This is Cafi’s second appearance on the Zone (see interview 1 on College admissions & scholarships). In her latest book, Homeschooling: The Teen Years she discusses how to discover teaching methods for teens with different learning styles; how to best utilize resources and technology while on a limited budget; and how to prepare your teen for college, career and adult life.

FREE Excerpts:
In addition, she has also graciously provided several excerpts from her book including:

• Ten Reasons to Homeschool
  Through High School (pg. 38)
• Homeschooling Almost-for-free
  curriculum for teens (pg. 175)
• College at Age 13 (pg. 245-246)
• Afterschooling (pg. 273-274)
• Granting a Diploma (pg. 290-292)

Joe:
Welcome to our forum here, Cafi. I think that many veteran homeschoolers, who have been teaching at the elementary & middle school level, often get nervous about teaching high school level courses. Should they be nervous and could you outline a few steps that might help parents in this regard?

Cafi:
It's okay to be nervous.
Almost all of the 100-plus survey respondent families for Homeschooling The Teen Years doubted their ability to do a good job. They worried about concrete things like challenging academics and more nebulous areas like, "Will my teenagers hate me for making them 'different'?"

Although doubts are normal, all families homeschooling teenagers can succeed.
Parents do not need to learn chemistry or trigonometry for their teenagers to master those subjects. Compared to ten years ago, we now enjoy an embarrassment of riches such as chemistry self-instructional CD-ROM's and homeschool support group co-op classes for everything from Shakespeare to advanced math. Many homeschooled teens now simply begin community college courses or online college classes as soon as their expertise exceeds their that of their parents -- whether that happens at age 13 or 15 or 17. The inevitable concomitant of home education -- family closeness -- assures that families will succeed in the most important areas – building relationships, transmitting values, and in general creating all-around nice people and productive citizens.

• How does a parent know what should be in a transcript?
• Are there any transcript services and/or transcript generating software that you recommend?
• How does an "unschooler" create a transcript?

Cafi:
Transcripts are an attempt to report learning outcomes.
Therefore, parents can put almost any learning activity into a transcript. Our children's transcripts included everything from Aviation and Current Literature and Independent-Living Skills to more prosiac subjects such as Math and Biology. Unschoolers create transcripts just like everyone else -- by documenting learning and then deciding how to award credit. "Seat time," like schools
use, is only one of many credit-generating devices.

Of the hundreds of homeschool transcripts I have seen,
no two look alike.
There is no prescribed format parents must follow for a successful college applications. Two excellent sources of record-keeping and transcript forms are:

1. Bob Jones University Press, Greenville, SC 29614-0001, 800 845-5731
2. CLASS Lesson Planner, from The Sycamore Tree, 2179 Meyer Place, Costa Mesa,
   CA 92627, (800) 779-6750.

Joe:
Some parents use an umbrella or other third party school to generate a transcript and a diploma. Some say they are "accredited" and some are not. What should a parent look for in a potential school before they send their money? Does the "accreditation" of a school matter and which accreditations are meaningful?

Cafi:
Because colleges do not ask about accreditation of homeschooling programs, I recommend that parents consider accreditation only if their homeschooler will be returning to institutional high school. In that case, they should get the high school's promise in writing that course from school X will apply for a diploma. In all other cases, where homeschooled teens proceed directly to college, family records (transcripts and portfolios) and external documentation (test scores, letters of recommendation) dictate admissions and financial aid awards.

To check out an umbrella school, homeschooling parents should ask questions and not take the literature at face value. Here's a partial list:

• What is your program's educational philosophy?
• How long have you been in business?
• What are the backgrounds of your school's operators and the staff?
• How do you deliver formal coursework?
• Strictly by mail?
• Modem and computer?
• Video and audiocassettes?
• *How do enrollees get help? 800 number? E-mail?
• *What are your fees?
• Does this include all books, study guides, and extra materials like laboratory equipment and foreign language tapes?
• Do fees include the diploma?
• *How many students are enrolled?
• *How many students do you graduate each year?
• What are some of your alumni doing now?
• What colleges were they admitted to?

• Above all, homeschooling parents should ask for references.
  They should speak with several currently enrolled families. Umbrella schools provide invaluable services to some homeschoolers. There are so many now, and they operate so differently, that it's almost always possible to something compatible -- if you so your homework.

Joe:
How do you integrate volunteerism into a high school curriculum?

Cafi:
Integrating volunteerism into a high school curriculum is probably one of the easiest parts of homeschooling teenagers. I suggest beginning with an area your teen finds intriguing. If your son or daughter is interested in medicine, volunteer at a hospital or in a veterinary clinic. If your children love Shakespeare, see if local community drama groups need backstage help. If you have an outdoorsman on your hands, talk to local conservation and sporting groups.

Once they begin working, count their effort as part of the curriculum. Working in a library becomes language arts or computer science. Guiding tours in a museum can science or history. Our son, using his amateur radio skills, volunteered with the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS), helping to transmit messages from servicemen oversees to their families here. We called it electronics and science. Integrating volunteerism into curriculum make be looking at things backwards. Many would be better off if they simply listed all activities -- volunteer and otherwise -- and then filled in any "holes" with curriculum.

Lessons in Volunteering: Giving is Receiving
by Shay Seaborne

Joe:
How can a high school student take college level courses before they go to college and have them count towards college?

Cafi:
There's only one way to achieve this. You have to check with the eventual degree-granting college or university ahead of time. All colleges have different standards for what counts. The only way to protect yourself is to have their acceptance policy regarding the college classes your teenage homeschooler will take -- in writing.

Joe:
Can a high school home-ed student receive a scholarship? and how?

Cafi:
Homeschoolers apply to colleges and for financial aid just like everyone else. They complete applicable forms, cross their fingers, and wait. 95% of all college financial aid in the United States comes through college financial offices. The remaining 5% comes from private scholarships. All homeschoolers should ask for financial aid forms at the same time that they request college application forms. Then they need to submit everything at the earliest possible date.

Joe:
Thank you Cafi, for sharing some of your experience with us. Cafi has also graciously allowed to have a sneak preview of some parts of her latest book, "Homeschooling: The Teen Years", including such goodies as: