College Without High School Homeschool

college without high school homeschool.jpg

Last spring, I thought we might be done homeschooling.

I’m a HUGE fan of homeschooling, eager to talk about it with other mamas all day long and full of excitement about the worldschooling approach in particular. But we’ve been homeschooling in my little family since 2009, and while it was a GREAT way for my energetic boys to learn when they were little — and while we were traveling full-time — I wasn’t sure it was still the best thing for us. To be honest, the pandemic has made homeschooling more lonely for us, and I was nervous about homeschooling again. My oldest son was a rising high school junior at the time, and we were starting to talk about college and career dreams. He was (and is) already advanced beyond me in most subjects, and because I’m a rather non-traditional homeschool mama who works from home building and running my consulting business, my time was a concern, too. In short, I just wasn’t sure if I had it in me.

So I encouraged my kids to think about going to a traditional school. We researched options, took a school tour, and talked about it with them day after day. Ultimately, we tried to take an honest look at the pros and cons, asked ourselves lots of questions, and I left the decision in their hands. The biggest concern?

Homeschooling again this year would mean my oldest would be applying to colleges without a traditional high school diploma.

It would mean we’d need to make some big decisions about taking ownership over his own learning and career path. And because he has some pretty big dreams, it would also mean he’d need to enroll in some classes and opportunities outside of our little homeschool and do the work without my help.

It took a couple of weeks for them to decide. At the end of the day, they wanted to keep homeschooling (at least for now).

Despite all my doubts and fears, here we are homeschooling again — lucky year #13.

If you’ve been around the Togetherness Redefined blog for a while, you know that I’ve shared a lot of homeschool posts between my old travel blog and my new Togetherness Redefined space in the past 8 years or so of being a writer lady online. I’ve tried to steer away from empty promises or formulas for homeschooling in general because every kid is different and I like different. (Although I did at least share my 3-Step Strategy for Homeschooling The Hard Stuff.) If you’ve been following along, you’ve probably noticed me showing how our homeschool has evolved and changed year after year to become a little less structured, a little more fun, a little less about education, and a lot more about learning, curiosity, and passion.

As my kiddos have gotten older, you’ve probably noticed all the research I’ve been doing about homeschooling high school, too. Last year, I read Blake Boles’ book College Without High School and Cal Newport’s How to Be a High School Superstar with my high schooler, we mapped out a few of his dreams and aspirations, and I learned the value of self-directed learning. This year, I read Boles’ new book Why Are You Still Sending Your Kid to School? and I’m now more convinced than ever that there are loads of ways to help our teenagers launch themselves into adulthood — and not going the traditional route really is okay. Even better sometimes.

As Newport says,

“Pursue accomplishments that are hard to explain, not hard to do.”

And we take these words from Boles as encouragement:

“If your kid wins in the game of school but finds himeself miserable, disconnected, and unable to get off the proverbial hamster wheel, then have you succeeded in parenting and education? . . . Having faith that the moment will come where your kid spontaneously decides to catapult themselves into adult life is a cornerstone of unconventional education.”

But things are way different in our homeschool this year. More different than I could have imagined.

For starters, there’s a big part of our homeschool this year that’s completely new for my high schooler — Dual Enrollment (or, as the University of Maine calls it, Early College). Also, all these years later, we’ve read and talked about so much together that I knew the same old subjects weren’t going to keep any of us engaged. So, I knew I had to get creative. For instance, the boys wanted to study engineering, but I wanted them to study ecology, so we mashed it up and found books that would allow us to learn both together. They’re really into all things Japanese at the moment and I wanted them to study World History, so we’re looking at world events through the lens of Japan’s pop culture. And we do everything in the good ol’ Socratic method as I do my best to follow some wise advice from my very favorite college professor:

“Teach with your mouth shut.”

(Which is also the title of a really helpful old teaching book, too — if you’re interested.)

That’s why I didn’t publish a blog about what we were GOING to do this year like I normally do (which may or may not have had something to do with the fact that I wasn’t exactly sure what we’d be doing at the beginning of the school year). Instead, I’ve waited until halfway through the school year to post about our homeschool this time.

Five months into this school year, I’m now ready to let you know what’s working.

As you read through, just know these are my guiding words this year — some wisdom from the great Sir Ken Robinson:

“The great teachers are the ones who learn with their students.”

Here’s what we’re studying this year:

11th grade

Japanese, World History Through the Lens of Japanese Culture, World Literature, Math/Geometry/SAT Prep, Creative & Responsible Engineering & Ecology, Art & PE, Maine Studies (UMaine Early College), Leadership Development (UMaine Early College), Art History (UMaine Early College)

8th grade

Japanese, Guitar lessons/Music, World History Through the Lens of Japanese Culture, World Literature & Language Arts/Writing, Math/Algebra, Creative & Responsible Engineering & Ecology, Art & PE & Health, Character Development & Leadership


Here are some of the books we’re using:

(and a couple of our 3D printer projects, too — a learning tool that doesn’t really come with a book)

And here’s the biggest and best part of our school day every day ⤵

(getting outside at Acadia National Park - or wherever else we may roam)

It probably looks a little unconventional, hey?

But what is education and family if not constant adjustment, listening to what each person wants and needs, and going after big dreams?

I’ll be the first one to admit, 13 years into taking my children’s education into my own hands, things are getting real. I suppose it all starts to get very real for every mother when their little boys become young men. When most of your other homeschool/unschool friends have either enrolled in public school or don’t live nearby. When the boxes still don’t fit despite your best efforts. When all the reminders about Einstein, Edison, and Lincoln also not fitting into a public school box don’t calm your worries about SAT scores and college admissions. When you’re not a traditional family and certainly not a traditional mom. Especially when you’re not even a traditional homeschool mom.

But these young men at my table are happy, curious, and learning.

They read HEAPS. They’re engaged, on fire sometimes even, and they’re working toward their dreams. Despite my pushing and prodding them to consider cramming themselves into public institutional boxes again and again. (After all, I’ve crammed myself into a few for several of life’s seasons and it was okay.) Despite my working us all into a whirl of discontent last fall about the whole “we need to get out and make friends” thing. Still, we soldier on.

And I can’t help but feel contentment bubble up inside of all of us, knowing how truly blessed I am to have teenage boys who love to read, who love to chat about ideas late into the night, who will sit together and create beautiful drawings for hours on end, even on the weekends, but who are still cool enough to hold their own in video game battles with online acquaintances and battle to the death with their dad and his friends, who I love to be seen with at every get-together in the summertime with traveling friends, knowing they’re great conversationalists with other outdoorsy and book-loving types.

I also can’t help but feel so grateful.

Grateful for our time together every day. Grateful we get to go outside and learn from nature whenever we want. Grateful for what we’re studying together this year — subjects I never had the opportunity to explore at their age. World history through the lens of Japanese pop culture, people, and traditions. Creative and responsible engineering through the lens of ecology. Art and music in an exploratory, desire-led kind of flavor. And even leadership and character development. This isn’t a normal education. I know that. But I think we’re going to be just fine.


If you’ve read to the bottom of this homeschool blog post, my guess is you’re curious, unsure, or maybe even struggling when it comes to questions about your kids and their relationship with learning.

If that’s you, I hope my words encourage you. I hope they don’t lead you to any feelings of overwhelm, or certainly not mom-guilt of any kind. I hope you can see my heart for sharing our homeschool experience year after year — full of failings, faults, and simplicity as they may be — so that you know you’re not alone. Also,

➳ You’re not trapped.

➳ You can go your own way.

➳ You can do whatever is best for your family.

(even if other people would call it weird. . . even if your kids are in high school)

Want to read a little more about homeschooling?

Check out these posts for more info:


Or check out these books about non-traditional education from the Togetherness Redefined Mamas Who Read Book List:

And if you haven’t already, be sure to hop into the email group and share your thoughts and questions - I love talking homeschool!

Or, if you’d like to go a little deeper, take a look at my Work With Me page and come chat with me on a Zoom call.

Wherever your research takes you, I’ll be cheering you on.

And learning right alongside you.

Homeschool, TogethernessCeleste Orrhow to homeschool, homeschooling high school, how we homeschool, desire-led homeschooling, desireled homeschool, desire-led homeschool high school, how to homeschool high school