"What does a homeschool diploma mean?"
The diploma is a convenient, physical representation of the
fact that the work your student has done meets your standards
for graduation. If you were asked to PROVE that fact, you
would show the records you have kept of their work, in other
words, their transcript. We recommend that you prepare a transcript
for your student, regardless of whether you feel that they
may need it. It is the kind of thing that is very difficult
to do down the road a few years, and the transcript is the
"meat" that "backs up" the diploma you
issue.
"What
is accreditation and to whom does it matter?"
It is true that your home school -- and therefore your diploma
-- is not accredited. What is accreditation? Accrediting
agencies -- and there are many different ones -- set
minimum standards that schools must uphold to receive and
maintain accreditation. This allows them to guarantee that
a credit issued by one school in the group will be equivalent
to and accepted by other schools in the same group. The process
of accreditation takes years to complete. It surprised me
to learn from Inge Cannon of Education Plus that
many public high schools are not accredited.
The fact that your homeschool does not have accreditation
is not a negative thing. The standards you have set
for educating your child are not the same as those of any
other school, and you have no reason to try to prove that
they are.
"Will
the diploma I issue be accepted anywhere?"
Job applications usually have a box to check if the applicant
has a high school diploma, and a line on which to write the
name of the school. If your student has done the work, there
is no reason that they should not be able to say "YES,"
and if you have supervised their education, you would be doing
them a disservice if you did NOT issue them a diploma. Of
course, there is no guarantee that their diploma will be accepted
by everyone -- no doubt you understood that when you made
the decision to home school through the high school years.
There are still situations where someone will say "Not
good enough!" Be sure that you know that laws of your
state and understand your legal position in such a situation.
It may help to be able to point to a similar situation elsewhere
where a homeschool diploma was "good enough,"
or you may decide to offer to provide a copy of the transcript,
or submit to a test that they may require.
For college-bound students, a home school diploma is usually
not an issue, because the student's transcripts and test scores
tell admissions officers a great deal about the quality of
their education. In fact, the presence of a correspondence
school diploma in the case of a home schooled student
may actually be a detractor if it is viewed as the sum
total of the student's education. Transcripts, portfolios,
student essays, and recommendations which demonstrate qualities
such as creativity, leadership, initiative or other unique,
homeschool-strengthened traits prove the worth of the homeschool
diploma, especially if test scores back up the student's abilities
in "measurable" academic areas.
"Should
I have my student take the GED exam?"
See our page about the GED.
For
more information:
A. Links on issuing a homeschool
diploma:
1. One of the best articles I have read on the subject of
granting a diploma is by Cafi Cohen, author of several excellent
books about homeschooling teens. This article
comes from the Home Education Magazine website:
How
Do We Know When We're Done?
2. Be sure to read this very thoughtful article by Barb Shelton,
which is excerpted from her book, Senior High: A Home-Designed
Form+U+la. The article is at her website, The Homeschool
Oasis:
The
Diploma Quest(ion)
3.David and Laurie Callihan are the authors of an excellent
book titled The Guidance Manual for the Christian Home
School. Here are two links to information from them.
The first is an informative interview with David and Laurie
from the Homeschool Zone web site, and the second is
an article from the Homeschool page at Crosswalk.com.
Providing
a Diploma
High
School: The Basics
