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I am so scared to homeschool high school


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I woke up last night with various curriculum choices running through my head and could not settle down. It was awful. I finally had to take some anti-anxiety medicine. It is that bad.

 

So I think maybe formulating a plan might be the best way to not have any more anxiety attacks..at least, reduce them.

 

I also would love if anyone could please cheer me up or say something to help my nerves, something.

 

7th grade

WriteShop

LC1

Jenneys Latin when LC1 is done

Jacob's Algebra (after finishing Keys to Algebra)

Various history books

Apologia General Science

Wordly Wise 7th grade

Word Roots

 

8th grade

Rest of WriteShop 1

Rest of Jenney's Latin

Jacob's Geometry

various history books

Apologia 8th grade science

Wordly Wise 8th grade

Some sort of Classical Roots vocab program

Traditional Logic w/DVDs

 

9th grade

American School/Keystone/TexasTech, have not decided yet, open to more

 

I am not listing the extra curriculars as i am sure those will change through time, but the current ones are voice lessons, tennis lessons, Swordsmanship, and she wants to join CAP. She has taken art in the past and might try taking it again.

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:grouphug: I wish I had some wonderful advice for you, this will be my 3rd year teaching a higheschooler and i'll have two in HS and i've had more anxiety attacks than I can remember. I think you have a wonderful plan of action, just be flexible. My kids don't have nearly as many credits as most on this board so we'll have to work extra over the next few summers, they are ok with this, they still love homeschooling and best of all they still love me. They all say i'm a great teacher, just take it year by year and keep moving forward. I don't know about anyone else, but i've spent alot of time in my prayer closet during this season of homeschooling.

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Thank you!

 

I am figuring that when DD starts her high school program, she can test out of Alg 1, Geom, and Latin 1 so that will really help. If we go with American School, she will need 18 credits total so will need just 15 more. I would like DD to get through the Logic and Rhetoric series so that will give us frexibility. If we do the Texas Tech program, they require 26 credits now! This means she will still need 23 credits when she starts so it will likely stress us out trying to get all 23 of those in. We may not have time for the Logic classes and such.

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Well, while I understand the anxiety, you are fretting about something that is yet two years away. By that time, it will be the "next step up" and not the huge difference between a just-finished 6th grader and a rising 9th grader.

 

Having said that, there is a learning curve to the high school years. You'll need to acquaint yourself with college expectations, the SAT/ACT tests, Advanced Placement or CLEP or dual-enrollment (if those will be options) and other hoops. But this board is a wonderful resource. Hang out and peruse and you'll learn a lot in the next two years.

 

Use 7th grade and 8th grade to transition to the high school years. I use those years to shore up any weak fundamentals, ramp up the writing, introduce note-taking and outlining and other areas. I'm actually going to re-listed to SWB's tape "Preparing for College Admissions: A Practical Approach Beginning in 8th grade" today to remind myself of how to mine these years.

 

HTH,

Lisa

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Relax! :grouphug: Just like when you started homeschooling and felt overwhelmed at all of the choices.... high school is really just a continuation of what you have always done. We used http://www.pinnacleschool.com to keep a record and have a diploma. This simplified things for the ACT and for the college application process. It is also the cheapest school of its kind and the most flexible that we have found. We followed the NC State ps requirements to help us schedule classes in advance. Most high school's have them listed on the web, so you can print it out. If I was doing it over again (oh, wait... I will be!:glare:) I would be more relaxed and create my own materials for courses that bored my child, like economics. I would combine it and civics with our US History, even though the schools here separate some of this out.

 

Anyway, I think the dreams are normals when you contemplate something new, but it really is more of what you are already doing with a few minor changes. Those changes are easy enough to navigate with support... something offered here in abundance!

 

Try to enjoy these years. They go so quickly!

 

TFJ

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While I can totally understand where you are coming from, making yourself sick is not going to help. Your plan for 7&8th grades are more than adequate to prepare your child for high-school! Remember though, you are homeschooling, not schooling at home. Take time these next two years to talk, spend time with and enjoy your teen. It goes so fast! What courses has she expressed interest in? What are the long-term goals? Let her have some fun and plan the high-school years together with dad (if he's in the picture ( I"m sorry, I don't know you well yet).

 

I'm in the same boat, trying to plan my freshman's upcoming year and it is stressful. But one thing that I realized is that we are teaching them to learn. And we can't teach them everything; PS doesn't do that, right??

If we teach them how to write well, a good understanding of history and the world, and enough Science and Math for their field, then we have left room to allow them to pursue their interests. As classical homeschoolers, they have done the rotations, they have learned the basics. Now is time to glean from that. There are so many great courses in high-school; Logic, business, work-studies, apprenticeships, foreign-languages, various literature options. As homeschoolers, the list is endless.

 

Just my $.02

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I understand the anxiety! What helped me the most was to figure out how many credits were needed...I went to the high school websites in my area as well as university sites to see what they recommended. Then I made my plan based on that. Then I started talking to moms who've been there, done that.

 

I don't know when the anxiety stops, though. Man, waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat...worrying that your kids will be stupid and it's your fault! Ahhhh...the insanity!

 

So, you're not alone. :-)

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I understand the anxiety! What helped me the most was to figure out how many credits were needed...I went to the high school websites in my area as well as university sites to see what they recommended. Then I made my plan based on that. Then I started talking to moms who've been there, done that.

 

I don't know when the anxiety stops, though. Man, waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat...worrying that your kids will be stupid and it's your fault! Ahhhh...the insanity!

 

So, you're not alone. :-)

 

I hope I didn't add to your panic! I should have said that you don't have to be so anxious about high school. Really, the kids tend to take on some of that worry themselves, and begin being responsible for their own education. Just that fact alone eases the stress... Plus knowing you're doing what's best for your family.

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While I can totally understand where you are coming from, making yourself sick is not going to help. Your plan for 7&8th grades are more than adequate to prepare your child for high-school! Remember though, you are homeschooling, not schooling at home. Take time these next two years to talk, spend time with and enjoy your teen. It goes so fast! What courses has she expressed interest in? What are the long-term goals? Let her have some fun and plan the high-school years together with dad (if he's in the picture ( I"m sorry, I don't know you well yet).

 

I'm in the same boat, trying to plan my freshman's upcoming year and it is stressful. But one thing that I realized is that we are teaching them to learn. And we can't teach them everything; PS doesn't do that, right??

If we teach them how to write well, a good understanding of history and the world, and enough Science and Math for their field, then we have left room to allow them to pursue their interests. As classical homeschoolers, they have done the rotations, they have learned the basics. Now is time to glean from that. There are so many great courses in high-school; Logic, business, work-studies, apprenticeships, foreign-languages, various literature options. As homeschoolers, the list is endless.

 

Just my $.02

 

Dad is in the picture, but unfortunately, he has lots of ideas on how to plan high school. he wants ALL the children homeschooled. DD was supposed to be going in to 8th this fall, but we decided to take a step back. With free dual credit at the community colleges for high schoolers and such, I figured she would be better off relabeling as a lower grade (she accelerated a grade back while in public school) and then just graduating early if she still wants to go to college at 16 or 17.

 

My older one is in 8th grade now.

 

My DH wants everyone to learn German and Russian. DD has to have 2 credits to graduate and I want that to be as painless as possible. I had a hard time learning foreign language and my dh gets all excited about homeschooling and gets these ideas to what he is going to do. Then he never does it as he is too busy. He has tons of art supplies in his office for all that art he was going to teach them.

 

My DH also wants me to homeschool our 8th grader next year! Just planning for our 8th graders high school years at the public school is stressful enough. So the bulk of my stress is probably coming from that maybe.

 

Thanks everyone!

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I woke up last night with various curriculum choices running through my head and could not settle down. It was awful. I finally had to take some anti-anxiety medicine. It is that bad.

 

You know, I went through a similar thing when my (now) college age kids began high school. I was making myself sick over it. Just last week my oldest, who will start her 2nd year of college this fall, was telling me of a conversation she had after church with several friends who were all home from college on summer break. These other girls were ps'ed for 12 years and all of them graduated from high school at the top of their classes.

 

The girls were swapping war stories about struggles during their first year of college. All of the other girls mentioned that their classes were much more challenging then they ever imagined they would be. They commented that note taking was difficult, reading assignments were way huge and writing assignments were agonizing.

 

My dd kept busy her first year but, overall, she felt the assignments were average in difficulty. Then she told me, "Mom, I have to say that through all the homeschooling years where I have practiced reading and writing well and broadly, I see now that it is serving me well in college." As her mom, I have never seen her quite as confident as she is now.

 

So I think maybe formulating a plan might be the best way to not have any more anxiety attacks..at least, reduce them.

 

A plan?

 

Focus more on teaching them to be life-long learners rather than trying to stuff them with all the knowledge there is because what it all boils down to is this-- No matter how much you teach them, they will never learn it all by the time they complete high school.

 

Use your high school years more wisely by encouraging excellence in reading, writing and study habits. These are the skills that my dd regularly uses to help a few of her college friends who never learned it in high school.

 

My 10 cents worth (inflation)... :seeya:

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You aren't there yet. Don't worry about it, yet. If you must worry, and I don't suggest you worry at all, worry about 7th grade.

 

9th grade is nothing more then one grade higher than 8th grade. 10th grade is nothing more than one grader higher than 9th grade. And so on and so forth.

 

Take a little bit of time here and there to learn about transcripts and college entrance. Hang out here and read posts. Read carefully through the posts of people who have been here for a long time and have a lot of experience. (I will leave somone out I know, but Jane in NC, Laura K (NC), Jean in Wisc, Percytruffle, Anna, kathleen, Janie, Janice in NJ are a few names to watch for)

 

Read the high school section of TWTM. Read the WEM. Read a few other books about high school.

 

Relax, fellowship with your kids and enjoy the journey.

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...

 

My dd kept busy her first year but, overall, she felt the assignments were average in difficulty. Then she told me, "Mom, I have to say that through all the homeschooling years where I have practiced reading and writing well and broadly, I see now that it is serving me well in college." As her mom, I have never seen her quite as confident as she is now.

 

 

 

Anna,

 

What high praise from your daughter; enjoy it!

 

Regards,

Kareni

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I have no advice for you, but can relate to you very well. I find myself up late figuring out what to do/use for school. I have a rising 8th, 7th, 4th, 4yo and 19month old. It is scary to try and think of what to use and then HOW I am going to get it done with my destructive:willy_nilly::smash: 19month old!! He can open all the doors:001_huh::sneaky2: and climb Mount Everest!!! SIGH.... So, I stay up at night trying to figure out what I need to keep in my plan (what plan:lol::lol::rolleyes:) and what I could possibly leave out and still give my child a good education!!! ARGH!!!

 

Again, I have no advice, just thought I would worry with you!!

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