Bears' Guide to Earning a High School Diploma Nontraditionally

Hi folks,

As mentioned elsewhere a few days ago, I am writing a second book for Ten Speed Press called "Bears' Guide to Earning a High School Diploma Nontraditionally" due out this fall. This will deal with a number of nontraditional alternatives including online high schools, correspondence schools, homeschooling, G.E.D. tests, state high school proficiency tests, charter schools, and so on.

Now to the reason for my writing. This group always has a million and one resources for any topic. So, I'd appreciate links and/or citations and/or anything that you think might be relevant to this book.

You can post here or e-mail me at [email protected]

Thanks!


Tom Nixon
----
Co-author, Bears' Guide to the Best Education Degrees by Distance Learning

 

Tom,

You aren't asking the group to do your research for you, are you? Only if we get a slice of the profit.

Seriously, it sounds like a valuable addition to the BG collection. Best wishes in your writing.

Russell

 

Hello, Good luck with your progect. I believe TESC has some relationship with homeschoolers but can't find the reference. I know Burlington County College lets high school age children into classes. I hope this gives you some fresh ideas. Hille

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I just looked at Aims Community College for a distance learning idea and saw they offer high school and college credit for classes taken through their school. Hope I'm not the annoying poster of the day. Hille

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I've always preferred to have others do my research for me! <grin>

Actually, I've already done quite a bit, but this group has this neverending capacity to come up with 47 places that I didn't check.


Tom Nixon

 

If you are looking for examples of unique homeschooling programs, I've been teaching in what is an alternative public school in the Bethel District in Eugene, Oregon. It is billed as a resource center for homeschooling families, funded at about 80% of what traditional public schools are funded. I wear two hats there--as an hourly instructor of high school lit and writing classes, and as an employee of the local community college which has linked up with the school to provide an accredited high school diploma program for students desiring same. This is a first of a kind in Oregon, modeled after a program in Washington state. I'm not up on all the founding info., but if you are interested and need such a reference, e-mail me (sisu4@aol) and I can give you names and e-mails of the people who put this program together about six years ago. The school started out with 150 kids and we now serve over 600. It's been hugely successful--and has become very popular with local home-schooling families.

Anyway, I can't wait for your book to come out so we can put it in our school library!
pmn

 

Try Texas Tech University in Lubbock, K-12 and beyond.

 

Couple of things, CA Community colleges and probably all others allow HS students to enroll with principals permission. I actually earned double credits this way and finished HS early be using Community college credits for HS credits too. Im not sure about other states, but you should do some research on CA Continuation High Schools, kids go to them for various reasons, however they are very liberal about giving HS credits for tasks and grant credits by counted school hrs. I went to a continuation HS and I earned HS credits in all kinds of non-traditional ways, painting classtrooms, volunteering at an elementary school, even grading papers.

Hope this helps

 

See also Independant Studies at Luisiana State University:

http://www.is.lsu.edu/highschool/

Here are some homeschooling web sites that may come in handy:

http://www.vegsource.com/homeschool/
http://www.homeschoolchristian.com/

And for a story about a man who took a really nontraditional route in getting his high school diploma, see this article. It is about a Texas World War II vet who took advantage of a peculiar state law which gives veterans a chance to get their HS diplomas even though they never finished school (the ultimate in life- experience diplomas.) Perhaps other states have similar laws as well.

http://www.texaswest.com/archive/01/december/28/2.html

Tracy <><

 

Yes, I am definitely interested. I'll send you an e-mail. As to the book, thank you. I've received quite a bit of interest already. It's surprising that there isn't much competition for this book.


Tom Nixon

 

I have a sneaking suspicion that this is going to be a very successful book; if I had a nickel for every time a homeschooler or prospective homeschooling parent told me "Gee, I wish a book like [X] existed," where [X] is any one of the several planned features of your book...


Cheers,

 

Not much secular competition on the homeschooling angle ...

Best of luck to you, Tom.

Pete

 

Thanks, Bob! Being from California myself, I'm definitely aware of this. It is, I've discovered, state-dependent (some states allow such things and others don't), but a good way to speed up the process.



Tom Nixon

 

Good resources, Tracy. I'd missed the homeschooling ones. Thanks!

As to the Vet story. I am hoping to get permission to use the entire article in the book. If not, I'll probably track him down (or find someone with a similar story). I think it's a great story.


Tom Nixon

 

Ask and you shall receive. Exchanged e-mails with Rick Smith, the write of the story. I've received permission (making sure to credit the San Angelo Standard-Times, of course) to use the entire article. To me, it's just such a great American story.



Tom Nixon

 

Great! It has, as they say, a human interest element to it, which is often considered to be a desirable addition to the type of book you are planning. I hope it is $ucce$$full. Moreover, I hope it will be a valuable resource for many.

Tracy Gies<><

 

My wife told me about the Clonlara School Home Based Program. (We are looking for HS options for our eldest homeschooled son.) It looks like it is a really flexible program that places students and parents in control.

Portfolio assessment is an integral part of the program. This from Clonlara's web site:

"During their final semester, students desiring to graduate from Clonlara submit a portfolio of their experiences and take an exit examination consisting of an open book-type exam and an extemporaneous essay on a topic of the student's choice."


Annual tuition appears to run from about $550.00 to $1150.00. That does not include books and other educational resources.

It is also possible for homeschooling parents to create their own transcripts. This, ultimately, is probably the option that we will pursue for our children. I am told that Barb Shelton's book, Senior High: A Home-Designed Form+U+la, as well as Cafi Cohen's book, And What About College? , describe the process. One or both of them also includes sample transcripts that parents can create to document coursework completed. There is someone in our local homeschool group who kept transcripts for their homeschooled teen, which the Air Force accepted as equivalent to a high school diploma. The student did not have to take the GED.

Tracy<><


http://www.clonlara.org/homebased.htm
http://www.homeschooloasis.com/books_by_barb_shelton.htm#141
http://www.homeschoolteenscollege.net/[email protected]

 

Thanks, Tracy. I had come across Clonlara from other sources, but I will definitely be picking up both of those books to read in my spare time. The Clonlara program looked quite good. In particular, it seems quite a nice price for a quality education.

The more I get into this, the more programs I seem to find. It's amazing. In particular, for homeschoolers there are now so many option beyond Dad and Mom teaching you (which isn't a bad thing in and of itself).


Tom Nixon