One of the scariest tasks I have had to endure is homeschooling our oldest child through high school. He is currently a Senior and it is only early November and boy have we had a busy year!
One of the things that I worried most about was, ahem, the social issues. I did not want him to miss out on Prom, and band, and any other great opportunity he might have had at the local public school. So for the first time, my husband and I when finishing the eighth grade, offered him the opportunity to go to a brick and mortar school. His reply was quick, short and to the point and completely convinced me that he was spot on. He said, “why would I want to expose myself to things that would damage my soul?” and went on to list things that on a moral level, would not be healthy. He was right and since we did give him this choice, we honored his very mature response. I should add, at this point he had only been homeschooled for three years as he went to a Catholic School from Preschool until the fifth grade. So once I let it sink in that I had to figure out his high school curricula, I got started on researching what we wanted to do. I had taught in the past for fifteen years but always avoided jobs at the high school level.
Since he wanted to study music and I am not musically inclined, this was a bit of a daunting task. In hindsight, I can tell you even an area where mom is not familiar with is definitely possible. Through speaking with people and asking for help from those in our area we were able to supply him with ample opportunities to train, participate and perform in many areas of music he was interested in. Here are the examples of what we did to make this happen for our son: