Alot of states offer free virtual academies through k12.com. You don’t have to pay for the curriculum and they send you a computer and all-in-one printer. You fax or email your work back to your teachers. In high school, almost all of the work is done online. You won’t have a problem getting into college just because you choose to homeschool. From what I understand, colleges actually like the independence and work ethic that most home-schooled students have. They will be much more interested in your SAT scores. Go to the site (www.k12.com) and see if they have a virtual academy in your state. Best of luck.

Homeschool curriculum shopping is a lot like shopping for a car. The prices run the gamut from ‘the steal of a deal’ through to the fully-loaded SUV.

On the fully-loaded SUV side of things you can have an online or live teacher in an accredited institution taking the full responsibility for instruction, accountability that the student gets the work done, and grading. In other words the parent’s part of homeschooling is limited to writing the check. These programs can be up to $2,000 a year.

On the ‘steal of a deal’ side of things you will need your own or your parent’s ‘elbow grease’, some savy at buying used materials, skills with the internet at finding free resources, and connections to homeschool buying/sharing co-ops. Much of what is in curriculums can be found on the interent with some research to be sure your scope and sequence is complete. We have made some of our own curriculum: art, writing, history, literature, unit studies. Homemade curriculum, though time consuming because it needs to be well reserached nd designed, can save quite a bit of money.

The parent does the grading or if the student can be trusted with handling the responsibility the student will grade their own work. Buy used and you can turn around at the end of use and sell it for about what you bought it for. That will finance your next grade level. You can homeschool like this for as little as $50 a year – most of which is shipping.

In between these two extremes are a wide array of curriculum. There are DVD, satelite, online, computer, and textbook curriculum available for about any subject you will want to take.

In our homeschool of 15 years with 4 children, we probably average about $200/yr in total (that is total, not per child). I am of the elbow-grease variety.

I suggest begining with a homeschool online store such as Lifetime Books and Gifts. This will let you see most of what is available. In addition to this site, you will want to look at homeschool publishers such as Abeka, Bob Jones, and Calvert. As you see curriculum you like jot it down including what material is necessary and edition numbers. Compare the new prices to used prices that you will find on Amazon.com, homeschool forums, and E-Bay. Decide what you feel you just have to have new and what you can be happy with used. Be sure to be comparing apples to apples. Used currciculum may be missing components that are included in the new prices: workbooks might not be included used, answer keys may be separate, it could be an older edition, etc. Be an informed shopper.

Here are some curriculum that we have used and like:

Saxon Math

Apologia Science

Here is a link to a really busy homeschool for sale board:

http://www.vegsource.com/homeschool/fs712/index.html

Many states offer a FREE program. Many colleges prefer homeschooled children. You can get through a ton more material on your own with your parents than you would in the classroom.

I would reccomend gathering as much information as you can before presenting the idea. This will show your parents that you are approaching the decision rationally. Look at what programs are offered in your state, check out cirriculm options, and present them to your parents.

My son graduated an on line charter school with a 3.5 and now attends the University Of Dayton with scholarships. On line charter school are accredited and they give you the same diploma that any public or private school would. They will help you with making sure all your state required tests are done (proficiencies etc )

Depending on where you live they have some all over. This is the one we currently are using, and it is great !

http://www2.k12.com/getk12/index.html

It is free, they will provide you with the things you need, a computer, printer, supplies, books and teachers are there to help you as well. If you need anything else please email me

Depending on the method you use and what the state may require the costs go from as little as $200 a year to as much as $1,000 a year.

Both my sister and my sister in law were home schooled thru high school. They did a correspondence school that way there is proof that they did the work… but they got to do it at their own pace. The cost depends on how many classes you take. In my opinion, it was very reasonable. They both went thru American School of Correspondence.

my son goes to IQ Academy online in wisconsin

go2iq.com