How Can a Homeschooler Graduate High School Early

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this review or post, but all opinions are our own.

Do your find yourself wondering: can my homeschooler graduate high school early, and what does that really mean for their future education. If you are homeschooling, you are in the a great plan to make meaningful choices for your student.

Graduating a homeschooler early is a simple matter of earning the required amount of high school credit required. This requirement is made by the parent in their homeschool as a way to qualify that your student has prepared to earn their high school diploma. Homeschooled students are able to earn credits at a faster rate and with more ease then their public school peers.

Graduating early is common among homeschool students. It is also common for homeschooled individuals to earn college credit while in high school. This can lead to students earning a degree in less time and at a significantly reduced cost.

Let’s talk about what it means to choose to earn high school credits in your homeschool. In this article I will share some warning to consider and share tips about how to define your homeschool high school expectations. I will also share about my own widely varying experiences as a mother to six homeschool graduates.

How Did We End Up with a Freshman High School Graduate?

Our oldest three students were grouped together for their homeschool years. It happened to work out, that even though there was a four year gap, the bulk of their work could still be taught as one grade level. Since the youngest of the group was advanced in her written language skills, she had the advantage of staying in the older grouping instead of moving in with the younger students as I had intended. Due to this arrangement, she began doing high school level work in middle school. Since writing was her strongest subject, she continued to do high school level work through sixth, seventh and eighth grade. The following school year, her oldest brother was due to graduate.

As we considered the direction of her following school years, we determined that having earned five years of high school level work, they should ALL advance to college or college prep level work. This side effect of schooling in a group led to the decision to graduate all three students at one time.

At 15, 16 and 17 our kids were well prepared for college entry level work. Since this was our first students to graduate, we weren’t sure if our youngest graduate was up for the challenge of college work. She ended up taking AP classes and dual credit classes through the local high school.

What we discovered is that our homeschool curriculum (we schooled with Sonlight) was quite rigorous compared to even the AP prep courses at the local public school. In hindsight, we would NOT choose to do that again. We would go directly to entry level college work with confidence.

Your child’s temperament can be a factor in deciding to allow them to graduate high school early

Parents Know Their Student’s Temperament

I am grateful for the opportunity to allow my daughter to move forward in her education, but I will add that her determination as a student is not common. Much of her success in education belongs to her alone. As the leader of our family homeschool, I simply provided the tools and the means for her to learn and earn credits. She did the work and continued in her studies with the same level of determination.

For her graduating early worked. She was a mature student, but one of the biggest factors that I considered about sending her to live on campus at Graceland University, was the fact that her two older brothers were also attending the university. I would not have been able to drop her off at a large state school with the same confidence.

You know the temperament of your child and their maturity level. You understand how they behave socially and can and should pace their education according to ALL of these factors. Knowing the credits they need to earn to complete high school is a great too for you as a parent.

If your student decides they want to be DONE with high school, you can hand over the list of required credits and start helping them knock them off the list. I assure you that there will be a lot of growth for both of you along the way. A determined student might go ahead and double down, and get to work. Either way, your student will know what is expected of them and can rest in the knowledge that high school will end.

Points to Consider About Early High School Graduation

Who Establishes Graduation Requirements?

In Iowa, you as the parent determine the credits required for graduating. You can discover the graduation requirements for all 50 states HERE, One way you can discover an average or credits required is to look up high school graduation requirements from several local schools in your area. This will give you a good idea of what is being covered in high school level work. When you are developing your four-year plan for your student, you can also read the course descriptions from local schools to help you determine what kinds of materials you will want to include when teaching on a topic.

What Qualifies as a Credit?

You student will earn one credit for completing at least 75-80% of a textbook written for the high school level, if is intended to be used over one school year. If a text is used for half a year (one semester) it earns a .5 credit. The textbook publisher or curriculum creator will provide a guide for parents with their materials. Remember, mastery is the goal in learning. If your student has mastered the material, and did not need to extra practice and pretests, it is still appropriate for them to earn the full credit for the material. You will learn what each student needs asa you work with them throughout the school year.

You can also determine credits earned by the amount of hours the course work required. You can create your own course, mini-studies and unit studies over the full course of the school year. Logging hours is a good method to help you determine the actual high school credit earned in a subject area. You cam read more about determining credits for course work at HSLDA.

Credits for CORE courses

CORE courses (Math, Science, History, Social Studies and Foreign Lang.) require at least 150 hours to earn 1 credit. This is the equivalent to roughly five hours of homeschool hours over a 30 week school year. Science courses with a lab should log 180 hours for the 1 credit minimum. This can be met by adding one hour of lab each week for experiments. As a homeschooling family, you will find there is no shortage of ways to fill these hours with learning and that they are not a burden in the least. You don’t have to be huddled over a book for this time to count as learning.

What about non-CORE classes?

Music, Art, Physical Education and other elective type courses need to log 120 hours for a full credit or 60 hours for a .5 credit. Two hours of Art time a week would earn a .5 credit. Weekly piano, music theory and practice (at roughly 5 hours a week) would earn a full credit for your student. This is exactly how my daughter earned credits for Music Theory 1 & 2.

Dual Credits from the local college

Your student can also choose to enroll at the local or community college for classes earning dual credit at the high school and college level. When you student completes a 3-5 credit college level course in one term, you can apply this to their high school transcript for 1 credit in high school. Using this option is a great way to accelerate your child’s learning potential.

College Credits for FREE

You student can apply these credits toward earning their college degree while still in high school. outsource some of the teaching for an advanced student. You can check with the public high school to see if your student can take college classes for free. Often the minimum requirements are the completion of high school level courses and often your student does not have to wait for senior year.

Stay Involved Through the Dual Credit Process

Two of my students took classes through the University while dual enrolled at the local public school. We learned quite a few things and wish the school had been better prepared. Here are some more pros and cons to consider. The program was new, the professor and my students were ALL new to the world of online courses. We had trouble seeing the professor’s notes on their assignments. It took some work from the high school counselor to discover that the University and the school did not use the same word processing program and notes were not being imported properly.

Overall, it was a good experience, but I would have prefered to come into an established program if you can.

What if Your Child Really Wants to Graduate at the Public School?

Only the credits earned at the public high school can be applied toward public school students. Credits earned while homeschooling are NOT added toward credits earned for graduation at your local high school. This is important to be fully aware of before starting high school level classes.

If crossing the stage with their peers is a high priority, you will want to check with your local school about programs they offer. You can still choose homeschooling. but your high schooler may need to do a combination of dual enrollment or use an outside source for tracking competed work and logging credits for you.

In many states you can enroll in an accredited school or an umbrella school where they record grades and administer tests. As an outside source they verify your students work and in many states these credits can be applied toward graduation.

There are social factors to consider when choosing to graduate early. You need to talk about these too.

How Does a Homeschool Student get a diploma?

When your student completes the required subjects established by you, the parent, they earn credit. These credits are applied to the students homeschool transcript through the high school career. High school level courses do NOT have to be taken only after 9th grade. High school credits can be earned at any age if your student has mastered the materials.

If your student has earned the required number of credits set by your state laws or if not by the state, then by you as the parent, they are qualified to graduate. You as the parent can issue a high school diploma for your student. This diploma, provided you have followed and adhered to the guidelines and laws in your state, caries the same weight as a diploma issued by the public high schools.

We have ordered our diploma through HLDA. Last year I used the homeschool diploma templates in Canva to print my own on high quality paper. No matter where you get your diploma, it is a legitimate legal document and should be treated like it. With their diploma, your student can apply for higher education courses or trade schools.

What About the Student Ready to Graduate High School Early?

In the public high school, early graduation is less common. Students often take up to 25 credit hours of electives during their junior and senior year. I have met with students who have taken college courses only to find that the majority of the credits will not transfer or do not apply to their Major their. By homeschooling, you are allowing your student to pursue their academic passions.

Instead of stalling out and languishing for years you student can take meaningful classes at the level they are ready to work at. Advanced students are often stressed to earn high marks in the public school. It is entirely MY OPINION that many gifted and mature students are retained to help plump up the public school test scores.

A young student can dual enroll at the local community college or take online courses to begin earning a degree at a 4-year college. This can save a significant amount of money. Your advanced student can and will qualify for scholarships. A well prepared and documented transcript is college money and worth your spending the time to do your research on. By allowing your student to begin college level work earlier, they will accomplish the goal of graduating with a degree earlier.

My daughter was ready to graduate high school early.

She graduated in what would have been her freshman year, at 15. She had completed five years of high school level work. The next year, she took a gap year from homeschooling and took AP courses from the local high school and dual credits from Graceland University. At 16, she worked fully independently from her course syllabus at home and at the high school. There was no doubt that she was ready for the rigors for University level work. She proved our suspicions by maintaining a 4.0 and graduating with a double major at 20.

Our homeschooled graduates were able to earn significant scholarships with their high school education, all done at home. I did not have any special talents. I have no history in education, or gift of teaching. We ordered a curriculum that worked for us and allowed the kids to explore their learning passions. I did some research on how to get a kid into college and have a few articles I learned about what I learned.

Why Shouldn’t My Student Graduate High School Early?

Student who are good candidates to graduate early are ones who already hold academic aspirations. If your child doesn’t know what they want to do right now, that is totally normal. Most students fall into this category. Use all of the high school years for exploration. Allow homeschooling to ignite their love to learn and create opportunities for discovery.

Don’t be tempted to take advanced courses too early, or overwhelm your student with advanced level work with dual credit courses. It is unfortunate, but these courses are a permanent GPA factor. Classes poorly done by your student will have to be made over if they desire to have a higher GPA later.

Make sure your student is showing confidence in the topics they are pursuing before jumping into an early graduation and regretting it. Having and academic or occupational goal in mind will help keep your student on track and moving toward their goals.

Find Ways to Develop Maturity & Character

Maturity is a strong determining factor for your student to make the most of the advantages when they graduate early. How does your child behave around their peers, are they confident, do they have leadership skills? Do they seem easily influenced by others? These are areas I would rather bolster and work on with a few additional years of homeschooling.

While you are still homeschooling, look for opportunities to build leadership skills with organizations like TeenPac, or a volunteer position locally.

Your Child Can Graduate Early and Succeed

You set and establish the requirements for your homeschool in accordance with your state laws. You also know your student best. Choosing to graduate your student can benefit them in academic pursuits, but is an option that needs to be weighed with an honest and open understanding of your child.

Having a conversation about their goals for the future is a good place to begin. If your child is nearing high school age, familiarize yourself with your state credit requirements and set your own homeschool graduation requirements. High school students like to know what is expected of them and your requirements give them an exit plan if they determine that they want to graduate early.