What Steps Are Needed to be Ready for College from a 3/14/22 PHAA Conference:
What to start or continue in 9th grade, even from 7th grade
Begin with your end goal in mind
Start to focus on your student’s passions and completing required courses well
Enjoy a well-rounded homeschool experience (athletics, leadership, travel, varied types of study such as co-ops, interning, job-shadowing, AP or honors courses, dual enrollment, working with a mentor, attending lectures, free online courses)
Keep accurate records of objective grading, courses, extracurricular and leadership activities
Enter contests, apply for scholarships, start initiatives. All will look great on applications
Attend college summer programs, both day-long and sleep-away, in your passion-areas
Looking at your options
As a guidance counselor, the parent can help by perhaps putting together a spread sheet comparing different post-high school opportunities such as college, military, trade school, employment, entrepreneurship
Use resources such as college search engines or The College Board’s BigFuture comparison website to compare the important traits of different educational institutions
Narrow down your “safe, target, and reach” choices, visiting them while classes are in session, talking to students and perhaps people in departments of interest
Applying
Review the admissions website of the colleges that are of interest and see how they would like the student to apply, for example:-the Common App, their own application
Help your student complete the application by acting as their guidance counselor, supplying them with their transcripts, list of extracurricular and leadership activities, recommendations for those who could write them a letter of recommendation, etc., Fearless Homeschool could help with these details
Getting ready for college
Attend some classes and student activities at a community college to get the feel of the social side of college
Attend a summer sleep-away program at a college to get the feel of dorm life
Understand that you will be coming at college from a different direction than a lot of students because you’ve managed your own learning, helped to shop for the best educational delivery systems, were immersed in your family life for a lot of each day