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Homeschooling Teenagers: How it Works

© Terrie Lynn Bittner

"I can see homeschooling little ones, I guess, but I'd never try homeschooling teenagers." "What do you do about the hard subjects?" "How do you make them work?" "What about college?" "What about the prom...friends...boys...etc."

These are questions and comments I often hear when people learn that my three teens are homeschooled. In this article, I'll try to answer some of the common questions asked about homeschooling teenagers. In the next article, I'll discuss whether or not it's too late to start homeschooling if your children are teens.

First some background. I began homeschooling my oldest daughter, Colleen, when she was in the fifth grade. She went back to public school for part of sixth grade and three weeks of seventh grade before becoming fed up with public schools and returning home. When she returned home, her two younger siblings, then in second and third grades, decided to join her. Colleen again went back for one semester of ninth grade, returning home because she went to a five story school with no elevator, and she had developed a knee problem that prevented her from climbing stairs. Since then, she and her sister have chosen to homeschool while taking one or two classes at the public school. Her brother did part-timing once and decided he wanted nothing to do with public schools. He's a confirmed homeschooler.

There are many different methods of homeschooling. I won't try to cover them all here, except to say that there are three basic kinds. Unschooling is child-directed learning. Structured resembles traditional public school. Eclectic combines both methods, and that's what I do most of the time, although I've done both of the other methods here and there. For more information on homeschooling in general, I'd recommend checking out our two Suite101.com columns on homeschooling. Joan Archer writes a very informative column on general homeschooling. Teri Brown writes specifically about unschooling.

So what is different about homeschooling teenagers? First, when the children were young, I was much more involved in their day-to-day education. I planned detailed lessons, with fun projects, formal lessons, activities and so on. For the most part, I chose their classes, although I always allowed them to select the science topics and the books we read. The two younger children, being so close in age, did all their work, except for math, together, so each chose half the topics. I planned the lessons, however.

As the children got older, I gradually turned more and more of the responsibility over to them. Together, we discussed what they would learn. I kept control of the history curriculum, because it's my favorite subject, and the math was progressive. They helped to select their other classes. As they reached junior high school, I began consulting them about the teaching methods to use. I planned fewer lessons, and helped them learn to study in a way more typical of college students. My goal is to create self-directed, life-long learners. How often have you heard someone say, "Oh, I've always wanted to study history, but I can't afford to go to college right now?" Whenever my children hear that, they are puzzled. Who needs a teacher? The library is full of books on anything you could ever want to learn. Education doesn't have to cost a thing. We use fewer textbooks now, because I want them to learn to access real-world resources. They might forget what year the Civil War started, but if they know how to find the date somewhere, it won't matter. When they need the knowledge, it will be there, and they will know where to find it. They can use a library, research on the Internet, find a person at church who knows the material...they have a long list of resources for anything they want to know. They learn now by reading good material and discussing it with me or with any other interested person. They all like to write and they periodically come up with projects they want to do. Right now, they are choosing topics for term papers. My thirteen-year-old daughter wants to write on the Dead Sea Scrolls, because they are coming to Chicago and she thinks she will enjoy the exhibit better if she knows something about them. She plans to attend a lecture on the subject next week to get an introduction. We aren't studying ancient history, but it doesn't matter. The purpose is to learn how to use the writing of a term paper to investigate an interesting topic.