Scholarships

Many homeschoolers have questions when approaching the highschool years of what will come next. What about transcripts, graduation,college and most of all what comes next?

The list of grants and scholarships I have listed at the end of this page are mostly pagan oriented and I have tried to make sure they are homeschool friendly. Go ahead and sign up with sites like Fastweb too though. They have lots of resources that may be surprising.

For transcripts you have the choice of using your own record keeping or going through an umbrella school (if you're not going through a correspondence or online school). Either way I would suggest taking a look at the TEA website for the guidelines for graduation. If you decide to keep your own records I suggest using software such as TGHomesoft.Their full version has most of the stuff that would be required by a college or employer.You can also check out http://www.geocities.com/homeschoolforms  for forms you can use as a template for free. An umbrella program is a school organization that will let you follow your own way of schooling while letting them keep the records for you. Some of the ones I know of are Goddess Moon Circles Academy,Spiral Academy and West River Academy (not specifically pagan but made for and by unschoolers).

What comes next depends greatly on the student. Some may decide that they want to go to college. If you have your transcripts in place and have talked with the colleges they may be interested in near the beginning of their highschool years then there should be no problems. The counselors there can tell you what paperwork and testing you will need before being admitted. While I am a great believer in college I do know that it's not for everyone. You might check into an apprenticeship or trade program. Most trade colleges will need the same paperwork as a standard 2or 4 year college. For an apprenticeship program however you may not need much past a highschool diploma. Talk with people in a field that the student is interested in. It is possible to apprentice to become a dog groomer, a hairstylist, a tradesman (electrician,etc), or even to work as an organic farmer. Do a search on the internet.You might be surprised what you find. Also,volunteer work might lead to more contacts than you'd expect. If you have an entrepenuer on your hands have them talk with the small business association as well as the state comptrollers office for more information.

For college bound students a great resource can be found at http://www.besthomeschooling.org/gateway/inted11.html

For those students who might feel they are missing something by not having a formal graduation ceremony,with all the paraphanalia that comes with it there are other ideas to try. If you are a member of a homeschool group with enough students graduating about the same time you might be able to get them all together and have a ceremony or party to celebrate.Some public highschools have taken to offering "lock in"parties for graduates where students (and dates,friends,etc.) can get food, drinks, games, and maybe even rock climbing walls or some other fun thing. It might be a fun idea to see if there is a place that offers all of this in your area and have a graduation party there. You could even have a small ceremony where they dress in a cap and gown and are given a diploma or even a graduation ring. If this seems like too much then a small party at home with friends and family might be more your style. You might also have the student pick something else entirely. Maybe they'd like a day out with their friends to a local waterpark,or a weekend camping trip. For pagans this could also be done as a right of passage ceremony with the diploma being given at the end of it. This is a great time for brainstorming. A couple of places to get diplomas,caps,gowns and various fun stuff for graduates and seniors are http://www.jostens.com/homeschool/index.asp 

or  http://www.homeschooldiploma.com