Thank you to Homeschooling for College Credit parent Shari for breaking down everything she did to help her son Aidan earn 32 college credits in high school. Shari was a first-time homeschool parent overwhelmed by homeschooling during high school and into college. Now, Aidan is 25% finished with his degree, and all done without debt.
Provided by Shari A., Homeschooling for College Credit parent in Texas.
We knew we wanted to incorporate earning college credit into our son Aidan’s high school homeschool plan, but since he was our first homeschool student, I had no idea where to start. After devouring Jennifer Cook DeRosa’s book, Homeschooling for College Credit, I fell in love with the idea of registering him for Arizona State University’s Universal Learner program. It would allow him to earn dual credit without taking any college readiness tests, while offering valuable transcript protection should he ever need it. As an added bonus, going through ASU meant that if Aidan could earn college credit in an English and a math course, he would be exempt from taking the Texas Success Initiative Assessment (TSIA) because he would have already demonstrated readiness for college-level coursework.
Once he was registered for ASU’s Universal Learner program at the beginning of ninth grade, we chose BIO 100: The Living World as his first college class. We liked that the course offered beginner-friendly features, like unlimited attempts on each module and virtual, graphic-intensive lessons that would appeal to a gamer like Aidan. The safety net of transcript protection eliminated any fear of failing, allowing him to dive into the coursework with total confidence. He ultimately earned an A and his first four college credits! It was a huge milestone, and we bought him an ASU-branded hoodie to celebrate.
The first class is so important- try to make it a guaranteed winner so your teen can find success.
Jennifer’s PRO-TIP
For tenth grade, we slowly built on that first big win with two more courses. In the fall, we chose HEP 100: Health and Wellness because the HS4CC parent group highly recommended it as another excellent beginner course. It was a perfect way to introduce him to reading online textbooks, highlighting articles, and participating in online discussion boards. By the spring, he was feeling incredibly secure in his ability to tackle college-level material. Since he is a huge history buff, he chose HST 102: Europe and the Mediterranean: Ancient and Medieval. It ended up being, hands-down, his all-time favorite ASU course.
In eleventh grade, although Aidan was still unsure of his future career path, he knew he wanted to keep racking up credits. We focused on general education courses that most colleges require and accept, prioritizing the subjects where he might benefit most from grade protection. He successfully completed POS 110: American Government and Politics, ENG 101: First-Year Composition, and SOC 101: Introductory Sociology.
Finally, in twelfth grade, he rounded out his high school career by completing ENG 102: First-Year Composition II, BIO 130: Introduction to Environmental Science, COM 225: Public Speaking & Presentations, and MAT 117: College Algebra—the latter of which he highly hopes will be the only required math course of his entire college journey!
All in all, Aidan accumulated 32 college credits. It has been thrilling to look at our local community college’s degree plans and realize he has already completed his entire first year—and it was paid for completely debt-free!
Having those credits under his belt gives him the breathing room he needs to explore his interests and intentionally determine the future career and degree he wants to pursue. I am forever deeply grateful for the wisdom and generous guidance provided by HS4CC. When you are starting out as a first-time homeschool parent, navigating college credits can feel so daunting, but thanks to HS4CC, we can look back and proudly say: he did it!
