The Homeschool Mom's Guide to College

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Summary:  A step by step guide to homeschooling your college bound teen.  "homeschoolhighschool" "getintocollege" 

Are your homeschooled teens headed towards college?  

Mine was and is now a college grad. Yours can be too, if that is where they are headed.

This article has been published on the iHomeschool Network.

It is full of tips and helps for getting into college as a homeschooler. 

To reach my article on applying to college as a homeschooler, click on the link below:

Homeschool to College, It Isn't That Hard!

Be encouraged!!  My teen got into each of the colleges she applied to, with scholarship offers.

It used to be called - The Nervous Mom's Guide to College, but we decided not to call it that anymore. As getting into college as a homeschooled teen doesn't have to be hard, nor scary. 

My best tips on college were put into my book and e-book below. Feel free to send me your questions, too.

Many more tips on getting into college as a homeschooler, plus how to plan your high school at home are in our frugal book below.

 Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition

Our ebook is on Sale at

Amazon 

Our book includes:

>Chapter 1 - How to Start Homeschooling if you are New to Homeschooling

>Chapter 2 - 101 Reasons to Homeschool High School

>Chapter 3 - Researching and Getting Started

  Chapter 4 - Planning High School and Making a 4 Year Plan

>Chapter 5 - Choosing Your High School Curriculum

>Chapter 6 - Three Ways to High School Credit

>Chapter 7 - Making Your Teen's Transcripts

>Chapter 8 - 100 High School Electives

>Chapter 9 - Making Homemade Courses

>Chapter 10 - Writing a Winning College Essay

>Chapter 11 - Course Descriptions and Reference Letters

>Chapter 12 - The Common Application 

>Chapter 13 - Preparing Your Teen for College Writing

>Chapter 14 - Dealing with College Testing SAT/ACT

>Chapter 15 - Top Sources for College Scholarships

>Chapter 16 - Dealing with “Those Questions” from Others

>Chapter 17 - Don’t Forget the FUN!

The good folks at Lit Pick, a great place to find quality, faith based books for your kids and teens, were kind enough to review my book.  Click here to read that. 

Google Review:

"Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, is a well-laid-out how-to guide for setting up a high school homeschool so teens wind up having knowledge and skills that colleges expect in their students." 

Would you like to download a Chapter of our Book? 

Our Chapter 

FREEBIE 

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy homeschooled her now college grad from preschool through high school. Betsy blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about high school, college and the early years, too.  She offers homeschool help at BJ's Consulting, and loves meeting with homeschool families.  

Copyright @ BJ's Homeschool

2025

50 Hands-On Holiday Gifts for Homeschoolers

Note - This post has affiliate links to products that we love and would use in our homeschool.  Please see my disclosure policy.

It's December and I am still working on my holiday shopping list, or you, too?  Each year, when my 2e daughter was young, we always filled our list up with hands-on fun holiday gifts for her, that were educational.

My daughter learned so much from doing hands-on projects in our homeschool, especially during the cold winter months, when it was too chilly to play outside. It was nice and cozy inside when my daughter had a fun project to do.  So we always included two or three hands-on kits or projects in our holiday gift buying for our daughter, when she was in the elementary years.

And she loved getting these gifts!  At the same time, doing hands-on projects taught her so much, and with her ADHD tendencies, we saw improved attention span, concentration, attention to task, and more.  And doing these activities or kits together made wonderful memories, too.

Here are 50 hands-on gift ideas for you, including creative arts and crafts, fabric arts, my favorite science kits, and even some construction kits for making things with wood.

Let's start with arts and crafts, which are so great for developing small muscle skills, and more.

ARTS AND CRAFTS KITS

Arts and Crafts were always big in our homeschool.  My daughter learned to hand sew early on, and loved making small sewing projects.  We also enjoyed spinning art, origami, and crafting with clay.  And anything project oriented from American Girl.  Here's some creative kits for each of these activities that I just mentioned.





Have you ever thought about teaching your kids how to knit or weave, using very simple projects? Oak Meadow Homeschool curriculum got us started with some knitting and weaving.  These projects were so fun to do together and also helped my daughter with her attention issues and concentration skills.

HAND ARTS  - KNITTING & WEAVING



Each year, in the elementary years, we spent Thursday mornings working on a hand arts projects, using VERY small, VERY easy projects.

Now that we have touched on Arts and Crafts and Fiber Arts, let's turn to hands-on science FUN with science kits...

SCIENCE KITS

Do your kids like to do science hands-on?  For science in the elementary years, we mostly focused on simple science projects from Evan Moor, and hands-on science kits that my daughter chose herself. These make great gifts for your young scientists!

One of my favorite companies for science kits is the Magic School Bus.  Do you love using Magic School Bus for science, too?





Then, when my daughter was a middle schooler, we found some great educational science kits from Science Wiz Kits. We especially loved these.  Here is my review of one of them, if you would like more information.

And finally, I'd like to share some wonderful wooden construction kits that I found.   At our house, my daughter started out making things out of cardboard and tape, and here's one that she made of the rides that she took at our state fair.  Then she got into making things with wood.....

WOODEN CONSTRUCTION KITS 

Building with wood, what a great way to play and learn on a winter's day!  Making things with kits like these below, improved my child's direction following skills, attention to task, organizational skills and more.  And then, there was the pride of creating something by hand, and a job well done!

I hope that this gives you some helpful ideas for your own holiday gift shopping list. 

 Here are reviews for 5 more of my favorite hands-on gift ideas for your kids.  What would you add to this list?  If you share your ideas below, I am sure that other families would be interested in them.  I wish you a cozy and warm winter, with lots of hands-on learning fun with your kiddos!

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her 20 year old college student whom she homeschooled from day one.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, high school & college and wrote a new e-book for College Bound teens.  She offers free homeschool help and messages at BJ's Consulting.

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Copyright, 2016, All Rights Reserved

Homeschool High School Transcripts FREEBIE - A Step by Step Guide - UPDATED

 

Read by 11,525 who got their Transcripts Freebie

Are you new to homeschooling high school and wondering what homeschool transcripts are all about?

Or are you already in the midst of homeschooling your teen, and are just looking for some direction on making their homeschool high school transcipts?

You will find many answers to your transcripts questions here. 

When my own teen was starting high school at home, I went about doing some research on that, and came up with a step by step guide for me to follow.  

It was a help to me and I hope that it will be a help to you, too.  My daughter got into each of the colleges that she applied to with her homeschool transcripts.  

Did you know that homeschool transcripts are being very widely accepted across the U.S. by the colleges?  

Knowing what to put on my daughter's homeschool transcripts was a big part of my teen getting into college.  

So today, I am offering my free PDF Guide to Homeschool Transcripts to you, as a download.

Transcripts FREEBIE

I invite you to click above to get yours:   It is a step-by-step guide to making your own homeschool transcript for your teen, the kind that the colleges are used to seeing.

It's been read by hundreds, no thousands of moms already. There is much more on high school and college in our book below.

If you looking for a frugal way to get college tips such as: 

• making your transcripts, the kind colleges prefer
• the Common Application how to's
• College scholarships and more.

Then you might like to get our book. After helping my homeschooled high schooler get into each of the colleges she applied to, I wrote this guide below.

Homeschooling High School with College in Mind - 2nd edition, 

Our book is now also is available as a FREE Audio book. What are people saying about it?

"This book guides the reader step by step through the maze of requirements for college AND gives the gift of comparing requirements for various types of colleges. I am beyond grateful for this book."  Hannah, a homeschool mom

"Betsy has a wealth of understanding and knowledge to share with the parents of college bound homeschoolers."

Lessa Scherrer, Certified College Counselor

Would you like to get a free Download of our first chapter? 

As a homeschool parent of a high schooler, you have a very important job: preparing them for life after high school and college.

One of the most difficult parts of this process is figuring out where to begin and what they need in order to attend college. 

Getting Started with College

FREEBIE 

The information in this FREE download is designed as a guide for parents who want to know more about college admission requirements. 

It's important to be proactive when it comes time to apply. 

Don't miss out on these opportunities because you're not prepared! Download your free preview today!

Also, we don't do any email marketing. Cancel anytime. My blog is my mission.

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool, 

\

Betsy

Betsy is a Christian mom to her now homeschool and college grad daughter, whom she homeschooled through high school. She blogs at BJ's Homeschool.  

Copyright all rights reserved 

@ BJ's Homeschool

2026

UPDATED

Homeschool Your Teen - Transcripts, and More with FREE Resources

After homeschooling our daughter through high school and helping her get into the college of her choice, I put my best tips into some resources for you, including the Freebies below. 

Would you like some freebies to help you get started with your high school at home? Our Kindle GUIDE to HIGH SCHOOL is FREE for the AUDIO version.

 I am so happy to be offering our homeschool freebies from blog at BJ'S HOMESCHOOL, 

HIGH SCHOOL

Have you already been homeschooling your teen?

Does the thought of making transcripts led to overwhelm?  It did for me, when I was starting out.  

That is why I put together my guide to making your Homeschool Transcripts, which I offer as a freebie to you.

1. FREEBIE: Homeschool Transcripts

Get your Guide to Homeschool Transcripts

NOTE: This Freebie does not come to you as an email.

After signing in, just CLICK on the IMAGE that pops up, to get your free download. It will come right to you, instead of clogging up your inbox.

Making your transcripts are not hard to do with this guide.  I researched top sites to put this together.  And transcripts are really just a record of what your teen has been doing and studying.  

Are you looking for more information on high school?  Do you wonder what kind of curriculum you would need to do high school?  And how to go about getting your teen going doing it?

2.  Our BOOK - FREE for Audio Version

on

 AMAZON 

It does take you through all the important things you need to know for high school.

And it really is not that hard!!

It is a easy-to-read guide includes 12+ Downloadable High School Planning Printables, plus chapters on:

• homeschool transcripts
• assigning credit
• making your own homemade courses
• curriculum
• scholarships
• the college application
• and more.

Are you wanting to see what our book/ebook is like? 

3. FREE - First Chapter of my Book 

 FREEBIE 

NOTE: This Freebie does not come to you as an email.

After signing in, just CLICK on the IMAGE that pops up, to get your free download. It will come right to you, instead of clogging up your inbox.

It explains how to deal with your teen's college entrance requirements and also shows you how oour book is written.  

Easy to read, and full of tried and true tips for high school, plus college if that is where your teen is headed.

My blog also includes lots on high school in articles, and the middle school years, too.

Do you have younger kids in your home?

THE EARLY YEARS

Click the link THE EARLY YEARS for:

• how to get started homeschooling
• frugal curriculum we liked
• special needs homeschooling
• and more!

Does your child struggle with handwriting?  Or are you looking for a frugal way to teach it? 

As both a homeschooler and a retired O.T, I put together my easy to do activities for handwriting.  And they are FUN for your kids.  And made them into a FREEBIE!

FREE HANDWRITING HELPS 

Playful ways to help with handwriting!

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool, 

Betsy

Betsy is Christian veteran homeschooler, and mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school. 

She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, middle school, high school, college, 2e. 

Follow us on  Facebook and BJ's Homeschool Pinterest.  

Copyright all rights reserved @ BJ's Homeschool

2026