social studies requirements for college bound homeschool students

Social Studies Requirements for College Bound Homeschool Students

As you plan your high school student’s courses this year, remember that they need to have 4 social studies classes over the course of their high school career if they’re headed to college. Social studies are the one area where colleges are pretty specific about what they require. Just about every college wants to see American history (unless you live in a different country, in which case they want to see the history of that country), world history, government or comparative governments, and economics. In some states, state history classes will also be required.

In addition to these four foundational requirements, other social studies courses can include any of the social sciences, and there are a lot of them. Some courses your student might want to consider include psychology, sociology, anthropology, and comparative governments. You could also teach the history of anything or any country.

Sometimes it’s helpful to look back at your own high school classes, and think about what courses you took. When I was in public high school, one of the classes that I took was a class called Polynesian History. My high school teacher was passionate about going to Hawaii every year, and he helped finance that trip by teaching a class called Polynesian History. I have a brother in-law who taught a class called the History of Baseball at a public high school, because he loves baseball. In public high school, the passion of the teacher directs the course offerings. As a homeschooling family, your options for classes can be directed by the things your student is interested in, and not limited to what the teacher wants to teach.

Homeschoolers are free to pursue the passions and interests of their students through their social studies courses. This is called delight-directed learning. If you find that your child has an interest in something, take a look at The Teaching Company website. This resource has college level lectures in audio and video, so you can listen to the audio courses while you’re driving your kids around to different activities, or they can watch the videos and learn a lot of interesting things that way.

There are also some hands-on ways to study the social sciences, too, for those students who benefit from a more kinesthetic approach. For instance, your student can learn about American government through some local programs, such as Youth and Government, TeenPact, or paging in your state or local capital. Students might also get involved in governments or elections, and gain experience and credit that way.

Pay a visit to http://www.comprehensiverecordsolution.com/ gives in-depth details and recommendations on college scholarships for high school seniors, which will help homeschool parents plan better for their children's homeschooling. To gather even more ideas about homeschooling you can visit http://www.comprehensiverecordsolution.com/blog/high-school-guidance-counselor/