Responding to Other People's Concerns About Your Decision to Homeschool

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College
The ability of kids who have been homeschooled to get into college is of concern to many. This might have been a challenge at one point, but the situation now is that many colleges allow, or actively support, homeschoolers into their programs. This is because several studies have shown that homeschoolers tend to perform well above the average in college. And, many colleges recognize that homeschoolers tend to be more mature and have less potential for "getting into trouble."

For colleges that base acceptance primarily on standardized tests, such as the SAT, homeschooling is not a problem because homeschoolers can take such tests as easily as institutionally educated kids can. And, homeschoolers tend to perform better on these exams than the average.

Most colleges that also consider high-school performance, activities, and other elements of an institutional education, allow homeschoolers to present portfolios for consideration in the application process. This gives homeschoolers as much opportunity to be accepted as any other students.

Sports and Activities
This group of concerns is focused on the opportunities for kids to participate in sports and other "extracurricular" activities. The bottom line is that homeschooling actually allows kids more opportunities to participate in sports and other activities.

Most activities that are available to kids in school are also available to homeschoolers. For example, any activities that aren't tied to a specific school, such as traveling sports leagues, are available to homeschoolers. There are also many sports that are available specifically to homeschoolers, for example, basketball leagues. These leagues offer the same opportunities as school-based sports, with cheerleaders, tournaments, and all that goes with school sports.

Because homeschoolers have more flexible schedules than institutionally educated kids, they actually have more opportunities to participate in activities. For example, homeschoolers can participate in activities that occur during school hours, such as arts programs, service opportunities, and so on.

And, homeschools usually involve more activities than do institutional schools such as field trips, projects, and so on.

The only activities that might be unavailable are those that are directly tied to a specific school, such as football or baseball teams. I wrote "might be" because some schools allow homeschoolers to participate in their team sports.