Homeschooling older children comes with its own set of challenges.

That being said, it ALSO comes with its own set of rewards.

Homeschooling older children is worth it. Don't buy into the myth that you can't teach your children harder subjects and that they need to go to HIGH SCHOOL for those things like prom, clubs, yearbook committee, AP classes, etc...

It's interesting how we are eased into homeschooling our older children. God really does equip those whom He calls, and homeschooling high school is a perfect example.

It is my hope that this list of resources will provide you with some very PRACTICAL help, as well as some overall encouragement. The list is born out of my experience homechooling an older child (with another coming along soon).

It is by no means an exhaustive list, but I value QUALITY over QUANTITY.

Please remember:

You have what it takes to homeschool your older children, I promise. You are QUALIFIED.

15 Helpful Resources for Homeschooling Older Children

Perhaps the most valuable resource you can have during these years of homeschooling older children is a MENTOR. Find a mom you love and trust - a mom that loves your kids and wants the best for them. I have a mentor like this and it has made all the difference in our homeschooling journey!

Sure, books and online sources are great, but NOTHING can take the place of another mom that will pray for and with you and for your homeschool.

(The first set of resources will help you see what courses your child needs to take, and just assist you in planning. )

HSLDA

The Homeschool Legal Defense Association is always the first place I go to when I have questions about legal requirements and what's expected of me.

(It's a good idea to be a member of HSLDA, too.)

The high school section of HSLDA's site is quite comprehensive, and they even have 2 advisors on board to help members with specific high school questions

The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens

The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens, by Deb Bell, gives an excellent overview of what it will be like to homeschool your middle and high schooler. It also provides a lot of DETAILED information.

There are sections on creating transcripts, awarding college credit at home, college admissions, and more.

It's a great reference book to have on your shelf - mine was passed down to me when my oldest was in 7th grade and it's been so helpful.

High School Graduation Requirements

You definitely need to be aware of what the laws and requirements are in your state.

This handy resource from Donna Young has all of this listed state by state.

Donna also gives us many lists that help prepare to homeschool high school.

Spend some time here if you are new to homeschooling a big kid!

The Home Scholar

Lee Binz's site, The Home Scholar, is an INVALUABLE tool for homeschooling high school.

Her webinars are invaluable (I will be hosting one here soon, so be on the lookout!), and each and every one of her resources have assisted me in planning Anna's high school years, as well as looking towards whatever will come after high school.

I particularly recommend some of her free record keeping samples.

Coffee Break Books

Another resource from Lee Binz are her Coffee Break Books. Many of these books are just $1.99 or even $.99 -- and sometimes you can find them on Amazon for FREE.

Some of my favorites are:

Credit Planner Spreadsheet

I love SIMPLE - and I also love FREE.

This Credit Planner Spreadsheet from Five Js is such a great resource.

If you poke around Joy's site you will find that she is VERY geared towards homeschooling big kids.

Homeschool Minder

Good record keeping is ESSENTIAL when homeschooling older children.

There are many record keeping programs out there - some free and some not free.

I have used many of them and for the past couple of years have firmly settled on Homeschool Minder. Homeschool Minder is an online lesson planning and gradebook, and SO MUCH MORE. I have been keeping reading lists, volunteer hours, course descriptions, and a detailed calendar in Homeschool Minder.

The best thing about Homeschool Minder is that they are constantly listening to customer feedback and developing features that are requested.

You can give it a free 30 day trial to see if you like it -- I'm pretty sure you will!

(The next set of resources is designed to help you find QUALITY support for your homeschool. Whether it be online classes or a local homeschool group there are AMPLE resources out there! )

Memoria Press Online Academy

Memoria Press Online Academy is a Classical Christian Academy with a wide range of offerings.

I was drawn to Memoria Press because of their exceptional faculty and their Latin program.

You can take classes a la carte, or you can receive an accredited degree from Memoria.

We have been EXTREMELY pleased with Memoria Press Academy - having taken a Latin Exam prep class and now Latin (Henle I).

The classes aren't cheap, and I wouldn't expect them to be. We are receiving a high caliber, expert level of instruction with 90 minute online classes each week. It's like bringing a private school into our own home. The financial investment has been worth it for our family.

Mr. D Math

We always get the question, "How are you going to teach your children high school math?"

To be very honest, this was a HUGE stumbling block for my daughter and I throughout middle school. I am so thankful we found Mr. D and his online math program.

You can read High School Math With Mr. D to learn about his offerings.

Your child can go through Mr. D's curriculum online, or they can go through the curriculum AND have a weekly online class with Mr. D. The curriculum is flexible and SOUND.

Mr. D. is a professional math teacher who also consults with school systems to help students improve their SAT scores. I love that he weaves SAT strategies into his class sessions!

Veritas Press

Veritas Press offers great self-paced history and Bible curriculum for the younger set, but they also offer online classes and Omnibus courses for older students, too.

Again - if you are looking for something accredited (this is important to some people) and done for you, this might be the way to go!

Although we don't have personal experience with their upper level classes, my 10 year old is currently LOVING the self paced history course he is taking -- and I am loving the independence it gives him and the TIME it gives me!

Classical Conversations Challenge Program

It's important to note that CC's Challenge program is NOT simply a drop off program. Yes - you do drop your 7th-12th grader off one day a week for a day with their classmates and tutor, but Challenge is designed for A LOT of parental involvement.

You can read all about my daughter's experience in the Challenge program.

We made the decision to join CC when my daughter was entering 7th grade. It was the answer we were looking for at the time -- increased accountability to someone OTHER than mom, a peer group, and a rigorous academic plan.

We follow the Challenge curriculum, but we also are free to branch out on our own if something isn't working. I LIKE this.

I also like that the parent is the ultimate teacher. CC doesn't strip the parent of any of their authority, and this is HUGE.

Following are a few blogs that will prove helpful. These bloggers write about a lot of issues and ideas related to homeschooling older children.

Blog, She Wrote

I love Heather's unconventional approach to homeschooling. She is interested in project based learning and following her children's interests.

Blog, She Wrote is full of so much goodness and inspiration. I would love to be one of Heather's high schoolers because it is obvious they are receiving a rich, meaningful education.

Education Possible

Education Possible is full of creative learning activities for middle and high school.

It is also the home of Finishing Strong, a place where lots of upper grades bloggers share ideas.

You will find many free lesson plans, scavenger hunts, book lists, and so much more at Education Possible!

Starts at Eight

Heidi provides SO MANY free unit studies, book lists, and general information about homeschooling high school.

Starts at Eight has a little bit of everything about homeschooling older children!

Her site is quite extensive, so plan to take some time to explore everything she offers!

Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Kris has a list of 5 Must-Read Articles if You Are Homeschooling High School.

She also has entire sections devoted to middle and high school.

Again - plan to spend some time here, because she has a wonderful site!

Do you have a favorite resource for homeschooling older children? Or, is there a question about homeschooling older children I might be able to help you with? Leave it in the comments below!

This post is part of the iHomeschool Network's Resources for Homeschool Moms. Click the image below to read posts detailing all kinds of resources for homeschool moms!

We are, admittedly, a tech family -- Apple snobs to be specific.

<wink>

My husband is an IT consultant. I am a blogger.

Needless to say, we are picky about our devices. We are picky about compatibility, security, and parental controls.

A Chromebook was never on our radar until a certain teenager spilled an entire glass of water on her inherited MacBook Air, which promptly fried the entire machine.

Knowing that she really needed her own device for homeschooling high school, but not wanting to pay the Apple price tag, we began to search for options for her... options SHE could afford, since she would be footing the bill for the new machine.

After much research, we helped her decided on a Toshiba Chromebook, and what a GREAT decision that has been!

The Chromebook fits the needs of our homeschool high school student perfectly.

*These are my personal opinions based on usage of the Chromebook. I have not been compensated for this post. This post may contain affiliate links.

What IS a Chromebook?

With all of the new devices out there, it is important to educate yourself.

To be honest, we had heard a lot about the Chromebooks, and also liked the price point. (Anna's machine was under $300.)

Rather than go through all of the specifics right here, I'm going to send you to a Chromebook buying guide so you can see exactly what they can (and can't) do.

“A Chromebook is a laptop of a different breed. Instead of Windows or Mac OS, Chromebooks run Google’s Chrome OS. These machines are designed to be used primarily while connected to the Internet, with most applications and documents living in the cloud. As a result, these clamshells don’t have a ton of onboard memory, but they don’t have very large price tags, either.”

Why We Like the Chromebook

Let me preface this by telling you we have a family computer - an iMac - that resides in our school area. It can be used for online classes, big print jobs, and other special things.

The Chromebook does NOT take the place of this main computer -- it is a "supplement computer", if you will - perfect for our teen - a device for her alone.

Basically, if it is in the Google suite of products, you can do it on your Chromebook.

For my daughter, word processing, research, and an online math curriculum are on our priority list. The Chromebook allows her to do all three.

Google Docs

Anna writes a lot of papers and annotates many documents. She does all of this in Google docs, which simply requires a Gmail account. She can work on a paper and then SHARE that with me through Google docs. I receive an email to read and make comments on a paper when she shares it with me. I can write comments on the paper (via my computer) and they are automatically added to the document.

In this way we communicate in a very professional, efficient manner about her schoolwork. It is working WONDERFULLY for us!

Look where she sent me an invitation to read over her latest essay...

Security/Parental Controls

I have heard criticisms of this feature, but we think the parental controls are sufficient -- coupled with good old discipline and common sense.

Basically, the Chromebook has a main user, who controls what sites can be accessed and has the ability to see every site that has been visited. My daughter is just a SUPERVISED USER. My husband is the main user. He can see each and every thing she has done on her Chromebook.

You can read more about supervised users and see how it all works.

There are no time restrictions on the Chromebook, but my daughter has access to her computer during school hours, and all other times it lives in my bedroom and she has to ask us for permission to use the computer.

Research

Any research that can be done online can be done on the Chromebook. After all, it is just a Chrome internet browser.

Online recorded classes

We are using Mr. D math this year, and his online platform is fully accessible through the Chromebook. Anna can watch the recorded math lessons, complete her lessons, and enter grades.

Simple.

There is a conflict when it comes to LIVE classes, however, and this is why we always have the family machine. I was told by the tech support person through another online academy we use (Memoria Press) that Google Chrome has a conflict with Adobe and that the microphone feature will not work in some instances. This is something they are working on, but for now Anna has to use our iMac for her online Latin class.

Potential Concerns about the Chromebook

I want to honestly share some of the concerns we had about the Chromebook, so you can make an informed decision for your homeschooler.

Printing

Chromebooks use something called Google Cloud Print, which to be honest, took a little bit of research and setup.

Now, however, it works like a charm and my daughter prints with no problem from her Chromebook.

Here's a helpful video if you have no idea what Google Cloud Print is.

The "Cloud"

Since a Chromebook doesn't have any memory (everything is stored in the Google cloud), some people may be uncomfortable with that.

This is a very personal decision. If you don't feel comfortable with all of your homeschooler's work being stored only in the "cloud" -- and not locally -- then a Chromebook might not be for you, or you might want to get an external hard drive.

Doesn't support all online classes

If your child has online classes, you should check with that particular institution to see if their class format is supported by the Google Chromebook. Many aren't, because they are plugins that will only run on a Windows or Mac machine.

Again, I believe a Chromebook is a great STUDENT computer, but not a main computer that they would rely on for 100% of their classwork -- make sense?

Final Thoughts about the Google Chromebook

I need to reiterate my thoughts from above:

The Chromebook is a great homeschool middle/high school machine. It can do many things and is a great entry level laptop if you want to spend less than $500 (many times less than $300). I would advise, however, that you also have a family computer (Windows or Mac based) for your student so online classes and any other applications that are not supported by Google Chrome are possible.

Our Toshiba Chromebook has been the PERFECT fit for what my 9th grader needs this year in her Challenge I studies.

So -- does your homeschooler have their own laptop? Are you in the market for one? What is the technology like in your homeschool?

*Note: I will not be able to field technical questions in the comments of this post, but if you have a general question about the Chromebook I will do my best to answer. Please remember, I reserve the right to delete any inappropriate comments since this is my "home" on the web. Thank you!

*Post update: 7/17: We have purchased another Chromebook for my son to use in his Challenge years. This time we picked the following model:

15 Helpful Resources for Homeschooling Older Children