dtsetzer
05-07-08, 12:04 AM
Well I searched around, and I didn't see any information posted on the site about this. I posted in another thread about this and realized that there may be others who have this question, but won't look in that thread, so I'm posting it here! Hopefully this will help someone out.
For a long time, homeschoolers were considered tier 2 when trying to enlist in the Marine Corps, but I'm happy to relate that it is not true! I was homeschooled, and I'm going in at tier 1 just like anyone who graduated from a public highschool. HOWEVER, there are some things you fellow homeschoolers will need to do. For starters, you are going to have to make sure you can provide ample proof that you aquired an education and graduated highschool. I'm not sure ALL the ways to do that, but I will list the things I provided to my recruiter that were accepted. My mom ran our homeschooling through a certified teacher. Annualy, at the end of the school year we would give a portfolio of what we had done, the course work, papers and all of that good stuff. She would sign off that we had completed the necessary work and I passed the grade. The certified teacher, the little organization thing she went through (not sure of the name, I will find that out), is who I recieved my diploma from, so it was easily verifiable that I had a valid diploma. The diploma has a seal on it, which is important and makes it all official and the like!
On top of that, I gave my recruiter a copy of my highschool transcripts. I also attended part-time at a small private school for my senior year, and was able to provide grades/course work from that as well. I don't think that would have affected very much either way as it was only part-time, and only for my senior year. I also (and this is probably a big one) provided my recruiter with the acceptance letter from the college I applied to. Now, you may not need to give all of this information to the recruiter, just ask him what he needs, and he should be able to give you a list of things he will need as proof of your highschool education.
Now, you get all of that information to your recruiter and are down at MEPS. It's not going to be any different then anyone elses experience there, except you will need to take a short personality test or something of that sort. It's no big deal, and as far as I know, doesn't affect too much. Now, to prove I'm not just sitting here blowing smoke, http://nche.hslda.org/docs/news/hslda/200707030.asp
http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/washi.../200707300.asp
Those are two links from the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, they are the ones who do the legal things for homeschooling. www.hslda.org (http://www.hslda.org) is their website, you can do a search on there about homeschoolers and tier 1, and you will find a lot of articles about it. If you are just going to see a recruiter for the first time, MAKE SURE that you bring up that you are homeschooled, and discuss what you need to do. Provide him with the information from the hslda website, though that probably won't be necessary, because I know that with the previous recruiter at my recruiting station did not have the most updated information on it (He's not the recruiter I signed with, the one I signed with had all the information and said it was no problem!) I signed and swore in, and I'm considered tier 1. To any homeschoolers out there going to talk to a recruiter, good luck, I hope this helps some of you!
Stay motivated,
-Poolee Setzer
For a long time, homeschoolers were considered tier 2 when trying to enlist in the Marine Corps, but I'm happy to relate that it is not true! I was homeschooled, and I'm going in at tier 1 just like anyone who graduated from a public highschool. HOWEVER, there are some things you fellow homeschoolers will need to do. For starters, you are going to have to make sure you can provide ample proof that you aquired an education and graduated highschool. I'm not sure ALL the ways to do that, but I will list the things I provided to my recruiter that were accepted. My mom ran our homeschooling through a certified teacher. Annualy, at the end of the school year we would give a portfolio of what we had done, the course work, papers and all of that good stuff. She would sign off that we had completed the necessary work and I passed the grade. The certified teacher, the little organization thing she went through (not sure of the name, I will find that out), is who I recieved my diploma from, so it was easily verifiable that I had a valid diploma. The diploma has a seal on it, which is important and makes it all official and the like!
On top of that, I gave my recruiter a copy of my highschool transcripts. I also attended part-time at a small private school for my senior year, and was able to provide grades/course work from that as well. I don't think that would have affected very much either way as it was only part-time, and only for my senior year. I also (and this is probably a big one) provided my recruiter with the acceptance letter from the college I applied to. Now, you may not need to give all of this information to the recruiter, just ask him what he needs, and he should be able to give you a list of things he will need as proof of your highschool education.
Now, you get all of that information to your recruiter and are down at MEPS. It's not going to be any different then anyone elses experience there, except you will need to take a short personality test or something of that sort. It's no big deal, and as far as I know, doesn't affect too much. Now, to prove I'm not just sitting here blowing smoke, http://nche.hslda.org/docs/news/hslda/200707030.asp
http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/washi.../200707300.asp
Those are two links from the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, they are the ones who do the legal things for homeschooling. www.hslda.org (http://www.hslda.org) is their website, you can do a search on there about homeschoolers and tier 1, and you will find a lot of articles about it. If you are just going to see a recruiter for the first time, MAKE SURE that you bring up that you are homeschooled, and discuss what you need to do. Provide him with the information from the hslda website, though that probably won't be necessary, because I know that with the previous recruiter at my recruiting station did not have the most updated information on it (He's not the recruiter I signed with, the one I signed with had all the information and said it was no problem!) I signed and swore in, and I'm considered tier 1. To any homeschoolers out there going to talk to a recruiter, good luck, I hope this helps some of you!
Stay motivated,
-Poolee Setzer