Homeschooling

Homeschool high school recognition can refer to recognizing your child’s completion of a high school education. But, homeschool high school recognition can also refer how society or college are willing to accept a homeschool high school diploma or certificate as proof of completing a high school education.

What Is Homeschool High School Recognition?

There are several different meanings to the phrase homeschool high school recognition. One meaning is the recognition of your son’s or daughter’s achievement in a way that reflects back to him or her the importance of his or her accomplishment. This may involved symbolic items such as a diploma and a graduation ceremony.

Another meaning of homeschool high school recognition is official recognition of your child’s completion of high school. This can relate to the state, as it signals an end to his or her compulsory education as required by law, but also to tertiary education, such as colleges, universities, technical schools, and community colleges, and employers, all of which may require an affirmation of your child’s level of education. 

Official Recognition of High School Completion for Home Schoolers

One way to get recognition of your child’s completion of high school as a home schooler is to use an accredited program that includes the diploma, transcript, and even—in some cases—the graduation ceremony, in your home school. There are a number of programs that provide this, Note that in most, if not all cases, this option involves your child being taught by teachers from the accredited institution, via streaming video, video on DVD, or video on hard drive. In some cases, live classes are offered via the Internet. For information about options in which you are the teacher of your child, the best approach is to contact your state and arrange for whatever recognition will be needed in advance of beginning a program of study.

DIY Homeschool High School Recognition

There are websites proposing that Homeschoolers simply create their own forms of high school recognition, i.e., that you do it yourself—providing your child with a diploma to recognize his or her achievement. Don’t rush off and do this without checking with your family lawyer! Here’s why:

• Creating an official looking document without sanction and presenting it (for example, to a college admissions committee) may be considered a misrepresentation and/or fraud.

• You should emphatically not follow the advice found on at least one homeschool high school recognition website to download your state seal and affix it to your diploma mock-up. Yes, it might make your child feel special and is if all his or her hard work was being recognized. However, the use of each state’s seal is governed by law and using it without permission appears to give state endorsement and can result in an injunction and lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general. 

However, in the event that your homeschool high school is not affiliated with an organization that provides a diploma and graduation ceremony, there is nothing to prevent you creating a diploma that is limited to what you can legitimately claim on it (check with your state department of education) and having a ceremony as a family or joining with other local homeschoolers for a larger celebration. Unlike most standard high  graduation ceremonies, held on a stage or in a gymnasium, yours could be held anywhere you like—for example, someplace that your graduating child always wanted to go but never has gone before.

Sources

Statutes Governing Use of the Washington State Seal http://www.sos.wa.gov/seal/use.aspx

A website giving advice for homeschool high school recognition that you should not follow http://www.homeschoolthroughhighschool.com/high-school-diplomas-for-homeschool-graduates