DL High School Home Education

“Homeschooling? Why would anyone do that?” I’m embarrassed to say that these words came out of my mouth many years ago, but God had an amazing home education plan for our family and I’m so thankful that we listened! We started officially homeschooling our oldest in kindergarten and right away I knew we would home educate through to graduation, but the burden of how we would do this for grades ten to twelve hit hard at the beginning of my oldest daughter’s ninth grade year. I had heard so many stories from parents of students in Distributed Learning (DL) grad programs about how they never saw their kids, that their children were overwhelmed with heavy workloads and too much busy work and that they were just on a screen all day for their learning. This was not what we wanted for our kids and I was determined to figure out a way to make our home education journey still feel like homeschooling as much as possible throughout the grad years. At first I thought that this would mean becoming registered homeschoolers (a fantastic option for real freedom in home education), but after pursuing some research in that direction, we had no peace about that option and so I started reluctantly researching DL grad program options. I quickly learned that for high school graduation, students had three years to earn 80 credits (just 20, 4 credit classes). I also found out that you could create your own Individualized courses, or enroll in Individualized courses that cut out a lot of the busy work that I had heard complaints about. I love writing and developing curriculum, so I was thrilled to know I could continue to do this through their high school years and that we could also do cooperative learning with other homeschoolers to help meet course requirements.

With my oldest graduating this June 2021, I can tell you that things have been so much better than I had anticipated. Below are some of the things I’ve learned that hopefully will help and encourage you as you navigate DL High School Home Education. ***Disclaimer: We have only ever taken classes from Independent DL schools, so some of the following advice may not apply to public DLs. 1. There are many styles of DL classes, so don’t assume you have to go completely online. There are Hybrid courses with classroom components, Livestream with scheduled weekly virtual lectures, Online that are self-paced or with deadlines, Individualized both with provided outlines or that you can create completely yourself, Thematic programs that revolve around your child’s interests, etc.

2. Ask for guest passes to look at courses before you enroll, so you can compare them at different schools. Email teachers directly if you have questions.

3. Cross-enroll when you find a course at a different DL that will be a better fit for your child. Make sure the majority of your classes are always at your school of record (SOR).

4. Talk to friends with older students and join the “British Columbia High School DL Chat”

Facebook group (www.facebook.com/groups/559382940869395) to ask for feedback on what grad courses and teachers will be the best fit for your kids.

5. Communicate with your teachers. If there are things you want to tweak in a course, just ask!

6. For the most flexibility, develop your own Individualized courses. Just make sure to refer to the BC Curriculum website (curriculum.gov.bc.ca) as you do have to follow more closely to these guidelines for grad courses. Teachers will work with you to create courses if you want more guidance.

7. Create co-ops or classes! Find other families with high school students and join together for group work, presentations, field trips and other interactive learning that can help support what your kids are doing at home. Present your plan to an Independent DL and they will create a class for you so your kids can get grad credit for their work.

8. Don’t overschedule your kids. They may want to do everything under the sun, but if they have too heavy a load, you are setting them up for discouragement and stress. Their grad program classes, plus one or two extra curriculars will be more than enough and teaching them to have a balanced life is an invaluable lesson.

9. Make sure your kids have a solid foundation in writing skills and how to properly cite their sources. If they are confident in these skills going into the grad program, it will make the transition much easier.

10. Your child can start enrolling in grade 10 classes in May of their grade 9 year, which is a great way to get a jump start on grad classes and minimize the load for later. Career, PE, or electives like Photography, etc. work well to ease into the grad program.

11. Keep track of their achievements. Many of your children’s extracurricular activities can be counted for grad credit for complete courses, or in lieu of certain assignments in a variety of courses. Musical Theatre, dance, lifeguarding, 4H, music certifications, first aid, etc. are just some of the things that are eligible for credit.

12. Be intentional about creating community. You need friends to encourage you in your home education journey and so do your kids. It takes effort and putting yourself out there, but it is so worth it! These last two points are the most important! 13. Be intentional about time with God. Even though your teens may be doing a lot of independent learning, try and start and end each day with Bible and prayer time together with your kids. While academics are important, there is no greater calling or gift that we can give our children than to train them up to be fully devoted followers of Jesus. This relationship will guide them in every aspect of their lives and is more important than any academic goal. We must show them with our priorities and actions what we value.

14. Be intentional about time with family. As kids get busier with grad program classes, part-time jobs, and extracurriculars, it’s so important to schedule regular family time and hold tightly to those commitments. Your teens need quality time with you just as much as they did when they were little.

You homeschool parents are an amazing combination of love, wisdom, dedication, discipline, creativity, and stamina and I am blessed to be a part of this amazing community! I hope that some of this information is helpful and encourages you in pursuing home education through the high school years.