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Jumping into HS Junior Year - crash course what do I NEED to know???


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Hi everyone,

I had not planned for this AT ALL but I might be homeschooling my daughter who is a Junior. I am, of course, overwhelmed at the moment. Can those of you who have BTDT give me a crash course - where do I need to focus first? What am I likely to overlook or screw up?

Thanks!!!

 

ETA:  Thinking out loud here - I'm thinking my best bet is to break this down into manageable chunks, in the following order of priority:

1.  Choose core subject courses - math, LA, history, science

2.  Choose electives - world language, art, PE/health, etc.

3.  Look for opportunities for socializing 

4.  Research general college admission criteria to make sure we're not leaving any big gaps 

5.  Research testing (SAT, AP), and other college admission preparations

 

Edited by songsparrow
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Leaving a school:

- If withdrawing from a brick and mortar school, get a copy of her OFFICIAL transcript.

- See if DD has any teachers who would give her a letter of reference before leaving the school -- especially if from any past classes that were Honors or AP, or where DD worked hard and had a good relationship with the teacher (i.e., teacher knows her well and can comment on her academics, abilities, and character).

- Find out if this is a "no-going back" decision -- in other words, DD comes home for 11th grade, but wants to go back for 12th grade. Often, bouncing back and forth is NOT an option with the school district, as they will not accept the homeschool credits from 11th grade for DD to re-enter as a 12th grader, but would instead require her to repeat 11th grade under their coursework.

 

What you need to do to homeschool high school:

- Find out what your state homeschool regulations are, and follow those.

- Learn what your student's goals are post-high school graduation -- for example, if college-bound, then there are a number of things you will need to make sure you accomplish, many of these starting in 11th grade. Here is a "High School Time Table" to give you a big-picture idea of the different things to be addressing during homeschooling high school, and when to be dealing with those different things.

 

In general:

It would be helpful to know a few more details to know how best to advise you. For example, the smoothest transition might be to go with the public school virtual charter -- so no withdrawal from the school, the school continues to do the record keeping and transcript, and you are only mentoring completing the schoolwork.

 

If you need/want to withdraw from the school system, there are "umbrella" organizations (Kolbe, Chlonlara, etc.) that you pay to be your administrator and award the diploma.

 

If you are willing/able to do the administration aspect yourself, then you have more flexibility about what materials to use with your DD, and to meet whatever her needs are -- such as remedial or advanced work, or minimal credits due to health issues or heavy involvement in a sport or extracurricular.

 

Just to mentally prepare for what kinds of coursework you would be looking at, while it varies widely, here's a very general 11th grade line-up:

- English (most frequently a mix of Writing and Literature, but other options available)

- Math (on average, 11th grade is Algebra 2, but your student may be working up or down from that level)

- Science, with labs (on average, 11th grade is Chemistry, but your student may be working up or down from that level)

- Social Studies (frequently American History in 11th grade, but it may be something else)

- Foreign Language (usually working on the 2nd or 3rd year of a language, but this varies)

- Fine Arts, or an Elective

 

 

Not trying to pry, but the more you can share what the specific needs are, the more people can give you very specific information, and not overload you with details that don't apply to your situation. :) BEST of luck as you look into this! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

Edited by Lori D.
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Not trying to pry, but the more you can share what the specific needs are, the more people can give you very specific information, and not overload you with details that don't apply to your situation.

OP’s other thread has more info. She might be busy, looking at what she wrote on post #4 of the other thread.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/658989-options-for-high-school/

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Here is the HSLDA link for all the states so you can check your state laws for legal paperwork as well as graduation requirements:

https://www.hslda.org/laws/

 

HSLDA may be able to help you find someone in your area to help you with these details. People who choose to be members of HSLDA have access to lots of helpful articles that can help you with details such as how to make a plan from present until graduation, they have lots of lists for special needs, and so much information that can be a starting place.

 

Also, about testing, most juniors need to take the SAT or ACT in the spring. Then you have time to study and retake in time for college apps. Here is a link to a list of test dates from someone's school, so as a homeschool student your child will have a different code.  I am posting this so you can see the dates.

http://www.washougal.k12.wa.us/whs/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2017/10/ACT-SAT-Dates-2017-18.pdf

 

 

Lee Binz' website has also been a tremendous source of information to me too. She specializes in helping parents of high school homeschool students with the planning and paperwork.

https://homehighschoolhelp.com/about-us

 

 

 

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OP’s other thread has more info. She might be busy, looking at what she wrote on post #4 of the other thread.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/658989-options-for-high-school/

 

The other thread really helps to provide the background missing here. This I found the most helpful in narrowing down such a widely scoped initial question:

 

"I know that I am not willing to do the type of homeschooling we did when she was younger, when I planned her lessons and taught her.  She would have to enroll in an online school or similar and be accountable to someone else.  Are there any online programs that you would recommend for a gifted homeschooler who does not do well in a traditional classroom style environment?"

 

There are quite a few excellent online programs. Many homeschool families choose this same type of outsourcing once in high school. However, you don't have to find every subject from the same vendor/school. That can actually be harder than selecting specific online classes based upon where your student is at in those subject areas. This allows you to 'tailor' each subject to their learning needs. For example, you mentioned those which work well for a gifted student. However, even gifted students have areas where they are stronger in than others such as math, for example, or the language arts.

 

Here are a few we use and can recommend though there are so many great options to choose from:

 

Wilson Hill Academy: we use them for math though they have many more subjects.

Derek Owens: excellent math option if you want an asynchronous program to go at your own pace. He also teachers Physics.

Clover Creek Science: excellent Physics courses.

Homeschool Spanish Academy: live one-on-one instruction and turtoring

OSU German onlne

Music lessons thru TakenLessons: our daughter is learning saxaphone 100% online and its going great.

 

Dual Enrollment through a college or university can be an excellent way to earn both high school and college credits. Colleges also have online courses as well. We used both online and in-person colleges courses which have been an excellent resource especially for science classes such as Chemistry and Marine Biology. Our son took his first programming online through our local CC and enjoyed it.

 

There are many, many more including our own forum's Well-Trained Mind Academy.

Edited by dereksurfs
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The biggest challenge at this stage would be to pull her out midstream if that is actually what you are considering vs. at the end of the semester or school year. It can be done. But normally its more difficult to jump into another program that has already begun since instructors use different texts, scope and sequence, etc... That's where asynchronous courses can be an advantage such as Derek Owens, for example.

 

Also keep in mind that a one semester college course is equivalent to a two semester high school course. So she could do make up in the Spring where need be. For example, if she is taking chemistry now and you pull her out, she could take a one semester college course and it would cover the full year. That's what our son did for chemistry. In addition, if you have a strong student some online schools will allow you to double up on a subject to complete it in one semester. Our son did that last Spring for his Pre-Calculus course at WHA.

Edited by dereksurfs
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Many thanks for all of the advice so far!  We did pull her out mid-stream - she has been unhappy at the public school, her grades were tanking as a result of her being unmotivated and it became clear that she was simply unwilling to put in the effort there any longer.  This was certainly not my ideal situation, but I don't think that forcing her to stay in a situation that was not working would have any good outcome.  It just does not seem to be the right learning environment for her.  I'm not sure where we are going to end up, exactly, but we are jumping in where we are.

 

I do not expect this to be an out-and-back situation, at least not to the same public high school.  

 

Unfortunately, I don't think that a public virtual school is available to us.  We are located in NJ, and Google is telling me there was an effort to start a public virtual school in 2013 but it was not accredited by the state; I find nothing after that date.  We did homeschool previously (upper elementary and middle school), so I know that NJ homeschool law requires only that we provide equivalent instruction, and we have absolute flexibility to decide what that looks like.  

 

We do have college as the post-graduation goal, so that is the thing that I want to keep one eye on to make sure that we are meeting requirements there.  It is possible that our goal will be revised to a year or two of community college followed by transfer to a four-year college.  It all depends what happens going forward.  I do hope that she will regain her passion for learning.  It is perplexing and upsetting to me to see a bright student faring so poorly in classes where I know she can do well.  

 

ETA:  The good is that she seems highly motivated to do well at homeschooling.  

Edited by songsparrow
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Many thanks for all of the advice so far!  We did pull her out mid-stream - she has been unhappy at the public school, her grades were tanking as a result of her being unmotivated and it became clear that she was simply unwilling to put in the effort there any longer.  This was certainly not my ideal situation, but I don't think that forcing her to stay in a situation that was not working would have any good outcome.  It just does not seem to be the right learning environment for her.  I'm not sure where we are going to end up, exactly, but we are jumping in where we are.

 

I do not expect this to be an out-and-back situation, at least not to the same public high school.  

 

Unfortunately, I don't think that a public virtual school is available to us.  We are located in NJ, and Google is telling me there was an effort to start a public virtual school in 2013 but it was not accredited by the state; I find nothing after that date.  We did homeschool previously (upper elementary and middle school), so I know that NJ homeschool law requires only that we provide equivalent instruction, and we have absolute flexibility to decide what that looks like.  

 

We do have college as the post-graduation goal, so that is the thing that I want to keep one eye on to make sure that we are meeting requirements there.  It is possible that our goal will be revised to a year or two of community college followed by transfer to a four-year college.  It all depends what happens going forward.  I do hope that she will regain her passion for learning.  It is perplexing and upsetting to me to see a bright student faring so poorly in classes where I know she can do well.  

 

ETA:  The good is that she seems highly motivated to do well at homeschooling.

 

Ok, well, that is good that she is motivated. You'll want to leverage that energy and provide good learning opportunities in the short term. Since you've homeschooled before you already know the drill for mom/dad classes. You can continue on to the end of the semester where she left off in certain subjects like writing, history, etc...  You'll need to begin your education plan with an assessment. I would simply start with Lori's list and look at each subject area to see where she is at. Since you are also thinking about college which areas have you determined she has more interest in? That might also help steer her last 1.5 years of high school.

 

Just to mentally prepare for what kinds of coursework you would be looking at, while it varies widely, here's a very general 11th grade line-up:

- English (most frequently a mix of Writing and Literature, but other options available)

- Math (on average, 11th grade is Algebra 2, but your student may be working up or down from that level)

- Science, with labs (on average, 11th grade is Chemistry, but your student may be working up or down from that level)

- Social Studies (frequently American History in 11th grade, but it may be something else)

- Foreign Language (usually working on the 2nd or 3rd year of a language, but this varies)

- Fine Arts, or an Elective

 

Where is she at in each of these areas? For example, what science is she currently taking? What has she done already? Does she do well in science or have any particular interest in one branch over another? Could this play into her major in college?

 

How about math? What is she currently studying? How has that gone? What text was used? Can you begin outsourcing there? Math is one of the easiest to outsource with so many good options. Take a look at Derek Owens and other asynchronous programs like Mr. D Math.

 

How about humanities? Can you pick some of those up at least until next semester? Or maybe you can find an asynchronous program for some of those. For example, I think language can be started asynchronously with certain vendors like Homeschool Spanish Academy.

 

What resources are available in NJ in terms of local colleges? Do they offer dual enrollment? Have you thought about taking some college courses early starting next semester?

Edited by dereksurfs
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