BEEBE — Kailee Metcalf is a home-schooled high school junior, but she’ll begin freshman English at Arkansas State University-Beebe on Aug. 23.
Metcalf, 16, is one of five students who are in ASU-Beebe’s inaugural class of its Vanguard Senior Academy for Home School Students. The academy offers home-schooled high-schoolers college credit for freshman English I and college algebra in the fall, and English II and principals of biology and its lab in the spring. Both semesters will include a Vanguard Experience college-preparatory course, which will cover topics such as how to choose a major and how to prepare for exams.
“We have an incredible amount of home-school students in our state,” said Kristine Penix, director of concurrent enrollment and articulated credit at ASU-Beebe. “It’s quite amazing the numbers that we have.”
Metcalf has been home-schooled for 10 years and said her mother drew her to the Vanguard Senior Academy.
“In the last couple of years, I just felt like we can do something to assist these parents,” Penix said.
Students enrolled at the academy are considered non-degree-seeking students, Penix said.
“These home-school students have come into my office in droves because the parents have run out of curriculum,” Penix said.
Penix also said the academy offers parents an opportunity to let their children take a course in a subject a parent may not feel comfortable instructing, such as some mathematics or science classes.
“I’m kicking myself because I thought, ‘Oh, I can do this biology at home,’” said Shelley Metcalf, Kailee’s mother. “I ordered the curriculum and thought we were doing it at home, and we are really struggling with that.”
Shelley also said obtaining the credits Kailee needs for English has been a challenge, and English is the only course other than the Vanguard Experience that Kailee will take this fall. Kailee, who is interested in the outdoors and fisheries and wildlife subjects, said she prefers math.
“I like algebra and science-type stuff but not biology. I don’t like biology,” she said.
Classes are offered each Tuesday and Thursday, which suits Kailee’s schedule because she is involved with archery on Thursday afternoons. Penix originally considered scheduling the courses for Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but home-school forums that took place earlier this year for the program determined that the other days work best.
“When I heard about this program, I was like, ‘This is great. I can actually give her high school credit, yet she’ll be getting college credit, too,’” Shelley said. “I think the accountability factor, just having somebody besides Mom to be accountable to — I think that’s going to be a huge thing for us.”
The students’ enrollment in the academy will include an ASU-Beebe student ID card, which will get them into the campus library and the University Cafe. Vanguard Academy students can also receive free tutoring at the campus’s learning center.
“The parents love the idea because you’re introducing [the students] into the college life,” Penix said.
The academy will also help the high school students receive credits in a shorter time period.
“If you take a class at ASU-Beebe and you’re a high school student, that three-hour credit translates to a full credit at the high school level,” Penix said. “If it would go on the transcript, it would be a full year.”
Faculty members are also looking forward to courses beginning Aug. 23.
“Professors are beside themselves on campus,” Penix said. “We want to teach these students.”
In the future, Penix said, the school might expand to different academies, such as music and theater.
“We feel so blessed to be able to do this for our kids,” she said.
For more information, visit asub.edu.
Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.