Spartanburg Methodist - A Homeschool Friendly Christian College

I was compensated for my time reviewing this homeschool friendly college and for writing this review.  Please see my disclosure policy.  I only review products or colleges that I would use in my own homeschool or want my own daughter to attend, and all of my opinions are honest.

Are you homeschooling a teen who is headed to college?  Do you want them to go to a small college,  like I did?  And one that offers a small and supportive learning community?

I recently discovered a great small college that is especially known for its encouraging, student centered environment.  It's called Spartanburg Methodist College, a private Christian two-year residential college located in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  It is within an hour's drive of Charlotte, and is within a three-hour drive of Atlanta, Geogia; and Charleston, South Carolina.

I love small colleges.  My daughter is currently studying on a small campus where she has made many solid friendships and stayed close to her faith.  Isn't that what we want for our teens, when they head out to college?  You may recall how we made our decision on college here, and everything we thought about, including the benefits of a smaller college campus.

Spartan Methodist College serves only 800 students and it prides itself for its small supportive faith based community. And at SMC, their focus is on helping students successfully transition from high school to college. 

One of the only colleges if its kind, SMC offers a liberal arts education exclusively for freshmen and sophomore students in a Christian-centered environment. This liberal arts college is open to students of all religious and nonreligious backgrounds. 

Each Spartan Methodist College student benefits from one-on-one support from their professors.

Why Study at Spartanburg Methodist College?

1.  First, they offer a small supportive Christian learning community!  That means that your student will not be in ANY large lecture classes, but instead will thrive in small classes, with personal attention from their professors.  They can grow in their faith while experiencing a smooth transition from high school to college level studies.

2.  Secondly, their professors also serve as their academic advisors.  Your student will work with their professor to plan out all of their courses and ensure that they stay on track. This is a special feature of Spartanburg Methodist College. Advising is so important, and many colleges leave this important function to the counseling office, instead of having the student's professors do it.

3. Students who attend SMC for two years and complete all requirements earn an Associate Degree. This degree can be valuable for students who plan to complete a four-year degree because it shows enplyers and college admissions offices that the student is capable of college-level work.

4. SMC offers transfer assistance to colleges and universities. That is usually left to the student and family to handle. Not at this college! All the details are planned out ahead of time, and one third of all their college students transfer even before graduating.

5. Also all Spartanburg Methodist Associate Degrees are designed to transfer easily to other colleges and universities. Most SMC transfer students enter other colleges as juniors. At our colleges and at community colleges, often not all of the credits earned transfer. That is one of the big benefits of this homeschool friendly college.

Spartanburg Methodist College helps guide your student all the way.

Does this sound like a good fit for your teen? 

Learn More About this Christian Liberal Arts College

1.   Click here to reach Spartanburg Methodist's Homeschool Page, just for homeschooled applicants.

This liberal arts college has created a page just for us!  That's how much they respect our educational choice!  Did you know that the application fee is waived for homeschoolers?  Just use the keyword "homeschool" and apply for free!

2.  Attend the October 21st Open House at Spartanburg for High School Applicants and their
families.

Get your questions answered on a student led tour of Spartan Methodist College.

3.  Schedule a campus visit at any time of year.  Just click Campus Visits.

4.  Watch a video of Student Interviews of SMC who were Homeschooled. The best way to find out about a college is to talk with students who have been there.  What did they get out of their college experience at Spartanburg?  Hear from homeschooled college students themselves!  How did their transition go from high school to college?

4.  For more information on this dynamic liberal arts Christian college, just click  Spartanburg Methodist College and ask them any and all of your questions.  They stand ready to help.  Especially for homeschooled students!

5.  Follow Spartanburg Methodist College on Facebook, or connect with them on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, to find out what other parents are saying about this liberal arts college.

Give your homeschooled teen a great start at Spartanburg Methodist College!

Also on the blog:

---Choosing Curriculum with College in Mind

Have you seen my facebook group called Homeschooling Through High School?  Join us!

After helping my homeschooled high schooler get into each of the colleges she applied to, I wrote this guide:

Homeschooling High School with College in Mind - 2nd edition, 

Paperback is at Amazon $11.99

For more info: Homeschooling High School with 

College in Mind - 2nd Edition

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, highschool, 
college, gifted/2e and wrote -Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition,   She offers homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting,  and has had some of her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.

Want to stay in touch?

Subscribe, Pinterest, Facebook 
No spam ever.  
Just encouragement for your homeschool in your inbox.

Copyright, 2019 
All Rights Reserved

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

BJ's Guide to the Common Application

Do you have a high schooler who wants to go to college?  Or do you have a senior who is already working on the Common Application this fall?

Applying to college can seem so daunting.  Even knowing which college application form to use can be a concern.

Some colleges use their own application forms, which can just be downloaded from their websites.

Then there is the Common Application.  It has it's own site and many 1,000's of colleges are now using this application form.  So if your teen's colleges are on their list, then you only have ONE application form to fill out.  And only one place to have to upload their transcripts, etc!

At the same time, there are special things to know about when using the Common Application as a homeschooler.

Have you heard the terms:

•  School Profile?
  
  
•  Recommender Account?  

What's the School Report about for a homeschooler?

And did you know that we have to write the counselor letter for our student???  If your student is homeschooled,  you as the parent are required to write their counselor letter for the Common Application.  

What's that all about?

Today I put together a step by step approach for dealing with these things in the Common Application.

 And the opportunity to serve as your student's counselor reference can be seen as a positive. The colleges want to hear from you, the homeschool parent.  So let's get started...

This guide for you includes:

• Getting Started
• Setting up the Recommender Account
• Dealing with the School Report
• The Counselor Letter
• Teacher Evaluation Letter
• Additional College Reference Letters
• For More Information

Before we get into the details of the Common Application, let's recall that the colleges are becoming more and more homeschool friendly.  There are some that are actively seeking out homeschooled applicants, who are often very self motivated, are an asset to college campuses..

GETTING STARTED 

1.  Ask your student to make their account on the Common Application Website.

When they do that, they can list the colleges on their list of prospective colleges.  Fill out Profile and Family sections.  You'll see them as you go along.  Easy.

2.  Next, look for the section called EDUCATION and click on "Find School".  A window will pop up that lists schools in the area.

Scroll down to the bottom of that list and click "Homeschooled."  Click "Graduated" or will graduate.  Be sure to do that.

3.  Next the site will ask for the Counselor's name.  Since your student was homeschooled, the counselor will be you.

Your teen will then enter so your teen YOUR contact information in the spaces asking for the "Counselor".  You, the homeschool mama, will be listed as the counselor, as that is how the Common Application wants to do it.

4.  That will trigger an email to be sent to you, the homeschooling parent.  This email will instruct you how to set up your Recommender Account.  

That is where you will be doing two important things, the SCHOOL REPORT and the COUNSELOR LETTER.  Both are discussed below.  For now, just save that email. 

Your teen will continue to fill out his sections of the Common Application.  An important part of that for him/her will be the Activities List.  This is a list of your teen's activities, such as volunteering, part time work, church youth group, 4H, etc.

Meanwhile, you will want to continue filling out the application as follows:

5.  Then you as the parent will be answering the questions on your Common Application that pertain to your "school", ie, homeschool.  These are just basic questions about your homeschool, and many of them will not pertain to us, so feel free to use N/A on those.

 This is not complicated to do.

It is just a matter of answering a few questions.  Follow along with each question.  This is the place to report facts about your homeschool, like what GPA scale you used, and how many honors or AP course were offered, if any, etc.  You can mention any public school or colleges that your student attended part time, if they did.

(The colleges know that some of the questions in this section make no sense for homeschooled applicants.)  But be sure to put N/A, and not skip any questions.

Your student will need to continue filling out the rest of the application, including listing their activities and extra-curriculars, when asked to do so.

Now, please go find that email that was sent to you, the "counselor".

Remember, it's that email that we mentioned above, in step #4?  That will give you instructions for setting up your Recommender Account.

That is the next important step.

WHAT IS THE RECOMMENDER ACCOUNT?

When you use the Common Application the colleges want to hear from you, the homeschool parent, directly via what they call the Recommender Account.

They want to hear more about your homeschool and more about your student from you.  And here is how to get started with that:

Follow the instructions in the email that was triggered by your student as explained above.  It will guide you to set up what is called a "Recommender Account".

This account will lead you to start your Recommender work and has three sections:

- Profile - Identifying information
- Students - Connecting with your student
- Workspace  - That's where you do the Counselor Letter, etc.

For the Profile - Just answer as best you can.  Create a name for your homeschool, such as "Smith Academy", and follow along with the questions listed.   Many will be N/A, like class ranking, as we don't have that as a homeschoolers of course.

The Students Section - Search for your student by name, and answer the questions.  The Common App Ready explains much more on how to do these first sections and more.

 Work Space Section -

Here you will be doing the two most important things...

------The School Report 
------The Counselor Recommendation

This sounds daunting, but both of these will help the colleges get to know our student, from you, who knows them best.  Here's some helps for both of these documents.

Let's look first at...

THE SCHOOL REPORT

For this section - Answer the questions one at a time, and after that you can upload your own description of your homeschool if you like.  

HOMESCHOOL - "Please provide any information about the applicant's homeschool experience and environment that you believe would be helpful to the reader, eg educational philosophy, motivation for homeschooling, instruction setting, etc."

They ask about your grading scale and/or how you evaluate your student's learning.

Then there is a section on any outside courses taken, such as at a community college, etc.  Fill in the information on each of the classes that your student did OUTSIDE of the home.  If they didn't do any, just indicate that.

You may add more comments on how you did your grading and expand on your homeschool philosophy, etc.

Khan Academy provides some ideas here - Sample School Report and Transcripts - BUT this is not the current form that is being used.  If you scroll down to the bottom of this, you will see how they described their homeschool.  I found that helpful.

Would you like to get some support on this from other homeschool moms?  Join our facebook group, College Discussions for Homeschoolers, where this is a popular topic.  Please see more info below.

We can help each other!

Next it's --- Uploading - Also in the School Report section you will:

- Upload your teen's transcript.
- Upload your course descriptions

Add them in only a few pages at a time, as that is what is recommended.

Now, let's turn to...

THE COUNSELOR LETTER

As the parent, you fill out this form as the Counselor for your teen.  You are required to do this,  as if you were their counselor. 

The same person who filled out the School Report does the Counselor Letter.  And that's you. But that's ok....

This is not hard to do.  

The colleges want to hear from you, and that is a good thing, as you know your student best.  Here's how to get started with that:

Now you have the chance to share about your student directly to the colleges.

You will be asked -  How long you have known student, context, words to describe student.  Then to upload your Letter of Recommendation document OR Provide a short evaluation (1000 words or less)

"Please provide comments that will help us differentiate this student from others.  (max 1000 words).  We especially welcome a broad-based assessment and encourage you to consider describing or addressing- Academic, extracurricular and personal characteristics."

Lee Binz, homeschool mom and blogger, gives some advice on your Counselor Letter here:

"The counselor letter should include a header and salutation, your signature and title.  

You can give your title as Guidance Counselor, Homes Educator, or Homeschool Parent.  It should include enough information about the student to fill a page or two....not longer.  Your goal is to make the letter short and clear...

Don't write about what the student did NOT do, but focus on what they DID do.... This is a letter about what was done, written in the most positive light possible.... Write only about high school, with no mention of grade school or junior high.  Be professional, ensure it is perfectly edited..."

If you feel uncomfortable about dealing with the Counselor Letter, some of my friends have called the Admissions Office of your likely colleges, and asked them for guidance.

Did you know that the colleges use students to answer the phone in Admissions?  So, it is not daunting.  You would just be talking to a kid probably!

 Ask for a supervisor if needed.  Ask them directly what they want to see in the School Profile and the Counselor Recommendation Letter.  I encourage you to do that, as Admissions really does want to help good students get in.

There is one more requirement to think about.

THE TEACHER EVALUATION LETTER 

An academic reference is required as well.  It is called the Teacher Evaluation.

What do we as homeschoolers do about that?

It is preferable to have this come from a teacher of sorts, so we can uses a co-op teacher, tutor, online instructor, or other adult who has been involved in helping to teach your teen.  Of course using a college professor from a dual credit course, or a professor from a community college would work very well, too.  But that is NOT required.

ADDITIONAL COLLEGE REFERENCE LETTERS

Take a breath.....You have now completed the hard parts and can put your feet up and relax.

Sending the colleges additional reference letters is a great way to showcase your teen to admissions. Additional letters helped my teen get into the college of her choice.

 I have much more on these additional letters in a chapter in my book mentioned below.

These other reference letters can come from leaders of your student's activities, such as 4H, volunteering, a supervisor from your teen's part time job, a pastor, a church youth leader....anyone who knows your student well.

You can have someone else who knows your student well support what you said in your counselor letter.  That is a great idea!

I have a form to use to invite others to be a college reference for your student, in Homeschooling High School with College in Mind.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Sample School Report and Transcripts - Khan Academy - Not the up to date form, but this has some good ideas for the School Report

Applying to College - Homeschoolers by Shmoop

Tips for Homeschooled Students Princeton Universty re Reference Letters

Where is the Homeschool Supplement on the Common Application?  The Well Trained Mind Community

Plus my book:

On Amazon

Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,

Betsy

Betsy is a Christian and mom to her college grad whom she and her husband homeschooled through high school. She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, and wrote 

Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd edition.  

I invite you to follow me on Pinterest, where I share about homeschooling high school and getting into college on a regular basis. My best to you and your high schooler, where ever their path will lead! 

 

Copyright @ BJ's Homeschool 
2023

All rights reserved.

Our Favorite Homeschool High School Grammar Curriculum

Summary: This is about a new homeschool high school grammar program that works for teens who struggle with grammar.  Many teens need review in grammar as part of their homeschool high school English courses.  This includes a review of our favorite homeschool grammar resource, for middle and high schoolers, using an innovative approach.  #homeschoolhighschool #highschoolEnglish

Are you looking for a grammar book for your high schooler?  Or do you have a teen who struggles with grammar?

Do they have trouble with a traditional grammar program, or just dislike it a lot?  How about a grammar program that my teen actually liked doing?

BJ's Guide to College - What YOU Need to KNOW -

As homeschoolers, we are already experts in planning. We have searched for and chosen curriculum each year for our kids. We have decided on which subjects to focus on and how to teach them to our kids.

Planning for high school, with college in mind is really no different, except for one important thing.....Now your teen has their college entrance entrance requirements to fulfill.  

How to find out your teen's college requirements is discussed in depth in chapter one of my book, "Researching and Getting Started".

I am offering it to you today as a download.  To get your FREE copy just click here.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR 

APPLYING TO COLLEGE

There are 2 more important things to know when helping your teen apply to college. 

...and they are not hard at all to deal with!

1.  First, find out if there are any special homeschool requirements for your likely colleges, and many colleges still have them, but they are not hard to deal with.  REALLY!  And they are getting easier and easier.  That is the trend.

and also....

2.   Check to see what the colleges requires re testing.  Most give you a choice of either the SAT or ACT and some are even dropping this testing requirement.  And I don't know of any college that asks for both!  You NEVER have to do both!

And - Does your college require the writing portion of the test? Did you know that MANY colleges do not?  REALLY.  So why do it?  We did not have to do the writing portion of the SAT for any of our colleges.  What a TIME saver!

More of this is discussed in the free download mentioned above, or click here,

The Download includes: 

- how to research college websites 

- the typical requirements for different types of colleges 

- tips for finding out about homeschool requirements

- how to find out what test is required SAT or ACT, or none!

- whether the writing portion of the SAT or ACT is required or not!

Once you have this information.....

Free Info on Download

:..then you are ready to make a 4 year plan for your high schooler.

Making an Overall High School Plan

With our list of admission requirements in hand, we sketched out what our high school years might look like.....with our best guesses of what we wanted to do when.

Our overall plan was flexible, and revised and reworked every year, as life happened.  Yet it was a helpful guide for us, and ours looked something like this:

 BJ's 4 YEAR PLAN

My Teen's Requirements

4 English
2 Sciences with Lab
3 Math with one Math-oriented Science in Senior Year

3 Social Studies

2 Foreign Language

+ Electives to equal 24 - 26 credits

My teen's first day on campus.
____________________________

 9th grade

World History

English (lit and composition)

Science - Physical Science (good prep for bio next year)

Math - Algebra 1

Elective - Photography

PE

________________________________________________________

 10th grade

Foreign Language - Spanish 1

Science - Biology with Lab

Math - Geometry

English (lit and comp) - We choose the novels 

 PE/Health 

Take the PSAT for test taking practice

________________________________________________________

  11th grade

Foreign Language - Spanish 2

 US History 
Science - Chemistry with lab

Math- Algebra 2

English- We did American Lit (fun to do with US History)

 Elective - Art Drawing

Take the SAT or ACT first time

___________________________________________________________

12th grade

 US Government - for my teen's interest 

Science - Physics - also for special interest

English - We made our own in British Lit
2 Electives:

Video-Making
College Planner (see end of post for info)

PE

Take SAT or ACT again if needed

(We did SAT prep and retook it)

______________________________________________________

Your plan could be similar or entirely different from mine, depending on:

1.  Your college choice's admission requirements

2.  Your college's extra homeschool requirements, if any
(Please do check this, ask Admissions if it is not listed)

2.  Special requirements for prospective math/science majors
They usually need 4 years of math, and 4 years of science

3.  Your homeschooling style, your teen's goals

4.  Your teen's interests 

Get a printable for making your own 4 year plan when you get my book.

It is one of the 13 printables available in my frugal book on homeschooling to college.  

HOW WE CALMED OURSELVES

RE COLLEGE

Building in the fun.

I loved seeing this penguin up close, too!

To be honest, this whole preparing for college thing was overwhelming to us at first. What we did to combat that, was first to build in the play....like go to the zoo.  Teens still love that too!

Then secondly, to plan ahead and lay out a tentative overall plan for the high school years.  And it was very tentative, that helped us a lot too!

Making this flexible 4 Year High School Plan helped us in these ways:

1.  First, if I had this plan to follow, I would be less likely to forget a requirement or two, and have to scramble in senior year, to fit it in. 

2.  Secondly, it freed my teen to focus on building her interests, because our core studies were already set in mind and on paper.

3.  It gave us confidence to push forward, and enjoy the high school years.

College Planner - What's that?  

MAKING A COLLEGE PLANNER

COURSE

My teen was  a big part of our planning.

Did you notice the elective called College Planner that I listed above, in Senior Year?  Since my teen studied for a second round of the SAT the summer before senior year.....

We gave her credit for her work doing that and just made a very simple homemade course called College Planner.  We included her work on:

SAT prep

Studying college websites

Visiting colleges

Taking any career tests or interest tests

Working on her college essay

and more.

We called it College Planner and each of my teen's colleges accepted this credit.  That was such a help during the busy senior year!  But you could do it junior year, whatever works for you.  We just estimated the hours spent on these activities, and described them briefly in her course descriptions.  More on course descriptions is in my book.

Then we put our planner away....

Aiming towards college, step by step, allowed us to prepare for the college admission process, while keeping our focus on our nurturing homeschool style, front and center!  

plus an editable and blank transcript form, the kind the colleges are used to seeing, ready for you to fill in.  With complete instructions!

Purchasing my book also helps me to continue blogging about high school and college topics, to keep us all up to date on the latest news re homeschooling to college.

Thanks for stopping by!  

Betsy

Betsy is mom to her now college senior, whom she homeschooled from day one.  She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, high school & college and wrote the book - Homeschooling High School with College in Mind.  She offers free homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting. 

Want to stay in touch?

 Pinterest, G+, Twitter, Facebook 

Click here and get your download.

This post was shared on my favorite linkups here.

Copyright @ BJ's Homeschool 2017 
All Rights Reserved