Nan in Mass Share with us what your...

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

Will you please share with us what your kids highschool schedules looked like, where they took the classes (cc) home, or online.......I would love to see your path!

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

Bump

[Colleen in NS]

If you do a tag search for nan's words of wisdom, you'll find a lot of her descriptions, too. Great reading!

[Nan in Mass]

(I posted this before, but it didn't seem to come through, so I'll post again. Thankfully I ctrl c'd most of it at some point. It is probably under a different post.)

 

I can tell you, but it won't sound like what it really was like day-to-day. When I saw that we needed to work on something (or thought that I saw that sigh - sometimes I wasted our time). It sounds far more organized and regimented than it really was.

 

I'm currently trying to work out my youngest's path. I've changed my mind dozens of times since I began trying to do this this winter. And I expect it to change dozens more times because I'm trying to hit a moving target. The youngest is technically oriented, wants to do more peacewalking, is a gymnast, is obsessed by strategy games, especially those that either require lots of little models or role-playing (preferably in costume with foam weapons), and now has a small sailboat. An embarrasment of riches. I'm trying to figure out how to balance his multiple needs. Hurrying him through high school into the engineering transfer program isn't going to work, despite the fact that in some ways this path makes sense; his friends, being a year or two or four older, are going off to college earlier than he, and he might be able to manage academically, if he was willing to work really hard. I'm pretty sure he won't be, though. He would rather play or sail or travel or learn how to do handstand twirly things while swinging giants around a bar than do math problems. That's ok. We are in no hurry.

 

His path might look something like this (he's going into 9th):

 

Science: 7th - Conceptual Physics, 8th - 1/2 of Conceptual Chemistry, 9th - MODG's Natural History Syllabus plus extra books and projects, 10th - ? possibly more natural history or robotics or astronomy, 11th CC science (maybe chem and physics 1), 12th CC physics (either 1+2 or 2+3)

 

Math: 7th - NEM1, 8th NEM2, 9th NEM3, 10th CC precalc 1+2 or precalc with me or NEM4, 11th CC precalc 1+2 or calc 1+2, 12th CC calc (either 1+2 or 3+?) (I don't really want to hurry him into and through calc because I don't know if anything past calc will transfer to his college)

 

English: Great book with TWTM/TWEM probably with scifi instead of moderns, a variety of bits of writing programs (sigh) depending on what I think he needs.

 

History/Geography/Government: I'm going to try using a 6th-9th grade French history/geography book series that does a four year history cycle. If that doesn't work (and it very well may not), I'm going to have him read Spielvogel and do a British lower high school level geography book. For government, he'll follow TWTM directions. For US History, I'll have him read the rest of the logic-stage WTM US history list (he's read the younger half of it) and a spine. I'll pick the spine according to his politics when the time comes.

 

French: Try doing Francais 6e (a French 6th grade language arts book). If that doesn't work, just read books and try to find speaking opportunities. Keep trying for the rest of high school.

 

Latin: Finish Ecce Romani 3 and then keep reading Latin

 

Peace Studies: More peacewalks and some reading

 

Piano or some sort of music

 

Technical: I have no idea. He needs to do something here. Eventually I'm hoping it will be robotics club at the high school or CC classes. For now, it is fiddle occasionally with his lego Robotix kit.

 

This might (emphasizing the might) look like this on a day-to-day basis:

 

School 7-2: 1/2 hr. piano, 1/2 hr. Latin, 1/2 hr. French, 1/2 hr. history, 1 hr. great books, 1 hr. math, 1 hr. science, 1 hr. something technical or extra reading for peace studies or geography notebook or writing

 

Afternoons: Go to my father's one afternoon a week at noon. Play with friends. Go sailing.

 

Evenings: Gymanstics three or four times a week. Math and Latin.

 

Summers: Finish math book and do lots of extra reading (history, science, geography). Go sailing.

 

Peacewalking: This is where he vanishes for several weeks or months wreaking havock with textbook and CC schedules. This is also where he learns the most social studies.

 

And I'll make another post for his brother.

[Nan in Mass]

His older brother, who is just starting college, peacewalked and did gymnastics and scouts, and sailed with us.

 

English: Great books with TWTM/TWEM and a variety of things for writing. Scifi using TWEM instead of moderns. He also read How to Read Literature Like a Prof and Sophie's World. VfCR A+B (wish we had had time to do more), CC speech, CC composition 1

 

Latin: Ecce Romani 1+2

 

French: First half of French in Action and some peacewalking in France

 

Japan Studies and Japanese: First half of Japanese for Young People, Pimsleur Japanese, peacewalking in Japan

 

Native American Studies: Sacred Run from San Francisco to DC and a little reading

 

Geography: Current events notebook, Geography Colouring Book, TC anthropology lectures, some reading, travel

 

Math: NEM1, NEM2, NEM3, CC pre-calc

 

Science: Natural History, Ham radio, Human Anatomy, Conceptual Physics, CC Intro Chem 1+2

 

Art: Drawing/art with a variety of sources at home (Especially good were Artistic Pursuits middle school drawing book, which was exactly like my college drawing class and very easy to impliment, and a book about how to write a graphic novel, which together with his speech class and all the storytelling we worked on made a very good foundation for writing.) CC Drawing 1

 

Music: Singing, a year of piano lessons, various other things

 

Phys Ed: Rock climing, snow boarding (I gave him phys ed credit for things in which he had had formal classes and counted the other things he did as extra curricular)

 

Technical: Keyboarding and CC Basic Computing (word processing, etc.)

 

And I think that's about it. The rest I'll put in another post because this is too long.

Edited June 24, 2009 by Nan in Mass

[Nan in Mass]

Day-to-day, this looked like school from 7-2 with a morning break and a lunch break, then a math and Latin excersize in the evening. We had time slots during the day for each subject. We rarely stuck to them but in general, he read history sitting up in bed with his coffee and oatmeal, then got up and threw on some clothes and we did math, then we all did Latin together, then morning break, then from 10 to noon we did great books. We took a half-hour for lunch, then did science and writing (or another language or whatever) and we stopped at 2. Anything he didn't finish, he finished in the car on the way back and forth to gym or when he got home. We left for gym between 4 and 5. They eat dinner in the car. Weekends, he did quite a lot of reading and some writing, and of couse math and Latin. In the late winter or early spring, there was a terrible rush to finish things up so he could go peacewalking, and then there was another terrible rush when he got back to finish things up for the summer (if he returned before summer). He usually returned in late June or early July. I'd take him to Maine and he's sleep exhausted in a hammock for a week, occasionally waking up to swim or read. Then he'd go to scout camp for a week. Then we'd go to the beach for a week taking his friend. Then I'd pack for a week. Then we'd go sailing for a month. He did math all summer and read extra stuff, usually history or geography or natural history, for 2 or 3 hours every single day, whether we were sailing or driving around the country visiting national parks, except the week he was at scout camp. After CC classes began, he pretty much worked all the time fall, winter, and spring except for a brief afternoon break, sleeping late on the weekends, outside activities, and whatever the family was doing for fun on the weekends. After CC classes ended in mid-May, he went peacewalking, returning at the end of June or early July.

 

We live in controlled chaos. Somehow, though, it all turns out well. When we need something, it shows up. My older one's high school plan originally was as follows: peacewalking, 4 years of English, math, social studies, science, foreign language, CC as a bridge back into the classroom and as validation for colleges and for anything I didn't want to teach, and gymnastics. At any point in time, if I suddenly realized that he needed to learn something to get further along with something else, I would drop whatever was lowest priority and we'd do that. It was a mishmash when we were actually doing it. My son and I had an agreement about his education that went something like this: You will choose what is important to you and how you will learn it (peacewalking). I will figure out a way to integrate that information into a coherent picture of the world and make sure you have the academic skills you will need to teach yourself as an adult. I will take a guess at what else you need to know when you are grownup. I will take a guess at a way to teach you these things. If it isn't working, or isn't working efficiently, you will tell me. If I still think this is the best method, you will keep doing it (didn't happen very often). If you think of a better way, you will tell me. We will be tolerent of each other's mistakes and off-days and not expect perfection. I will assume you are working your hardest and you will work your hardest (this is hard GRIN). When you are peacewalking, you have to take care of yourself and think for yourself, but when you return, you will still do what we say. This is an unspoken agreement, but all of our homeschooling upsets have been when I broke my half (sigh) so we all know it.

 

I think the most important thing we did was have clear family educational goals and a clear idea of how we were going to approach them. We look chaotic on a day to day basis, but we generally know where we are going. The chaos is a result of our suddenly seeing that there is a faster path or that something isn't working or that we could be doing something nicer today and it wouldn't upset the long-term plan. I knew what the school system's requirements were, Mass law, and had a plan for meeting at least some colleges' requirements. The rest was up to my son. We made a place in our lives for his education to happen, but he had to do it. It had to be going someplace he wanted to go. I have no problem choosing for my children until they choose for themselves. (LOL There are still things my parents are chosing for me.) But when they have ideas, I listen. This is why they go along with my choices the rest of the time. And I enjoy them, mostly, and sympathize the rest of the time.

 

This is probably so individualized that it isn't much help, but maybe it will be helpful in showing what we AREN'T doing. We all tend to idealize each others' homeschools, I think. Ours is far from ideal GRIN. It has been very pleasant in spots, though, when we weren't frantically trying to finish something before we left to go someplace. And it seems to have produced at least one interesting, good, strong adult. I hope I am as successful with the youngest.

 

: )

-Nan

[Nan in Mass]

I didn't reread any of this, so please forgive any mistakes.

[Jenn in CA]

I have no problem choosing for my children until they choose for themselves. (LOL There are still things my parents are chosing for me.) But when they have ideas, I listen. This is why they go along with my choices the rest of the time.

 

I love this. Our problem is that my teenage boys (14 & 16) don't seem interested in doing any choosing for themselves other than playing VG all day if they could. That would be their choice.

 

I get worried that I will have two slackers who won't leave the house. (Although when the time comes we won't have any problem with changing the locks when they're gone if necessary. :tongue_smilie:) They complete their work and work hard when required to, but they sure don't have any desire to do anything that requires any extra effort.

[Guest Anne in NY]

I've never heard of this. Can you explain?

Anne