how should homeschoolers prepare for the USAFA

Jonathan Barton

10-Year Member
5-Year Member
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May 1, 2008
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Hey I'm a new member and I was just wondering if any of you more experienced members would be able to give me advice. I'm home schooled, and i was just wondering what you feel the chances of me making it to the USAFA were. I'm an A student and interested in computer science and mathematical science. I had been enrolled in a private school from 6th grade until 8th grade, but my mom didnt want me to go to public school in highschool so she's homeschooling me. When I was at the private school I was very involved with all the programs they had, but now that i'm homeschooling, unless its with my church, i'm not involved in anything. My dad works 2 jobs, and my mom has a part time job and homeschools us, so they can't take me to any extra-curricular activities. I'm hoping to be able to take Driver's Ed. so that I can get a school permit and drive myself, but first I need to get a job to pay for it. In the mean time, does anyone have any advice on how i could solve my extra-curricular problem. Thanks.
 
http://www.academyadmissions.com/admissions/howtoapply/homeschool.php

Guidelines for Home-Schooled Students

Home-schooled students are as competitive for appointment as any other student – academic, athletic and leadership potential are evaluated the same as with any other applicant.

While not absolutely necessary, we highly recommend that home-school students attend college or junior college for a year before entering the Academy. Taking a full academic load, as determined by the college and participating in the classroom environment will enhance your chances of adapting quickly and easily to the highly structured life of a cadet, should you receive an appointment.

NOTE: Because the home-school curriculum is often tailored to the particular student, we recommend you contact the Admissions Office to discuss your specific situation.

Academics

Home-schooled students compete against the same standards as students coming from a traditional school setting.

NOTE: In the absence of graded coursework completed at a public or private high school, we place greater weight on the standardized ACT and SAT scores.

Curriculum

To be competitive for an Academy appointment, we recommend the home-school curriculum include the following courses:

  • English: 4 years
  • College-Prep Math: 4 years
  • Social Studies: 3 years
  • Modern Foreign Language*: 2 years
  • Computer Science: 1 year

*A modern foreign language is basically any language except Latin. The most beneficial languages are those taught at the Academy: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German, French and Russian.

In addition, some background in Laboratory Sciences and proficiency in typing will be beneficial.

Be sure to let us know if your school is recognized by your local school board or the State Board of Education. Home-schooled students must provide a transcript that includes, at a minimum, the following academic information:

  • Course/class title
  • Length of course and date completed
  • Grade
  • Grading Scale
  • G.P.A.
  • Curriculum/course description
  • Text/materials used

Athletics

This is the portion of the application process we use to predict leadership potential.

Although many home-schooled students are able to qualify academically for admission, their overall record is often not strong enough to compete due to a significant weakness in the area of extracurricular activities.

Some states and local school districts allow home-schooled students to participate with public school children in interscholastic activities. If this is not the case where you live, then you must be creative. Following are some suggestions that may be helpful:

  • Swimming, Tennis, Gymnastics: Join a local club and participate in competition.
  • Baseball: Play in a summer league affiliated with Babe Ruth, Little League, American Legion, etc.
  • Track/Cross-Country: Run 5K and 10K races
  • Basketball: YMCA, Boys/Girls Clubs

Remember, athletic participation is an important part of our evaluation of your overall potential to succeed at the Academy. Take a look at these statistics:

About 95% of accepted candidates have participated in high school sports
About 85% have earned varsity letters.

Without some athletic participation in an organized and sanctioned league sport, your chances of getting an appointment are greatly reduced.

Extracurricular Activities

Participation in nonathletic extracurricular activities is also an important part of our evaluation of your overall potential to succeed at the Academy: Little or no participation in this area will greatly reduce your chances of being accepted.

We're primarily looking for demonstrated leadership in a few activities (club officer, Eagle/Gold/Billy Mitchell award, etc.) rather than simple participation in many activities. Here are some ideas:

  • Participate in leadership of church youth group
  • Join and excel in a scouting organization
  • Give speeches to local service clubs (Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis, etc.)
  • Give musical recital in church
  • Work/Community service
  • You can also check with your local school system to see if they allow home-schooled students to participate in their after-school activities.
 
Jonathan,
We homeschooled our son who is now a 2011 cadet at USAFA and doing quite well. Btw, he also received appointments to USMA and USNA. If you would like to send me a private message with specific questions, I would be happy to try to answer them.
Darla
 
Jonathan,
We homeschooled our son who is now a 2011 cadet at USAFA and doing quite well. Btw, he also received appointments to USMA and USNA. If you would like to send me a private message with specific questions, I would be happy to try to answer them.
Darla

Hi Darla,
Could you tell me how much information you were required to put on the transcript as a homeschooled student please? Also, is there anything else you would want to tell a home schooled student? If you had the option to apply as a private school student because of a private school covering would you do that or recommend applying as a home school student?
Thank you for any information.
Patricia
 
Hi Darla,
Could you tell me how much information you were required to put on the transcript as a homeschooled student please? Also, is there anything else you would want to tell a home schooled student? If you had the option to apply as a private school student because of a private school covering would you do that or recommend applying as a home school student?
Thank you for any information.
Patricia

Patricia:
Darla's last post on this forum was six years ago. I truly doubt that you will receive a response from her, plus this thread is from 2008.

I would recommend you post a new question on the USAFA board and will likely get more responses.
 
Hi Darla,
Could you tell me how much information you were required to put on the transcript as a homeschooled student please? Also, is there anything else you would want to tell a home schooled student? If you had the option to apply as a private school student because of a private school covering would you do that or recommend applying as a home school student?
Thank you for any information.
Patricia
DS is home schooled and applied to USAFA along with USCGA and USNA. We are a part of an accredited program so I think that was a benefit. We were able to have an official school district transcript. We also utilize some very rigorous distance education courses and he has taken at least one course each semester(sometimes two) , since his sophomore year at the local community college. He has tested early and often on the SAT and ACT as well. DS plays sports at a local high school where he was team captain of the swim team and has been a member of a swim club for many years. He has volunteered with local Special Olympics and had a job. He has chosen to accept his Coast Guard prep offer as this was his first choice. In my opinion him being home schooled was in no way a detriment, but a benefit and something that attracted attention as well. Home schooled students falls into a diversity category with most of the academies as well I believe.
 
Patricia,
Our DD will graduate in 5 days and was homeschooled.
I am happy to help you with any questions. Time to pay it forward. Just PM me if I can be of help.

All the best.

Hi Darla,
Could you tell me how much information you were required to put on the transcript as a homeschooled student please? Also, is there anything else you would want to tell a home schooled student? If you had the option to apply as a private school student because of a private school covering would you do that or recommend applying as a home school student?
Thank you for any information.
Patricia
 
DS is a 2016er who was homeschooled. He attended a consortium style home school program which had classes that met once per week and were taught by professional educators but parents were responsible for his transcripts, grading some of his homework, and other things. I created his transcript based on a MS Word transcript template I found online. The transcript consisted of 1 summary page of all his classes with grades that looked very much like a standard high school resume. Additionally I supplied a high level description of each course and the title and ISBN of each book used for each course. His course load met our state's high school graduation requirements. He was a regionally ranked swimmer which covered his PE requirement and provided his sport for USAFA.
 
I, too, am a parent of a homeschooler who is applying for the class of 2022. I am glad that this thread has been revived and look forward to hearing from other homeschool families. My DS has taken most of his high school classes online through The Potter's School (aka TPS) and some of his courses received dual credit at Belhaven University. Like Blackbird, I created his transcript on a template and attached course descriptions and grade reports from TPS and Belhaven. Varsity tennis and violin/orchestra (he is among the top violin soloists in the state) round out his high school and cover the PE and Fine Arts reqmts.
 
DS is a 2016er who was homeschooled. He attended a consortium style home school program which had classes that met once per week and were taught by professional educators but parents were responsible for his transcripts, grading some of his homework, and other things. I created his transcript based on a MS Word transcript template I found online. The transcript consisted of 1 summary page of all his classes with grades that looked very much like a standard high school resume. Additionally I supplied a high level description of each course and the title and ISBN of each book used for each course. His course load met our state's high school graduation requirements. He was a regionally ranked swimmer which covered his PE requirement and provided his sport for USAFA.
That program sounds very similar to the Classical Conversations program that I am doing. Just wondering, did you add any dual enrollment, CLEP, or SAT subject tests to your homeschool program?
 
Our DS is an appointee entering the class of 2022 next week. No dual enrollment, but we did four "dual credit" courses through a partnership between The Potter's School and Belhaven. No CLEP tests, but he did take four AP exams. Got 5s on two of them, and still waiting for scores on the other two. Did no SAT subject tests, but his ACT superscore was a 36. There were two Potter's School graduates this year attending service academies (2 out of 22) and TPS has an excellent record of grads who go on to academies. It's a very rigorous and high quality program.
 
Congrats on your DS entering class of 2022!!! And thanks for sharing some of what you did academically... I've heard very good things about the Potter's School. The dual credit courses sound more compelling than dual enrollment with community college.
 
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