock full of resources with links and lots of helpful forms."

......Vicki Tillman, college counselor @ 7 Sisters Homeschool

Don't forget your free download....

I invite you to Click here.  

 Review by Ticia Messing at Adventures of Mommydom

Thanks for stopping by!  

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, high school, college, special needs/2e and wrote - Homeschooling High School with College in Mind.   She offers free homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting,  and has had her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

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Helping Your Little Ones with Friendship

Do you have kids who struggles with making friends?  Are they shy or just have trouble reaching out sometimes?  Or do you have a child who is on the spectrum, who struggles with making eye contact with others?

Have you ever thought about using a coloring book approach to help them?  

I recently found a series of delightful coloring/story books called Donnie Learns.  One of the books Donnie Learns How to Make Friends, shows kids how to make friends through a sweet creative story.  

Each book pairs gentle, sweet stories about friendship and 6 more character traits like gratitude, with a coloring activity on each page.  

The seven books in the Donnie Learns series speak especially well to kids who are on the spectrum.   The author wrote the books for his nephew who had Aspergers.  They are great for typical kids as well, especially shy ones.

My favorite book in the series is the one I mentioned above -Donnie Learns How to Make Friends.  It is a story about making new friends after a move to a new home, starting with how the boy befriends a deer in his own backyard.

It encourages using eye contact, in a sweet way, first through the deer, whom he watches from his window.  

What a wonderful way to encourage a child who struggle with making friends, or making eye contact with others!  They are also great for when you want an independent coloring activity for your young ones, while you are working with your older kids. 

There are six more coloring/story books in this series, each with a different creative story, all with the same kind and respectful tone.  Click here to read lots more and my review. 

Would you like to look inside one of these books?  Below are links to all of the books in this series, each focusing on a different character trait, like gratitude, responsibility  and more.  

Note - This post includes affiliate links to products that we love and have used or would use in our  own homeschool. Please see my disclosure policy.

Just for fun, here's some of my favorite pictures of homeschooling my 2e daughter when she was little:

Homeschooling with our cat....

And riding her bike that she received for graduating from our Kindergarten at home.  What's happening at your house this winter? You may be making memories without even realizing it!  Please share one or two in the comments.  I love reading them!

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now rising college senior, whom she homeschooled from preK through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, high school & college and wrote - Homeschooling High School with College in Mind.   She offers free homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting,  and has had articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

Want to stay in touch?

Subscribe, Pinterest, G+, Facebook 

This post was shared on my favorite linkups here.
Copyright, 2017, All Rights Reserved

Character Education FUN for Young Ones

Summary:  More than 5 easy to do character education activities for your homeschooled kids.  I may share products that we used in our homeschool or others that we found and love in my blog.  Please see my disclosure policy.

Are you looking for easy to plan, helpful ways to teach character development to your kids?  

Today, I'd like to share some favorites of mine for just that, using simple activities, and yes, even coloring books to reach concepts like gratitude, responsibility, how to make friendships, and more.  

Each of these posts gathered from my blogging friends, are geared towards young learners, say from preschool to the primary grades.

I love this article by Raising the Extraordinary, about using everyday life events to teach good character.

Teaching Character By Example

"The content of our children's character is what will shape their future.  So I ask.....click on the title to read more"  from Raising the Extraordinary.

Secondly, Year Round Homeschooling shares how to teach character development through homeschooling...

Building Character Through Homeschooling

"The most important part of our homeschooling journey is to build character.  It is my responsibility to......"click the title to read more from Year Round Homeschooling.

Next, how about doing it through movies?  

Year Round Homeschooling has also collected 100 Movies That Build Character, for you to browse.

My fourth resource is a very simple one....making a thank you jar...

Photo from http://teachbesideme.com/

Family Thankful Jar Craft

Tips for teaching gratitude and thankfulness, by Teach Beside Me.

Or would your kids like to make a thank you tree?  What's that?

The Thankful Tree

A fun, easy to do gratitude activity, from Motherhood on a Dime.  Click on the title for more info.

Finally, I just found a new way to teach character development to your young learners. 

Do your kids like to color?  

How about teaching character education, through coloring books?

The dad of a child on the Spectrum wrote a series of delightful books that tell storeis about character education.

And they are also coloring books.  The series is called Donnie Learns.

It  includes all the books in this photo above.  It is a creative series of coloring books that tell sweet and gentle stories about good character, such as gratitude, responsibility, and friendship.

 The Donnie Learns series includes the following books:

1. Donnie Learns How to Make Friends
2. Donnie Learns How to Be Grateful
3. Donnie Learns Self Love (That he is loved)
4. Donnie Learns How to Do What He Says
5. Donnie Learns The Value Of Time
6. Donnie Learns to Value of Earning
7. Donnie Learns to Take Responsibility for His Action

Each book focuses on one character trait, told through delightful stories that can be easily read by young readers around the first grade reading level.

.
Below are all the books in the series, Donnie Learns.

I hope this little list gives you some good ideas for helping your young ones grow in this very important area.  

What would you add to this short list of resources?  

Please share in the comments, as I am thankful for each one. They are also perfect for read alouds....(click here to read more of my review of them.)

What memories are you making this season, with your kids?   You may be making them without even realizing it!

Are you homeschooling a high schooler this year? All the details that you need to plan your high school at home are here.

Homeschooling High School with College in Mind - 2nd edition, 
Amazon 

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, highschool, 
college, gifted/2e and wrote -Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition,   She offers homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting,  and has had some of her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

Want to stay in touch?

Subscribe, Pinterest, Facebook 

No spam ever.  
Just encouragement for your homeschool in your inbox. 



Copyright 2022 @ BJ's Homeschool
All Rights Reserved

This post was shared on my favorite linkups here.
Copyright, 2017, All Rights Reserved

Best Amazon Finds for Hands-On Learning

Summary -  A collection of hands-on activities from Amazon, for crafts, science and more. This post includes affiliate links to products that we love and have used or would use in our homeschool. #handsonlearning #homeschoolelementary #giftsforkids.  I use affiliate links to products that we used or would use in our homeschool. Please see my disclosure policy.

It's curriculum search time and I always started back to our homeschooling routine with a fun hands-on learning project.  Each year, when my daughter was young, we spent at least one day a week working on a hands on project that she chose for herself.

My 2e daughter learned so much from doing hands-on projects in our homeschool, especially during the fall and the cold winter months, when it was too chilly to play outside. It was nice and cozy inside when my daughter had a fun project to do.

And she loved doing these projects!  At the same time, doing hands-on learning taught her so much, and with her ADHD tendencies, we saw improved attention span, concentration, attention to task, and more.  And doing these activities or kits together made wonderful memories, too.

Amazon has tons of ideas for fun, hands-on learning that is educational, too. Here are some of my favorites for you, including creative arts and crafts, fabric arts, my favorite science kits, and even some construction kits for making things with wood.

Let's start with arts and crafts, which are so great for developing small muscle skills for handwriting, and more.

ARTS AND CRAFTS KITS

Arts and Crafts were always big in our homeschool.  My daughter learned to hand sew early on, and loved making small sewing projects.  We also enjoyed spinning art, origami, and crafting with clay. And anything project oriented from American Girl.  Here's some creative kits for each of these activities that I just mentioned.





HAND ARTS  - KNITTING & WEAVING

Have you ever thought about teaching your kids how to knit or weave, using very simple projects? Oak Meadow Homeschool curriculum got us started with some knitting and weaving.  These projects were so fun to do together and also helped my daughter with her attention issues and concentration skills.

Each year, in the elementary years, we spent every Thursday morning working on a hand arts projects, using VERY small, VERY easy projects.  My daughter made this quilted pillow above.

Now let's look at some wood and construction kits....

CONSTRUCTION KITS

And finally, I'd like to share some wonderful wooden construction kits that I found.   At our house, my daughter, when she was little, started out making things out of cardboard and tape, and here's one that she made of the rides that she took at our state fair.  Then she got into making things with wood.....

Building with wood, what a great way to play and learn on a winter's day!  Making things with kits like these below, improved my child's direction following skills, attention to task, organizational skills and more.  And then, there was the pride of creating something by hand, and a job well done!

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT - Through coloring books?

These books are written in story form, to teach character education for young learners, through coloring books.

Would you like to teach your kids about gratitude?  Taking responsibility for their actions?  How to be a good friend and to make friends? How to do what he says? These and more are taught in the series called "Donnie Learns".

These books tell simple and interesting stories that teaches a positive character trait.  The author even had the cover by blank, so as to encourage the kids to color it and all the pages of their books.

Here are a few for you to browse, if you like.  Here is a link to my review - Character Education Coloring Books




I hope that this gives you some helpful ideas for your own homeschool. What would you add to this list?  If you share your ideas below, I am sure that other families would be interested in them. I wish you a wonderful homeschool year, with lots of hands-on learning fun with your kiddo.

This post is linked to lots of other posts from veteran homeschool bloggers of the iHomeschool Network. Click here to connect with all of them!

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, highschool, 
college, gifted/2e and wrote -Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition,   She offers homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting,  and has had some of her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

Want to stay in touch?

Subscribe, Pinterest, Facebook 

No spam ever.  
Just encouragement for your homeschool 
in your inbox.

Copyright, 2017
Revised 2020
All Rights Reserved