Many homeschooling parents begin to panic when their children reach middle school age, because, no matter what statistics say, they have no idea how they will get their homeschooler prepared for college.
I have on piece of advice here… Enroll them in college now!
By enrolling your high school (and sometimes younger) homeschooled child in community college courses, you will have no doubt at all that they can handle the work at a four year college. By having a few college courses under their belts, they will also prove to the college admissions officers their capabilities and therefore have an easier time getting accepted into the University of their choice.
There are several ways a homeschooled child can use the community college to their advantage. They are, auditing classes, taking advanced placement courses and having duel enrollment. In this article, I want to address auditing classes.
Brigham Young University describes auditing as “registering for a class without receiving credit.” A class auditor pays the same tuition as a normal student but has the freedom of not worrying about grades going on their official college record.
Auditing classes is a good way of proving to yourself that you can handle college work. It is a not pressure approach to learning, where you can go to the class, listen, and participate, and even complete the assignments and ask the teacher for a “grade”. This grade can go on the homeschool portfolio to cover the appropriate high school credit hours required. Some schools will allow you to switch from audit to full credit status within a certain amount of time.
To audit a class you need to contact the school to find out the requirements. Age and grade restriction are usually lowered for children who want to audit the class, and the professor in many cases must grant permission. Professors are generally more than happy to oblige a young person who wants to audit a class.
You can also have your child audit online courses.
Related Articles: Can You Homeschool Through College Too?
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