Will Homeschooling High School Limit Opportunities For My Child?

Parents are sometimes afraid that homeschoolingmagazines and newspapers to influence public
high school will limit the opportunities that theiropinion. I asked my husband what sort of crowd
child might experience in high school. They mightis attracted to a lecture at a "think tank" and he
ask "how can two parents know all of thereplied that he and his son were the two
wonderful opportunities that are available foryoungest people in the crowd. My husband is a
intelligent teens. School Districts have people whoprofessional engineer and manager at a major
research and publicize internships and volunteeraerospace firm, but he told me he felt like the
opportunities, right?" School Districts may have"slowest person in the room!"
people who focus on this for high school students,For the last month of summer, we worked to
but remember...they have to worry about ALLprepare Alex for his new job. I was completely
the students - you just have to worry about one!unprepared for putting my 14 year old into the
In our experience, opportunities for our childrenwork force. We had to buy him a cell phone, and
came naturally, through normal contacts and theprofessional attire. He started working in
activities of everyday life. One experience whenSeptember, his first week of 9th grade. At first
my youngest son was 14 demonstrates this well.they had him doing office work: filing, mailing,
A professor friend from church invited us to achecking the website, and answering the phone.
lecture on economics at a downtown public policyHe proved to be a good worker and very
Think Tank. He said that Alex would love theinterested in what the "grown-ups" were doing.
lecture given by one of the architects ofSoon they gave him writing assignments. After
Reaganomics. "I don't know why I never thoughtworking there for just 6 months, he had his
of it before, but Alex would just love this place. Iopinion piece on Social Security reform published in
guess I just didn't think of it until I saw the lectureour city's leading newspaper.
on economics." My husband took Alex to theAlex worked for one day a week in a downtown
event, and we didn't know what to expect. Whenoffice building. He wore a suit, carried a brief case,
he came home, the first thing he said to me was,and was treated like a peer by the other
"They offered Alex a job!"employees. It would have been impossible for him
Apparently, Alex was enraptured during theto have had that experience if we were not
lecture, and when it was time for questions hehomeschooling. Public schools simply don't let
spoke right up. He asked something about howstudents "skip school" every Wednesday, you
Reaganomics was derived from the teachings ofknow? Instead of sitting behind a desk, he was
19th century French economist Jean Baptiste Say,doing real work. And homeschooling gave us the
or something like that. The President of the thinkfreedom to do it!
tank was so impressed by Alex's question andMy message is there are opportunities when you
how he engaged with this government leader thathomeschool high school. And you won't necessarily
he invited him to work there as a college-levelhave to work hard to find them either. They will
intern. Shocked, my husband informed him, "He'spresent themselves to you as you go through
only fourteen!" The President responded, "Wethe normal activities of living. Homeschooling is the
don't discriminate based on age."natural way to educate your child. Closeting them
I wondered what this organization was all about.up in a classroom for 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a
Alex informed me that a lobbyist tries to influenceweek is not. You don't need to be afraid of
public policy by convincing politicians. A think tank"cheating" you child if you homeschool high school.
tries to influence public policy by convincing theIt may be the best gift you ever give them!
public. They publish books and write articles for