HOD for High School IS Enough!

[Tiffini]

I want to share our personal story with you ladies as I know that some of you wonder if HOD is enough for high school - especially those of you with younger ones and who are trying to map out a long-term plan.

My oldest will graduate in May. We are in the process of praying over her future plans. Right now, we really don't know what she will do, but we know God knows. In the meantime, she has applied to two private Christian colleges in our state that we think highly of. Her SAT scores were just slightly short of qualifying for the BIG scholarships. And, for us, going into huge debt over college is not an option, so her only opportunity to attend one of these schools is with a large scholarship.

The first school accepted her and told us what her academic scholarship would be based on her GPA and test scores. But she was not invited to the scholarship competition. I put together a package of her work over her high school years and sent it off with a letter asking that they consider her to compete. The package included her transcript, course descriptions, reading lists (a whole page for each year thanks to HOD!), samples of her writing, lists of her extracurricular, volunteer, and paid work, a couple of outside documentation pieces, and photos of her artwork. Last week, she got an embossed invitation in the mail to compete in the competition!

The second college called us personally and thanked us for the package we sent, mentioning specifically how much they liked the reading lists. They offered her their highest academic scholarship, but did not mention an invitation to their competition. Just a few days ago, she got an invitation to their scholarship competition as well!

I say this to encourage all of you! We really don't even know if our daughter is going to go off to college next year at this point. She may stay local, she may serve in another way for a year - we just don't know. We followed HOD completely from her 5th grade on. We did not add in any AP classes or online college courses or community college classes or CLEP or anything like that. I always was concerned about that. But the work she did with HOD was impressive enough to get her invited to these competitions! That says so much for the quality of the education that Carrie has designed for us. Even without test scores reaching the "magic number", the work speaks for itself.

So, yes, I would emphatically say without a doubt: "HOD FOR HIGH SCHOOL IS MORE THAN ENOUGH!"

Merry Christmas to my HOD family!!

[lmercon]

Thanks for sharing! Very encouraging!

[LynnH]

Wow Tiffini that is awesome news! She should be so proud of the work she has done. It is a great testimony to her hard work, your work as her teacher and to HOD.

[Nealewill]

Thank you so much for writing this review. Where I live, there are some excellent public school that people can send their kids too. While they do not include the Lord in them, there are many teachers who are Christians and many of the school prepare kids so well that most get college scholarships. The high school that I went to and had originally intended my kids to go to is one of the top high schools in the nation. When I actually made the decision to homeschool my kids, I then viewed all curriculum and educational activities through the standard that those school set. When I found HOD, I knew that they easily met and exceeded the educational requirements of those schools.

What I struggled with a year ago and then this year was the decision of whether or not to combine my two younger kids. When I started HOD 2 years ago, I combine my two youngest. It was fantastic! Then last year I separated them because I wanted my son to complete all of the guides. That year was fantastic too! But then this year, I started the year separate and found that because I work and because my work schedule kept getting to be busier and busier, I was completely overwhelmed! I knew that I could not continue on like this. I prayed about it and prayed about it some more. I also consulted a fellow HOD user as well while I was trying to figure out what to do. In the end, after chatting with her, I decided to bump my son back down to Bigger to combine him with his younger sister. It is going to be a repeat for history and poetry this year. He will continue on with the Preparing science though since he was already doing it independently. Math, grammar and spelling were already at his level so no change there. And the story time books I chose this year for my dd were different from last year. So while some of the activities are repeated, there is also enough unique areas that it will still be an interesting year. Even after making the decision to combine them, a small part of me still felt like I was slighting my son's education. I was placing him in lower level than he I knew he could actually do. Well....I went online to revisit the graduation requirements from my high school and I am so happy to report that even though my son will only use up through the AH guide, he will still meet every one of their requirements! WOW!!! The only thing we will have to add in is econ and finance and that will be fairly easy to do. It lighted my heart and I now feel even better about my decision to combine my younger two kids and just run two different guides.

I especially appreciate your review as it even further confirms what I felt the Lord was leading me to do with my younger two kids. Since your dd is graduating this year, she will only be completing up through the AH guide as well. Thank you for sharing how well HOD has prepared her for college.

[Tiffini]

Thanks, Lynn! It was so valuable to both of us to take the time to put that package together and SEE all that she had accomplished in high school. It was actually emotional for both of us. In the day to day, we lose sight of the big picture sometimes, and seeing that "big picture" as we are nearing the end was really invaluable. One thing that has been hard for her is that no one ever sees all of her hard work (a big paper, notebooking pages, etc.,), except for me and her dad. It has been really good for her to know that college admissions people have seen her work and found it quite acceptable! It also encouraged my two sophomore as well to keep on working hard!

Daneale, I also combined my fifth grader and my two third graders when we found HOD and we did Bigger that year. I kept them combined for several years and it worked really well with the oldest doing Extensions and Math and Grammar, etc., on her own level. I am so thankful for those years that we all worked together. We did eventually end up with my oldest doing her own year and moving ahead. Otherwise, she would have only made it through the second high school year. We prayed much over this decision and it ended up being a good one for that time. Certainly, even without the last HOD year of high school, the education has been extremely thorough and covered more than what was required in our state. We couldn't be happier with the end results and knowing what an incredible education she has gotten in high school!

[LeAnna]

That is so great to hear! We have done from LHTH through Bigger with our kids, and then took some time away. But, now I have one who will be in 8th this next fall, and high school is something I'm really thinking about. The wonderful books that HOD brings is drawing me back. I am so glad to hear from one who has already done it! Thanks for sharing!

[FiveLittlePeaches]

Tiffini,

All I can say is, WOW!!! Your daughter must be quite a gal!

I always enjoy your posts. Please keep writing these encouraging updates.

[my3sons]

WOW! I'm so proud of your your dd and you too, Tiffini! This is really something to celebrate, and I have also prayed for you and for your dd as you ponder her next step. I will soon be in your shoes, so you'll have to pray for me and for Wyatt as well! Your posts are so helpful, especially to those who are looking ahead and have a focus on a distinguished track of academics for their dc through high school. I think that your dd's work, and your dedication to teaching her, show that HOD does an excellent job of preparing dc for their future if you just follow the plan and put your heart into it. We have decided not to do dual enrollment, AP classes, etc. with our high school student. We are instead putting our all into doing HOD through high school as it is written, and we are enjoying our time together rather than stressing so much. I know it is the right decision, but I loved reading your dd's experience with scholarships, etc. I KNOW in my heart that my ds is doing so well in high school, but every once and awhile, I need to hear it from others too. Thank you so much for inspiration here! Thank your dd too, and give Riley an HOD hug from us! No matter what her next step is, she's already succeeded in my eyes.

In Christ,
Julie

[jenntracy]

Thank you soooooo much for sharing! I have wondered about that now that my son started 6th grade. He was even asking me the other day what he would do for high school. Now i feel confident that I can tell him he can do HOD all thru high school. Merry Christmas!