With no annual awards night, how can homeschoolers earn awards? They are a part of college and scholarship applications.

We have to be creative, depending on your child’s strengths. Here are some ideas:

• Congressional Award: This incorporates public service, personal development, physical fitness, and expedition. Students may register when 13.5 years old.
• National Latin Exam if you student studies Latin
• Scouts or American Heritage Girls
• Music/Instrument Competitions, like Kentucky All-State Band or Orchestra
• Church Clubs like AWANAs or Bible Quizzing
• Sports – swimming, karate, baseball, soccer, ultimate frisbee, ice skating, etc.
• MathCON, American Mathematics Competition, Spelling Bees, Geography Bees, National Bible Bee, etc.
• Homeschool Science Fair – This occurs in January every year, and winners (4th – 12th grades) advance to the Kentucky American District Science Fair. Winners can keep advancing to the Kentucky State Fair. They can then be selected to advance to the international Intel Science and Engineering Fair. We have had homeschoolers from Lexington make it there.

Awards Which Can Turn into Scholarships

Kentucky has a Governor’s Scholars Program (GSP) and the Governor’s School for the Arts (GSA) where high school juniors live on a college campus for several weeks in the summer. Both of these can lead to full-tuition scholarships at many Kentucky universities. Students can apply to GSA their sophomore and junior years, and they can apply to GSP their junior year. Applications are due mid-January, and they are very long and can be challenging to print, so start filling them out in September. The more detailed your application, the better your chances will be. (These applications can be 30 pages long.) Currently, GSP and GSA students who also score a 31 on the ACT or 1420 on the SAT will earn a free-tuition scholarship to University of Kentucky. They also receive 35% off tuition at Asbury. Eastern Kentucky University and Western Kentucky University also give excellent scholarships for these students–see their websites for details. 

Students can also compete for the National Merit Finalist Award by taking the PSAT their junior year and scoring in the top 1% of Kentuckians. That’s the hard part. Then students fill out a form to advance to the final level. Students must be U.S. citizens, make good grades, write a good essay, and a few other things to qualify. The University of Kentucky currently awards full-tuition Patterson Scholarships to National Merit Finalists who select UK as their college of choice. Asbury University gives 75% off tuition. Check your favorite colleges to see what they award.