Read on for more information regarding answers to frequently asked questions about homeschooling your high school aged child.
What courses must my child take to graduate from high school?
- Requirements to graduate from PUBLIC high school. Private high schools are required to offer certain courses, but are not obligated to follow public high school graduation guidelines.
- State by State High School Graduation Requirements. This is a list for comparison purposes of guidelines and rules for graduation from public high schools around the country.
- California Department of Education Frequently Asked Questions: High School Graduates
- University of California freshman admission requirements (a-g requirements)
Can homeschoolers take Advanced Placement (AP) courses and tests?
Can my child earn a diploma?
What is the CHSPE?
Can homeschoolers take the SAT?
Can we teach Driver's Ed at home?
Once the classroom portion of the instruction is completed, the students must take the written test at the DMV to obtain a permit. You must be 15 ½ years old to obtain a learner’s permit.
Once you hold a permit, the first six hours of driving must be completed with a certified instructor. After the first six hours, the student can complete their driving practice with any licensed driver over 25. After 50 hours of driving time is logged, and the student is 16 years old, they may take the behind the wheel portion of the driving test at the DMV to earn a license. Details on how the permit and licensing process works for students is available on the DMV Site.
Home-based schools may register with the DMV to offer instruction or they may enroll their students in driver training schools. If your school would like to offer training from home, the school must register with the DMV. In 2010, the Department of Motor Vehicles took steps to formalize the process for providing driver training from home. Schools registered through a PSA may request to teach Driver’s Ed/Training at home by writing to the DMV’s Driver Education Unit in Sacramento to make this request. This is a sample letter request: DMV Driver Ed Request. Also, this document gives a list of the forms and instructions for the application process that a school uses to teach at home: Application Instructions – Driver Ed. Have more questions or concerns, contact CHN’s Legal Team.
Can my child enroll in a single course or participate in band or sports at our local public high school?
For sports, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) makes the rules for CIF affiliated schools, which includes all public schools. They have stated that homeschoolers are eligible to play only if they are enrolled in a public independent study program. If you intend to participate in sports at the college level, read the frequently asked questions section of the NCAA web page, and remember that there is a limit on the number of semesters a college student can compete, and community college sports do count towards that limit.
Can my child take community college classes while still enrolled in high school?
Can a homeschooler go directly from high school to college?
- College Board Planning Page: resources to help your high school student prepare for college
- Federal Student Aid Application Site
- California Student Aid Commission and CALGRANT Site
- Scholarship Search
- A List Of Colleges Known To Admit Homeschoolers
Can we participate in a graduation ceremony and/or a prom?
How can my child get a work permit?
- Entertainment Work Permit
Issued for work in the entertainment industry only by the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DSLE). Information on this work permit is available on the DSLE website. A single form must be filled out and signed by the parent and by the school principal or administrator. The form is available online here. Once completed, the form should be stamped with a school stamp and mailed to your nearest DSLE office. A list of offices is available on the website. Urgently needed permits may be obtained by walk-in at select offices listed on the website. - Work Permit
As a result of the passage of AB 66, a new law regarding work permits went into effect on January 1, 2010. Click here to find answers to some frequently asked questions. You can find answers to more frequently asked questions direct from the California Department of Education on the CDE website.
What is a transcript, and how do we get one?
A home-based private school is not required to issue credit units. If you do want to list credits, credit for courses in high school is often awarded using the Carnegie Unit. One Carnegie Unit is usually defined as 120-190 hours of instruction time over the course of a year. One typical year long course would earn the student one credit. A semester long course would earn ½ credit. A student at a school using Carnegie Units and requiring a total of 24 courses for graduation would need a minimum of 24 credits listed on their transcript. One semester of a community college class is usually awarded a full year credit on a high school transcript.
Not all schools issue letter grades, and not all transcripts list grades. If you do not want to issue grades, you may place a note on your transcript explaining that letter grades are subjective, so credit for each course is awarded when the material has been completed to the school’s satisfaction. If you wish to assign letter grades, the College Board has a white paper that may provide some helpful information. If you assign grades, you may want to list a Grade Point Average (GPA) on your transcript. For a standard A-F grade assignment, a GPA is typically calculated by:
- Convert your grade for the course to points: A equals 4 points, B equals 3 points, C equals 2 points, and D equals 1 point.
- Multiply those points by the number of credits the class was worth.
- Add up all the points from all your classes.
- Divide that number by the total number of credits you took.