I had been very happy with the decisions I made regarding high school. I wanted a program that was accredited by one of the 6 major regional accrediting agencies. I selected Keystone High school after carefully comparing many programs (although I may have missed some) There were ones I like but dismissed due to cost or lack of accredidation by a major agency. First, I found out that in Texas, most of the public schools are not even accredited by nationally recognized agencies. So I started to wonder if my criteria was really that valid. THEN, I found out that Keystone is not accredited by one of the 6 major regional accrediting agencies. They have a nice list of colleges their students have gotten in to so I do not know if this really matters. But it really is a requirement we set down. Now I am trying to figure out what to do. I liked Keystone and had really adjusted to the plan to use it. I did find out Seton Homeschool is accredited by a nationally recognized agency. We are not Catholic though and did not really want religion required as part of the actual homeschool program that I have to pay for. Any helpful suggestions or words of wisedom? Part of me thinks I should completely start over looking, another part thinks maybe I should just ignore it and do Keystone anyway.
Part of me says that if the only concern you have with it is the accredidation, then go with what you like. But I haven't dealt with worrying about high school. I have no idea how important accredidation is for college entrance.
Accredidation is not important for getting in to college really. Where it comes to play is more if something happens to you and they have to return to school in high school, our local high schools will not accept credits from any homeschoolers if they can get away with it. They use the "unaccredited" card as much as humanly possible. Also, if your child does not go to college or complete college, they may be given a hard time if attempting to show that they did graduate from high school. Technically, no place really gets away with denying people things based on lack of high school diploma, but there have been many stories through the years of issues here. I would like to believe my child will graduate college, but, really, do we really know what path our children will most definitely take and have the chance for when the time comes? Lastly, my own relatives like to make huge issues about homeschooling. They make excuses to not recognize anything in my family, from my marriage to birthdays and on. I want to be able to say my children graduated high school without snickers from them that they did not. I already get snickers all the time that I am not really married. I got married by JP. My parents were opposed to a wedding anyway saying weddings were pompous and self centered and show offish and so on. (of course, it did not keep them from throwing huge wedding for my baby sister). Also, I do hear from them sometimes that my daughter is not really in school and what she is learning does not really count. I don't hear this from my parents so much anymore as I do further away relatives.
Why is having an accredited program so important? (Not slamming you, actually curious, because....) In Texas, Homeschoolers ARE Private Schools, and therefore the colleges cannot discriminate against your homeschool diploma. You don't need to worry about having an accredited diploma to avoid the stigma of GED. Just issue a homeschool diploma under whatever name you want to call your school. Even with an "Acredited" high school all of my inlaws (I have no brothers or sisters) had to take "Placements tests" to get into JUNIOR college... So I don't understand the need for the accreditation part.
Wow, you must be really nice. All of the things that would pop into my head - like, wow, so by your definition learning only occurs when it is government sanctioned so I guess you haven't learned a single thing since you got out of college? Or snide remarks about public school "learning". :twisted: Sorry, I have nothing to help the OP! But I couldn't resist the inlaws comment...
I do point out to them that half the teachers are not certified at all and the other half are generally not certified in what they are teaching, and most the schools are not accredited around here...not even the public schools. So what makes them so valid compared to me? The accredidation was a personal choice thing. Now I am thinking I might just still do Keystone and just say not to worry about it. I was attracted to their online classes and the openness that we could take choice classes elsewhere and transfer them in for credit and their wide variety of AP courses. Because of my wide range of ages with my children, it is getting harder and harder to keep up for me. I know I don't NEED it, and there is no legal reason for us to have it, it is just something we wanted, that is all.
I understand. When it comes to your relatives, you should stop arguing and hand them some bean dip!! Read this..... http://www.homeschoolspot.com/showthread.php?t=5712
I'm doing sonlight science right now with my ds and one of the books is evolution based - not my belief. We just read it discuss why we don't believe it and move on. I like the rest of the material so I continue with it. If you like everything else about it I would try it. Highschool years are a little harder because you don't have alot of time to be taking all the classes that you either need or want them to have.
A great way to get some accredited classes in high school is to do dual-credit courses through a local college during the last two years. Those credits are even better than AP credit, and the experience is a great way to prepare your child for the learning environment of a college. Remember, if God wanted your parents to raise your children, they would be your brothers and sisters instead.
I'm with Jen give them some bean dip! I used to feel the need to justify myself to my family and my husbands family...now I just say this is what we've chosen for our children and that's that! I even do it with my neighbor sometimes when she feels the need to tell me that what I am doing isn't right....I just thank her for the information and change the subject. Then I do it my way anyhow. They are MY children and I will decide what is best for them and as long as I feel that the Lord is guiding my choices I know I've made the right one!
Keystone National High School states on their website that they are regionally accredited. So, I did a little research and have confirmed that they are indeed regionally accredited. Keystone is accredited by Northwest Association of Accredited Schools, which is formerly known as The Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges (Dec, 1974) and The Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges and Universities (Dec, 2001) . According to the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools website, in the History of NAAS section, the name change was effective as of February 1, 2004. You can check this information out by typing in northwestaccreditation then dot org/history then dot html However,if you are from Texas, you are considered a non accredited private school even if your children are enrolled in an accredited homeschool program. Also, Texas law has left it up to each "Independent School District" to decide on whether to accept credit from non accredited private schools/Homeschools, and to decide whether testing should be administered. Some employers may accept regionally accredited diplomas over non accredited diplomas. Other than that, it does not matter.
