As children start maturing into adults, parents may feel insecure about homeschooling. Many parents then discontinue the homeschooling process and happily hand over the reign to outside authorities. But is this really necessary? Is the strictly compartmentalized education provided in schools a better option?

If social concerns are worrying you, look for interest-oriented associations, clubs and societies. It's also an option in many school districts that homeschooled students are still able to participate in band, choir, sports, etc. You'll need to check with school districts about this. These offer a lot of support for leaders, opportunity for shared experience, and foster a sense of belonging. Make up your own group or share this responsibility with someone else. Home education support groups provide fantastic opportunities to meet your child's needs. This is the best way to develop intelligent, self-motivated, healthy and able young people.

If the growing burden of some of the higher level Math or Science seems to be beyond you, enlist the help of someone who knows more. There are also wonderful curriculum's out there done via video or other media to help. Another alternative is to enroll in a school just for that specific class, although you'll need to research what's available to you in that route. I know my son took a science lab class one semester at the local high school. For one class, he took an art class at a local art store and it was an incredible experience for him. We got creative in making a curriculum that fit both his needs and interests. You can even barter your own services and thus save some money. With homeschooling becoming more and more popular, support groups will have innumerable resources that help you find the right teacher for your child.

When my son was in high school, proper documentation was very important to me and figuring out the whole graduation process and further education. For us, we went through a school in Massachusetts called North Atlantic Regional Schools. This is a physical high school in MA. But they also provide documentation for homeschoolers. Even tho we lived physically in another state, my son graduated according to the state of MA. requirements, and ended up eventually with a high school diploma from this school, the same as if he had physically attended this high school. We were assigned a teacher who was a wonderful coach to help us with suggestions for meeting graduation requirements, and anything else we had questions on. We documented our work, sent in supporting paperwork, grades, etc. and at the end my son was given his high school diploma. They also sent supporting documentation out to colleges / tech schools as my son needed to continue his education. He eventually chose a technical school and was the youngest student this school ever had, and graduated from that school.

The underlying principle that guides homeschooling is this: any child has the innate capacity to grow, develop and achieve his or her full potential. All it needs is the right environment and all the right answers. Be the resource person to help find those resources that your student needs, it doesn't have to be you personally teaching that subject. Be there to provide these and think twice before you turn over this responsibility to a third party. We found homeschooling at the high school level to be very rewarding and wouldn't change a thing! Don't be afraid of it.