D 1 College Athlete Homeschool

Your custom tailored homeschool life can produce a D 1 Athlete! It is time to lose your fear of doing school different and still providing your kids a dream for their sport life in college if they desire the college sports life!

First off, we parents can never choose a college to recruit our child for a sport. We can not convince our child to play college ball...all we can do is make sure they are eligible if they like a sport and appear quite good at it. We should never put pressure on them to perform a certain way or convince them they will be recruited. What we can do is design our homeschool life in a way that continues to keep them eligible for D1 offers. There is a way!

Believe it or not, you can get recruited to play college ball and live the homeschool life in highschool. When I say homeschool, I do not mean accredited online school. I mean parent/guardian designed and orchestrated homeschool. The schooling option we believe in is especially manageable even for athletes because it was designed by a mother who homeschooled four athletic kids for six years! Nobody knows better how to make it simple and fun and manageable without contention! It does take discipline for the athlete, it takes some scheduling and mapping, but the amount of time your child will be able to work on their craft will be life-changing! And yes there is plenty of time to still be social.

We should never assume our child will be recruited for college sports. However, the NCAA eligibility requirements can actually be beneficial for any homeschool family to plan their educational path, regardless of athletics. The NCAA guidelines offer a solid framework for structuring high school education if you're a homeschool family with a college-bound child. While we don't believe every child must follow the traditional college path, there are numerous exceptional alternative educational routes. If your child is a dedicated athlete, they might want to organize their high school transcript according to NCAA standards. Future doctors, scientists, and lawyers might also need to tailor their homeschool transcript similarly, and in their case, they might consider a fully accredited online school that aligns more with traditional education. Athletes frequently possess entrepreneurial mindsets and may favor a non-traditional homeschooling method. Alternatively, they might be so dedicated to their sport that they require as much time as possible to refine their skills. Believe me, we get that in our family! If you are like our family, you want to study investing, and reading books that build character. Non-traditional homeschool allows you to do that.

Parents, this is your one stop class packed full of tools to make it so easy for you to navigate this path. We did the hard work for you, and we hope you find this page useful!

The first thing you will need to know is the core requirements for D1 eligibility:

English: 4 units 4.0 (4 years)

Math: 3 units 3.0 (3 years)

Science: 2 units 2.0 (2 years)

Extra E, M, or S: 1 unit 1.0 (1 year)

Pick one from English, Math, or Science

Social Science: 2 units 2.0 (2 years)

Additional: 4 units 4.0 (4 years)

World language, Religion, Philosophy

D2 schools require:

English: 3 units

Math: 2 units

Science: 2 units

Extra E, M, or S: 3 units

Social Science: 2 units

Additional: 4 units

As you can see, D2 eligibility is even more flexible than D1. We focused our transcript plan for Division 1. You will be able to download our transcript plan...keep reading.

Did you already start 9th grade year in public school or some other online school and now you want to change to flexible homeschool that fits your families current needs...but still want to be NCAA eligible? No worries:

For outside coursework completed in addition to the homeschool program, the student should:

• »  Include the high school/program in the Education Profile section of their Eligibility Center account. (you will learn more below)

• »  Check the status of the high school/program to ensure it is “Cleared” and has an NCAA-approved core-course list. (Be sure to review the Additional Information section.)

• »  Have an official transcript or grade report to be submitted directly to the Eligibility Center.

• »  If coursework completed outside of homeschool is included on a homeschool transcript, it should be designated as completed elsewhere. This designation should indicate where the coursework was completed, listing the name of the high school or program.

Now that you know that, you just need to know how keep track of your custom transcripts as you homeschool the rest of your child's high school years.

You can be flexible in what curriculum programs you want to use for eligibility, with some caveats. You will need to be scheduled for each year as best you can. They do recommend you turn in your transcript after each grade year. We provide resources here to help you with that. Try to plan each year out for the entire four years and stay on schedule just like traditional school.

We like to think we have some amazing ideas for your athlete that will work for your homeschool path. We have studied personality types and learning styles and athletes are all so unique. Most likely, they want more flexiblity to perfect their athletic craft. Perhaps they travel alot! Perhaps you need online resources that are not distracting and protect your teen from addictive gaming or scrolling. We got you covered for ideas on that here too. You need to choose programs that will assist you in the basics like Math and English, and you will need to stay on top of transcript description and unit tracking. We are happy to coach you on this. We have an excellent custom plan idea tailored to the learning styles of athletes outlined later in this article.

This is why you are here today and we can help you as you read along.

If you choose an accredited online school, that is not homeschool. This post may be unneccesary for you. If you choose an accredited online program, double check to make sure they are NCAA approved, otherwise you may need to do this whole process for homeschool that you never anticipated. If you are a traditional homeschool family where you customize your education and are using a combination of classes online or resources that are curated but are not accredited, then you will continue reading to know exactly what to do. This is a very rewarding process that provides flexibility, time efficiency, and more time for your child's craft. We are excited you found us!

All of your schooling needs to happen in four years. If you are international, you may have different needs so please go here to learn more.

1 year = 1.00 unit

1 semester = .50 unit

1 trimester = .34 unit

1 quarter = .25 unit

What you are about to read may sound complicated, but it really is simple. Just start your freshman year filling out your forms! And stay on top of your four year schedule:

At the beginning of 9th grade year:

You need to begin before freshman year or during freshman year to register and start the process with the NCAA. To be eligible to compete during the first year of full-time enrollment at an NCAA Division I school, a college-bound student-athlete must complete 10 of their 16 NCAA-approved core course credits, including seven in English, math or science, before the start of their seventh semester. Complete your 16 NCAA-approved core-course credits in eight semesters from your initial start of ninth grade. If you graduate from high school early, you still must meet core-course requirements.

Keep scrolling for a Character Skool Transcript Idea and 4-year plan.

Here is the NCAA official homeschool information pamphlet.

Here is where you begin to register.

The Homeschool Transcript Provider for Homeschool must do the following:

The Administrator and Accordance Statement here is required for the homeschool review. The statement must be completed/signed by the parent/guardian and the homeschool administrator (who may also be the parent/guardian). The homeschool administrator is the individual who may do one or more of the following:

• »  Manages the homeschool program.

• »  Teaches and evaluates the coursework.

• »  Awards grades and issues credit.

  
  

  Supporting documents may be requested upon receipt of the Administrator and Accordance Statement. Examples of requested supporting documentation may include but are not limited to:

• »  An intent to homeschool form, a homeschool enrollment form or any other registration document required by your state.

• »  A signed letter from the student’s local school district indicating the student is homeschooled.

• »  A signed letter from your state’s board of education indicating the student is homeschooled

Next you need to map your 4 year plan and choose the right programs and classes.

Each core class will need to have it's own Core-Course Worksheet filled out to be included with your transcript. Find that here. Here is the NCAA instructions for the forms here.

Our Favorite Homeschool Core Tools for Athletes:

Athletes need time in their day to exercise, eat healthy, sleep and stretch, all while managing a sport schedule and homeschool. What if we told you we have core curriculum that takes less than 2 hours per day?? Here at Character Skool, we are big fans of protecting the younger generation from unprotected technology. The last thing we want to do is give a teenager a laptop and send them to find all their schooling on different websites around the internet, and have no protection from the distractions and dangers there. The internet is an energy field. The distraction is often too great, and let's face it...athletes don't have time for wasteful browsing and scrolling, and mom does not want to manage seven different online programs all the time and expect the child to navigate their day indepedently without distraction. The online core curriculum for math, english, and science that we recommend is all packaged in one app! The philosophy, social sciences, and other classes can be covered in so many beautiful non-traditional ways like book reading and exploring documentaries or podcasts. But for busy parents, busy athletes, and crazy schedules...we can not recommend enough the program we use for the basic core classes. It makes your homeschool life so simple. And microschools all over the country use it in their private school systems. It works from kindergarten all the way until 12th grade. All core learning can be done from that app.

What is great about it being an app? If your son or daughter can have all their core packaged in app form, then there is no more dangerous browsing, add pop-ups, and having to manage different browsers. Ipads can have screen time limites and app limits! So they are the easiest way to create distraction free homeschool screentime for kids and teenagers. There are some programs that are similar to this that are accredited, but they are not always desirable. The one we recommend is simple, and maybe even boring to some degree...but our kids in this family love it! Why? Because it is so efficient, and it eliminates distraction. Some online programs have teaching resources that don't get straight to the point. Time efficiency is everything for an athletic family! To learn more about the app that we recommend, visit our homeschool classroom here.

Our Favorite Additional Programs to Fill in the Gaps for Social Science, Philosophy, & English:

Now that your core classes can be so simple...there are some amazing options to add that are off screens and on screens as well. Reading books, listening to podcasts while running, interviewing with entrepreneurs in your neighborhood, exploring Udemy courses, or studying history in the Bible. We know an amazing program called NTNRML for boys here. But the key is to make sure that any programs you choose that are online can come in app form (in particular for younger teens.) I can not express this enough! Using a screen-time protected iPad to store everything will enable your traveling athlete to manage themselves much more safely and efficiently. To learn the examples that we love, visit here.

Early College Credit:

As your homeschooler gets older, especially 11th and 12th grade, they may want to add college courses online that give them college credit and highschool credit at the same time. This option is for more studious personalities. We are very familiar with some great options here. Dual-enrollment coursework must also be clearly designated on the student’s homeschool transcript as a college course, with the transcript indicating where the course was completed and lists the name and location (city and state) of the two- or four-year school attended.

Build Your Transcript for NCAA eligibility:

Homeschool NCAA Transcript.pdf

Download PDF • 1.64MB

Here is some samples of what you can find in this pdf download:

Now you just need to head over to our homeschool classroom and discover how to make managing technology for your teenage athletes so easy. We will help you know how to hold them accountable without having to hover, and how to keep them safe and distraction free. You will learn when too much is too much and how to keep things simple but effective.

Just be sure to register with NCAA from the beginning and try and journal your homeschool journey so you can build an impressive transcript. Parents, you can do this!