A Practical Walk

NOTE: I am not receiving anything from NARHS for this review, they don’t even know I’m doing it.

What is it?

NARHS stands for North Atlantic Regional High School. You can read all about them on their website, but basically it’s a way of getting accredited high school credits and a diploma while homeschooling.

How much experience do I have with them?

My experience starts back 20 years ago when I was in high school myself. I have experience both as the student and now as the parent as well. After attending a private school for my first two years of high school, I completed my last 2 years homeschooling. My parents chose to use NARHS, so that’s where my diploma is from (I even got a tassel!).

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, when my oldest was getting ready to start high school. I began looking into different options and we landed on NARHS. We’ve liked it enough that we’re in our third year of it with her and also started our son in it when he hit high school.

How do you do math when there’s a living object napping on it?

What I like about it/how it’s benefited us:

• Flexibility – We still get to choose our own curriculum or even make a self-designed course, as long as it is approved by NARHS. Right now we’re using a mixture of different curriculums plus doing a few self-designed classes. I also like the flexibility of credit numbers. The minimum credits is pretty low, which is great if you have a child who does not excel in academia or f they’ve gotten behind and simply want to get the basics done and graduate. You also don’t have to (and are encouraged not to) stick to the minimum, but can shoot higher.
• Covers our bases in case of schooling changes – We considered sending our kids to public school. When I took my daughter’s 9th grade transcript from NARHS down to the school, they took a quick glance at it and immediately said they’d be able to accept that. Even though we ended up deciding not to put them in public school, it still eases my mind knowing that if we needed to, they’d be able to transfer those credits no problem.
• It’s accredited – I know there’s debate out there as to how important it being accredited really is, and even many schools are not accredited, but once again, I like having all my bases covered. If my kids show this diploma to a college, there’s nothing out of the ordinary about it.
• Gives me accountability – I’m not a trained teacher, and this gives me reassurance knowing that someone else, with more training and experience is approving it.
• Gives the kids accountability – If they were to not get all the hours required for a self-designed course, they would not be approved to get that credit. If they fail a class, again they wouldn’t get the credit. And it wouldn’t just be because mom said so, it’d be because the program would refuse it. I think it can motivate kids if they know these tests are being sent in to someone outside our family to see. I believe it being accredited can be empowering for the student. For a child who struggles in school, it can be encouraging that their work is being accredited by an outside source. For students who like a challenge it can also be a motivation to excel.

The notebook you see, is the NARHS schedule where you keep track of your daily work….apologies to our NARHS consultant for allowing the cat on it.

The Downsides

• It costs roughly $500* (if you get the early bird special) a child a year. Of course, that’s not counting the curriculum you choose to purchase. While that seemed high to me at first, I realize if you compare it to a private school bill it’s not so steep.
• The extra time to send in records – At the end of each school year I have to send in proof of their work. Usually this is done by mailing a portfolio of tests, reports, etc… Living overseas the last 2 years I scanned everything and did an electronic portfolio. This does take up more of my time. The first year was worse because I didn’t take the advice of recording as you go very well, plus it was new to me so I was trying to figure out what exactly was needed and what wasn’t. Then put on top of that my lowly computer skills. Thankfully the second year of electronic portfolio went smoother.

In a nutshell, this is a great tool if you’re wanting your homeschool to be accredited or feel you or your student needs the accountability.

Apparently, no matter what continent we’re on, cats impede schoolwork!

*Update: $600 for early bird 2025-2026.