Homeschool High School

Homeschool Co-op: How to Use College Application Essay Writing Guide

Are you teaching Homeschool Co-op? How to Use College Application Essay Writing Guide.

Homeschool Co-op: How to Use College Application Essay Writing Guide

Our local homeschool co-op has started including Guide for Writing College Application Essays in for the homeschool high schoolers. This is why:

Homeschool seniors can learn from each other and in their peer editing, create a more powerful college application essay.
Homeschool freshmen-juniors can get experience writing their college application essays. When senior year comes, the assignment doesn’t feel so intimidating.

Here are some tips for using 7Sisters’ Guide for Writing College Application Essays in your homeschool co-op.

*Plan for 2 or 3 weeks of class time

*Week 1, using the resources in the guide and a couple of Youtube videos (always screen videos ahead of time to make sure they fit your co-op’s norms)

Here’s a silly one making fun of high school seniors:

Here’s a serious one:

*Week 1 Continued, Discuss important tips for writing college application essays. Break teens into groups and have each group create a light-hearted essay “written by a favorite character from fiction or movies”. For homework, have them use their Guide to Writing College Application Essays to create their own essay.

*Week 2 Have your teens pass around their essays. Allow them to give constructive compliments and “You might want to try this…” statements. Homework: Rewrite the essays.

* Week 3 Pass around a final draft so that each student can share their progress.

There’s not ONE right way to teach using Guide to Writing College Application Essay in Co-op. Download your copy today. Share your co-op ideas with us!

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Homeschool Co-op: How to Use College Application Essay Writing Guide

3 Ways to Use 7Sisters College Application Essay Writing Guide

Here are 3 ways to use 7Sisters College Application Essay Writing Guide.

3 Ways to Use 7Sisters College Application Essay Writing Guide

Many colleges and online college application systems require a college application essay. Over the years, we at 7Sisters have read hundreds of these essays as our local homeschool advisees start their application processes.

And over the years we at 7Sisters have cringed at some of the attempts we’ve read…

The good news is that we’ve found tricks and tips that have helped the poor essays become good and the good essays become great.

Do your homeschool high schoolers need a hand-up on writing their college application essay? Here’s some easy help!

Download 7Sisters’ Guide to Writing College Application Essay and in a short, simple few days your teens can use the guide and their good skills to turn out an excellent presentation of themselves.

http://7sistershomeschool.com/products-page/writing-3/guide-writing-college-application-essay/

Click here!

The Guide to Writing a College Application Essay includes topics to that help teens understand in the why’s and how’s of the application essay, such as:

How important is the admissions essay?
What are typical college application essay prompts?
What are the must-include pieces of this process?
What are common mistakes, and how can I avoid them?

Here are 3 ways you can use the Guide to Writing a College Application Essay in your homeschool:

Make it a special *relieve the stress* summer project. Once teens get this important project finished, the rest of the application process during the fall seems so much easier. Getting it done during the summer is a BIG help to lots of high school seniors.

Make it the first official writing project of the school year. If you save it until fall, do it first thing. Get it off their plate. They can count it as one of their required writing projects!

Use it in co-op. If your homeschool co-op includes writing for the high schoolers, why not make it a co-op writing project. Even underclassmen can benefit with a practice run at a college application essay. We always say that *group suffering* makes stressful projects more fun!

Download your homeschool senior’s Guide to Writing College Application Essay today!

3 Ways to Use 7Sisters College Application Essay Writing Guide

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 68: Highschool Co-ops, Why and How to Start One

Today on The HSHSP Ep 68: Highschool Co-ops- Why and How to Start One. This post is running concurrently on UltimateRadioShow.com.

HSHSP Ep 68: Highschool Co-ops- Why and How to Start One

What’s fun and fulfilling and fine for creating credits? Co-op! Homeschool highschool co-ops are often a great resource for families with teens.

Our hosts Sabrina, Vicki and Marilyn have co-oped their homeschool highschoolers in several different formats:

Science lab co-ops
Highschool only co-ops
Electives co-op
Multi-family, multi-age big co-ops
Field trip co-ops
(and probably others we have forgotten…)

We’ve had some GREAT experiences and some experience that make GREAT stories. The ups and downs have taught us moms and our teens lots about rolling with life’s punches, social skills and supporting one another in good times and tough times.

Often co-ops classes can make up for subjects that we don’t like to teach or feel unqualified to teach.

Co-oping isn’t for everyone, but a good co-op is lots of help for homeschooling families…Plus the friendships can last for many years. We have found that our teens have made lifelong friends from their peers at homeschool co-op and a couple of the teens married in the years after highschool graduation.

That’s why we’d love for you to join Sabrina, Vicki and Marilyn on the Homeschool Highschool Podcast for Highschool Co-ops- Why and How to Start One.

Help and How-to’s for Homeschool High School Co-ops

10 Great Discussion Questions for Homeschool Literature Co-op

How to Create Filmmaking Elective in Homeschool High School Co-op

HSHSP Ep 68: Highschool Co-ops- Why and How to Start One

Homeschool Seniors: 10 Tips for College Applications

For Homeschool Seniors: 10 Tips for College Applications!

Homeschool Seniors: 10 Tips for College Applications

It’s that time of year! Homeschool seniors are thinking about college applications. And well they should!

Having helped hundreds of homeschool highschoolers get those applications in (a couple of decades as upper classmen advisor in our local homeschool community), I thought I’d share for homeschool seniors: 10 tips for college applications.

1. Write your essay now!

Guide to Writing College Application Essays from 7SistersHomeschool.com User-friendly, no busywork guide for college application essay success!

Click here for more information on this success-inspiring guide!

For students applying through Common Application, the essay prompts are available. If you write your essay in the summer, when you are not in the throws of the other application rigmarole, you’ll have more time to:

Write a thoughtful essay (7Sisters’ offers our you-can-do-it college application essay writing curriculum. It is REALLY helpful! Download it.)
Make sure you include relevant narratives and other information
Proofread it several times (leaving several days or a week between readings)
Have several other people proofread it

2. Contact your recommendation-letter writers early!

Give them at least 2 weeks (maybe more, if you can). PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE read this post on how to request a recommendation letter. I’ve written hundreds of these letters over the years and know many others who have written them. Believe me, students who request politely and properly get a better recommendation- that’s just how it goes.

3. Find out what your colleges of choice are looking for an make sure you have included relevant information on the transcript.

College websites will tell you what they are looking for in their incoming freshmen. Make sure there is no exaggeration but make sure you don’t forget to include the courses and activities that you have done that they are looking for.

4. Make sure your transcript is complete with grades through the point you apply!

You will send the school an updated transcript after the first semester and then again at graduation.

5. PDF your transcript for online applications. Have your transcript certifier use a seal to stamp your application for mailed application.

Click here for a powerful checklist!

Certifier may be mom, an umbrella/supervising school, etc. Here is a transcript checklist.

6. Take your time filling out the application!

If the question is asked on the application, it is important to the school (even if it seems goofy to you). Keep in mind your audience but answer authentically in your own voice.

7. Think carefully about which schools to apply to!

I always tell my students 3-5 is a good number (more than that may mean you haven’t done enough homework yet- go visit some colleges). Here is a post and a Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode about college search

1 school should be a “reach school”
At least 1 school should be a “safety school”
At least 1 school should be a “school you really like”
At least 1 school should be an “affordable school”

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 53: Starting College Search

Listen to this fun and helpful discussion!

8. Decide when you will apply.

Early applications get prime dorm choices and financial aid opportunities at some colleges
Regular admissions applications get more acceptances at some colleges

9. Remember: You must sell yourself.

Many times, I’ve had to convince conscientious homeschool highschoolers that it is not bragging to tell the awesome truth about themselves. Explain clearly the achievements your have made.

10. Pray.

Of course, pray first, pray all the time. A teen’s mind may plan his way but the Lord directs his paths.

Blessings on your adventures in college applications! Don’t forget to download College Application Essay Writing Guide.

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Homeschool Seniors: 10 Tips for College Applications

Financial Literacy: Homeschool Graduate Shares Why It Is SO Important

Can they apply what they learned in high school? Yes! Here is Financial Literacy: Homeschool Graduate Shares Why It Is SO Important.

Financial Literacy: Homeschool Graduate Shares Why It Is SO Important

We’re so excited to have a guest post from a homeschool graduate! Joel Hayes graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2016 with a Sports Administration major and Business minor. He is a Certified Personal Trainer and Co-Founder at the innovative fitness organization Trio Fitness – triofitlife.com.

We know that Joel is masterful in managing his finances. We asked what advice he could share with parents planning a Financial Literacy course for their homeschool high schoolers. This is what Joel said about Financial Literacy: Why it is SO important.

….

Joel Hayes used by permission http://www.triofitlife.com/

I think that financial literacy is extremely important for all young adults, and getting a good foundation in high school is the way to begin. Once you are on your own, and even in college in many cases, virtually every decision you make will have a financial consequence. If you have no idea how to handle your finances or how the world of money operates, you might run into some huge complications.

$$$

Budgeting may be one of the most important aspects of financial literacy. If you don’t know exactly how much money you’re earning compared to how much you’re spending, it’s easy to quickly accumulate debt in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Keeping a log of income and expenses and making sure the latter doesn’t overwhelm the former is a very basic way to be financially smart. This habit should ideally begin during the high school years (or earlier!).

$$$

Most people I know entering adulthood learn investment from the companies that hire them. Usually this revolves around the 401K concept. Often, a company will communicate to the employee what is actually more beneficial to the company itself, rather than to the employee. Unfortunately, the employee may blindly trust that guidance simply due to a lack knowledge. If a 401K ends up being the best option, the employee will then need to decide how the money should be invested. A background in different investment options as learned in a high school financial literacy course will jumpstart the decision making process, which could result in a retirement account that grows at a significantly faster rate.

$$$

As the use of cash and checks continues to decline, “plastic” is how most purchases are made today. A solid understanding of how credit and debit cards work is extremely important to anyone, especially young adults just getting started. Sure, it’s effortless to just swipe a card and get whatever you want, but using credit cards without understanding the “fine print” can result in spending a lot more for an item due to accumulated finance charges and/or penalties. Young adults should know not only how to avoid the hazards of credit card use but also how to choose the card which offers the best perks, including cash back!

$$$

In my opinion, one of the biggest reasons Americans carry so much debt is because few schools

teach children and teens how to be financially savvy. Knowledge in this area is definitely power! If students learn how to budget, invest, and manage their financial futures, the entire trajectory of our nation’s economy could change for the better. A solid financial literacy course in high school is one important step in that direction.

$$$

The Financial Literacy course that Joel took in high school was 7Sisters’ Financial Literacy from a Christian Perspective. Download your interactive Financial Literacy course for your teens!

Financial Literacy: Homeschool Graduate Shares Why It Is SO Important

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3 Ways to Help a Teen Think of Others More Than Selves

Here are 3 ways to help a teen think of others more than themselves.

3 Ways to Help a Teen Think of Others More Than Selves

It’s a developmental process: teens tend to think *egocentrically*. They are in the throws of puberty and brain maturation. All of the hormonal and neural changes show up as a tendency to think more of themselves and less of others.

While it is a normal part of development, we parents have the job of helping them grow THROUGH this time period and not stay IN this time period. We parents call this part of our job *character development*. 🙂

Here are 3 simple ways you can help a teen think of other more than themselves:

* Do long-term service projects. Find a cause that your teen (and/or family) can be involved with for an entire school year- try to find something that requires interacting with people or places that are not in their day-to-day lives. Spend time learning about the people or place you are serving. Use the service project as the topic for their required high school writing projects.

Here are some long-term projects our homeschool high schoolers have done:

Volunteered at an inner-city school
Volunteered at historic sites
Prepared with youth group over the year for mission trip, then served for 1-2 weeks on location
Volunteered at local hospital
Volunteered at local public school
Volunteered at church nursery and a daycare center
Volunteered at local library
Helped run a local food closet
Volunteered at local food bank

* Choose core courses and electives that help them understand others. Here are some credits our teens have earned:

Human Development
Psychology
Geography (especially cultural geography)
World Languages
World Religions
Philosophy

* Teach them to have an active prayer life that includes praying for different peoples around the world. Pray as a family and individually. We have used Operation World’s World Map and the book Pray for the World to help with this. (We’re not affiliates, we just like to book and map.)

Teens don’t need to be stuck in adolescent egocentrism. A lifestyle of service, learning and prayer will help develop their character in Christlike ways.

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3 Ways to Help a Teen Think of Others More Than Selves

4 Yearly Writing Projects to Include for Solid Language Arts

Here are 4 yearly writing projects to include for solid Language Arts credits.

4 Yearly Writing Projects to Include for Solid Language Arts Credits

Language Arts is a huge credit that must be completed each year! It includes:

Literature
Writing
Grammar
Vocabulary
Public Speaking

As homeschool high school advisor, I’ve often been asked by new homeschooling parents: What needs to be included in the writing component of the yearly Language Arts credit?

Here are the 4 yearly writing projects to include for solid high school Language Arts credits (PLUS why and how long for each):

Poetry: Give your homeschool high schoolers 5 weeks of poetry writing. If presented well with no lofty, must-be-a-Shakespeare expectations, poetry can be a game-changer in the quality of student writing. For most teens, poetry is a fun discipline rather than an art. The skills gained from learning to use words well help them to communicate and write more powerfully.

Our 7Sisters teens needed to write poetry, but we didn’t want to kill it for them. That’s why we developed (and teens have vetted for years) our 5-week poetry guides: Introductory, Intermediate, Advanced. They are FUN, no-busywork, self-directed and USEFUL guides broken down into 15-minute lessons.

Short Stories: Give your homeschool high schoolers 5 weeks of short-story writing. When story writing is presented in a success oriented, no busywork way, teens learn to use creative thought and express it well. Creativity is the root of problem solving in real life!

Our 7Sisters teens and hundreds of other local teens have vetted our story writing guides. The delightful, 15-minute daily lessons teach the writing skills they need while they gain confidence in their creativity. Short story Writing Guides in 7Sisters’ series include: Family Narrative (Introductory Short Story Writing), Tall Tales (Intermediate Short Story Writing), Myth-Fantasy (Advanced Short Story Writing).

Essays: Teens need about 10 weeks of Essay Writing. Essay writing is where the rubber meets the road for high schoolers! They learn to capture their ideas and defend them well. All teens need to be able to express their thoughts and back them up with pertinent information. That’s what essay writing is about.

7Sisters Essay Writing Guides are not-intimidating, no-busywork, self-directed guides that build teens’ confidence in their thinking and writing skills. Vetted, as usual, by homeschool high schoolers these user-friendly guides give teens short lessons but powerful communication skills at Introductory, Intermediate or Advanced levels.

Research Papers: Homeschool high schoolers need to spend 4-10 weeks on research paper writing. Although college-bound teens need the training in longer-paper writing, even non-college bound students benefit from learning critical thinking and focused-writing skills.

In college, our teens will most commonly face MLA, APA and Chicago-Style papers. Giving them experience with at least one of each over the 4 years of high school will give them great preparation. 7Sisters Research Paper Writing Guides do just that! In manageable, no-busywork, self-directed lessons, homeschool high schoolers work through the many research-paper writing skills.

When you shop at 7Sisters’ estore, you can choose to download each type of guide individually OR choose the entire year’s writing projects bundled into Introductory, Intermediate, Advanced High School Writing Guides. Coming soon: Senior Year Writing Guide!

4 Yearly Writing Projects to Include for Solid Language Arts Credits

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What are Chicago-Style Research Papers and Why Should Your Teen Write One?

One of the goals we 7Sisters have had for our high schoolers (and the ones we teach in co-op or group classes) has been: give them an experience with each of the research paper styles that they will see in college.

Why?

If they have had some experience at high school level with those more rigorous types of writing, they won’t be spending so much of their valuable (and sometimes scarce) time FIGURING OUT the styles. They can spend more time and effort on content. That helps them manage time and get better grades in college!

Thus, our high schoolers have written one research paper each year and have learned the most-often used-in-college MLA and APA styles.

Recently some of our homeschool graduates have been coming back to me and reporting that their university has them write Chicago-style papers in some of their classes…”Mrs. Tillman, YOU never taught us Chicago style! Maybe you should teach this to the high schoolers!”

SO, that’s what we did! Introducing Chicago-Style Research Paper Writing Guide.

Chicago-Style Research Paper Writing Guide is a 5-week study aimed at high schoolers who already have some experience with research paper writing. It is a:

self-guided
step-by-step
no-busywork guide that coaches a teen from start to finish through writing a Chicago-style research paper.

Rubric for grading included!

What is Chicago style?

Chicago style is the creation of the University of Chicago Press. It is an old and successful format with several variations. (I was SO excited when I researched Chicago style with my college student son, who was one of those who reported to me that he had to write papers in Chicago style. I found that Chicago style was the style we used when I was in college!)

Because our local college students are using the Chicago style NB format (Note-Bibliography), Chicago-Style Research Paper Writing Guide follows that format.

Chicago style NB research papers are most frequently used for humanities and some social sciences.

Religion
Philosophy
Art
Music
Theater
History
Anthropology
Business
Computers/Technology
International Studies
Criminology

The biggest differences between Chicago style and MLA or APA papers is:

There are footnotes for each citation
The citations are superscripts

Some other things that are need-to-know about these papers:

Chicago-style papers include a thesis statement at the end of the introductory paragraph. This is similar to the MLA papers your teens have written during high school.
Chicago style’s NB format is flexible in some ways. It allows teachers to instruct students to use section titles for transitions (just like APA papers) OR simply rely on transition sentences (just like MLA papers).

Chicago-style can be an enjoyable style paper these days…At least for us moms who remember back in the ancient days of typing papers on typewriters or word processors. We slaved and fretted on how much room to save for footnotes at the bottom of the page. These days, Pages and Word, automatically do that work for the teens!

GOOD NEWS: Chicago-Style Research Paper will be available for sale Saturday, July 1! FOR 72 HOURS it will be 50% off! No special sale code needed!

After midnight, July 3, 2017, the eworkbook will be $12.99.

Give your homeschool high schoolers experience with this type paper! Download a copy of Chicago-Style Research Paper Writing Guide.

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What are Chicago-Style Research Papers and Why Should Your Teen Write One?

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Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 65: Homeschooling in UK and US

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 65: Homeschooling in UK and US. (This post is running concurrently on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network.)

Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 65: Homeschooling in UK and US

We’re SO excited for Episode 65! We’re talking to our friend, Kat Patrick today!

Kat has lived for 25 years and homeschooled her kids in England (United Kingdom). Her family’s recent move to Texas is quite a change for them!

She is chatting with us about the differences in homeschooling between the UK and the US! Things are quite different there but homeschooling is popular. You don’t want to miss this fun geography lesson!

Kat is a fascinating person. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Delaware, the very university where several of the HSHSP team’s homeschool graduates are going to college. She moved to England and has enjoyed 25 years there.

When her teens began homeschooling highschool, Kat found that she needed to develop her own English course for her homeschool highschoolers because she couldn’t find a best-fit course for them. That course soon became an internet program with students all over the world. You can check her program out at Dreaming Spires Home Learning.

Dr. Kat Patrick adventuring in the US. Used with permission.

Kat blogs at boyschooling.blogspot.com. She is a contributor to Learning Tangent homeschool magazine.

Here’s a wonderful article about Kat’s family and their homeschool that was done by a major newspaper in UK (the SAT that article refers to is more of an achievement test, not a college admissions test).

Join Vicki and Kat for a delightful chat about the differences in homeschooling in England and America!

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Homeschool Highschool Podcast Ep 65: Homeschooling in UK and US

Transcript Checklist: Great Tweaks for College-Attractive Transcripts

Here is our transcript checklist: great tweaks for college-attractive transcripts!

Transcript Checklist: Great Tweaks for College-Attractive Transcripts

Got a college-bound teen? Getting a little nervous?

That’s okay. We 7Sisters are here to help. We’ve helped hundreds of local homeschool high schoolers through graduation and have learned a few tricks for creating college-attractive transcripts.

So here is a homeschool transcript checklist. You can use it to tweak for college-attractive transcripts for your teens.

___Make sure identifying information is easy to find (and correct). Don’t miss the most obvious tip! Name needs to be complete and spelled correctly, along with birthdate and school address.

___Include levels of rigor on core courses (Language Arts, Maths, Science, History). Many colleges want to know the difficulty level of core courses. Here is a post to tell you how to do decide the rigor of your homeschool high schoolers’ courses.

___Break down courses by year, go in the same course order each year. Include a section on the transcript for each grade. We record our courses in this order but there is not one correct order of course, but once you set the pattern in 9th grade, follow it each year.

___Make sure you show not only the grade but the academic year for each school year. For instance: 9th Grade 2016-17; 10th Grade 2017-18, etc.

___Don’t leave out elective courses! Give them a good title, these give transcripts the SPARKLE they need. College admissions officers often say they are looking for courses with *Sparkle* or *Pop*!

___Show that your teen has developed an interest by including several (or more) courses on the same topic. Electives are good for this.

___Include sections for extracurriculars and service and the years in which those activities were participated.

___Include a section for awards won, including the year.

___Include a legend or key. Specify how the levels of rigor were decided. Make it brief (keep backup material in a Master Portfolio).

___Identify who is *signing off* or guaranteeing the verity of the transcript. Is mom the principal or is there an advisor who will verify the transcript?

Want some how-to encouragement and tips? Download 7Sisters fun, self-paced course on how to homeschool high school: Homeschool High School: You CAN Do It!

You’ll be glad you did!

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