If you feel nervous about the idea of your teenager doing an online high school program instead of attending a brick-and-mortar institution, you’re not alone. But online high school can be an excellent choice for teenagers who learn best on their own, who need the flexibility of progressing at their own pace, or who want to hold down a job while they earn their high school diploma.
Whether you’ve chosen to supplement your high school homeschooling with individual online courses or enrolled your teen into online high school as a full-time endeavor, you have a unique opportunity to teach your teen how to learn and even adapt those techniques to the specific needs of your young learner.
A lack of confidence in your abilities as a teacher can easily sideline the desire to homeschool your high school-aged teen but there’s no need to panic. When you become a homeschooling parent, you’re not standing in as the replacement for an entire school system; you’re just adding a new element to your role as provider, protector, and guide to the young person you already know so well. And since you went to school once before yourself, this new role will likely be more doable than you think.
Doesn’t it seem like everyone is homeschooling? And if they’re not, they’re thinking about it or their kids are begging them to think about it?
There’s a reason it seems that way. The most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education estimates 1.8 million 5- to 17-year-old students were homeschooled for the 2011-2012 school year. (It’s worth nothing, the highest percentage were high schoolers.) Obviously, that’s not everyone. But it’s not an insignificant number, especially considering the number of homeschoolers in the U.S. increased by nearly 1 million between 1999 and 2011.
