8. Recommendation Letters
Believe it or not, even colleges know it’s not
all about test scores and GPA. They know
there are intangibles that students bring to
the table. They want to see great letters of
recommendation that can speak to leadership, work ethic, and character qualities.
These should be professional letters from
someone outside the family who knows
your child well and can write well. This
is another reason why activities are important, as your teen will need them for a
source of recommendation letters.
9. Application Essays
A perfect college application essay is a self-reflective, technically perfect, first-person
descriptive essay. It answers the essay prompt,
and is clearly written by your teenager. I
know, that’s the hard part. You can’t write the
essay for them, but you can make it more palatable by including application essay practice
during their junior year, so they become more
familiar with how to write them.
Great News for Homeschool
Parents
You can’t control scholarships, but with
the proper planning, homeschool parents can help their children earn college
scholarships. You don’t have a lot of control over everything about your child. You
can’t always make your child write well,
test well, get a job, or suddenly become
extroverted. But there is one thing you
can control. As a homeschool parent, you
can control your homeschool records.
You can provide high quality outside
documentation with thorough course descriptions, book lists, and activity lists.
Share your great home education within
the college application. Help your child
shine with great homeschool records.
Lee Binz, The HomeScholar is a dynamic
homeschool speaker and author of Setting
the Records Straight: How to Craft Homeschool Transcripts and Course Descriptions
for College Admission and Scholarships. She
is an expert on how to craft a winning homeschool transcript and get the big scholarships.
Lee understands what it takes to graduate
homeschool students who are fully prepared
for college and for life. Her practical advice
and organized presentations have helped
thousands of homeschool parents muster up
the courage to complete their homeschool journey. Lee’s mission is to encourage and equip
parents to homeschool through high school.
You can sign up for her free monthly homeschool e-newsletter at HomeHighSchoolHelp
.com, where you can also get a daily dose of
high school help. Check out the freebies on the
website, with training materials, free classes,
and ebooks available for homeschool parents,
Free Homeschool Training. You can also find
Lee on Facebook at fb.com/thehomescholar.
Preparing for tests, rather than taking tests cold,
can earn your child the next level of scholarships.
