In a recent thread I was introduced to a course that would be a good fit for my son....Movies as Literature. This got me thinking. What other unusual High School courses are there out there? Things that your child would NOT meet in ps. I know this is a classical board, but i am thinking outside the classical arena here....although fun, unusual or unique approaches to classical stuff is also welcome. :) Willow.

Hi Jenna, this link should help. http://www.nchenz.org.nz/resources/qualifications/pathways-to-tertiary-education/ It says this amongst other things There is a widespread belief amongst home educators that our students are eligible for the discretionary entry pathway, possibly by submitting a portfolio of work. This is incorrect. Currently there is no provision for alternative qualifications than the ones listed. Individual assessments can be done, but cost the university time and money. It̢۪s worth asking the enrolment officer for an interview, but the usual outcome is that the student will be directed to a foundation or other ground level course, prior to enrolling in the one they are aiming for. The ones listed are 1. ncea 2 ACE 3. Cambridge 4. IB 5 possibly SATs At least we still have a few years to sort things out...harder for those who are say 17 now. Your child can of course do a access course at poly, but that takes time and money, which is why we have decided to do NCEA, via correspondence, when he is 16. You can go straight in at level 2, you do not have to sign off as a homeschooler, and you can still get the allowance.

He has read all the Hornblower books, we might try these next. Thank you.

Hi Deb, my boy is a year older than yours using the American system, he would be going into 9th grade next year, here he is just coming to the end of ninth and into year 10. I had heard that the discretionary entrance to uni was getting harder to get and we need NCEA, ACE or Cambridge. We had decided to do NCEA through correspondence at age 16, starting with level 2, just to keep his options open. How do you get the Uncle Eric books? Learnex only carries Penny Candy and Liberal, conservative or confused. Fishpond doesn't have them and nor does the Book Depository. I did just buy, via Harvest, LLLOTR, and I think we might do Movies this year,(I can buy once the HS money comes in) and that the following year, after that it will be correspondence, although maybe using the ESA guides would link in better with NCEA. I'm not sure as my (now adult) girls didn't do NCEA, but just went straight to CPIT, via discretionary entrance (one had to sit an English test i think). We have just started MUS Algebra, and I might try to find the ESA workbooks to keep in line with the NZ curriculum. Did you get yours from the website? I think I just have to buckle down and get on with it, I think maybe I just have end of year blues....not made any better by the quake of course. I don't know where you live, are you out of the aftershock area? because if so if things don't settle down soon you may find us camped out on your doorstep! ;) 2600 aftershocks in 10 weeks or so is enough for anybody! :tongue_smilie:

Thanks Jackie, I never thought of oceanography, or marine biology, silly really as we often visit the beach. Kikoura has whales, the Banks Peninsula has seals and penguins and the occasional sea-lions and sharks and of course our own lovely Hectors dolphin. Jennifer, I'm glad to know your son did grow, ds is getting a bit worried at the moment! His dad keeps saying he didn't grow until he was 15, so perhaps these things are hereditary. Thanks for your suggestions. A year to grow on seems like a good idea, particularly as we often get shaken awake at night, so sleep is not easy.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Ann! I have just looked at the movies as Lit book. Ds saw and said 'buy it, click buy NOW!" He has never shown any interest in LA of any kind. So now I know what we will be doing for Lit next year! Now History. He is fascinated by Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar, mainly because he loves all tall ships. He is trying to raise $1500 so he can sail on a sail training ship when he is 15. Any ideas? I have hope!

Physically he is very immature, he has yet to start puberty (age just turned 14) emotionally he is young too, his great friends are mostly a year or so younger (although he is smaller than them!). Academically he does well, but does not particularly enjoy the work. His great hobby is making movies. He would like to be a film director, but he is also a realist! So we are not too sure where to go from here. I am not wedded to him going to college, but I would like to keep that option open.

My last child is about to start 9th grade. I have been through this before, but my youngest is 7 years younger than his next sibling. He is not academically minded, unlike his sisters. All I see ahead is 4 years of textbooks and grind for him and for me. I am fed up. we live in Christchurch NZ, although we have no structural damage we did break a lot of things in the house. The aftershocks still continue. I have 3 close relatives with cancer. I am wondering what is the point of all this slog. Do great academics really matter anyway? I started a thread on unschooling wondering if that was the way to go but right now all either of us want to do is no school at all. There seems to be no point to it at all. 9th grade starts in February. I am struggling to finish up this year (5 weeks to go), let alone plan and prepare for High School. Not sure what I need here, just reassurance that it is worth it I suppose. I think I am ready to through in the towel right now, and ds does NOT want to go to school. He has great hs friends, and normally enjoys homeschooling.

Well it is such a fun start and intro to latin that i still think it is worth doing. You would start the next book at the beginning but with more confidence (incidentally he has lessons for the next book on his website) I don't know about those all important credits, as we don't have them here, but surely there is space for a credit of 'general studies' or something and pop it in as a quarter of that. Or as part of history. Or do it just for fun and don't credit it. It IS fun!

Thank you very much, off to the relevant websites to check these out. I love the Hive. I ask a question, go off to walk the dog, come back and my problems are solved. :D

Say you had been asked to teach 3 grade 9 boys, all reasonably bright, but who had no grammar instruction other than the parts of speech (and were shaky on that) I have never learnt to diagram and my own grammar is also shaky. Where would you start? Is there a great book I can get that won't insult their intelligence? I would prefer free off the net but find they go too fast for me (and assume knowledge I do not have myself) I know this is rather the blind leading the blind, but if you have any ideas that will help open our eyes we would be very grateful. (but not KISS grammar, we are using that. We did fine till we got to compliments when he used a whole slew of terms we didn't know!) We are keen to learn, yes these boys are up for grammar! But we need something to hold our hands that doesn't use stories about fairies and bunnies.....;)

BTDT it didn't work for us because I lost what I valued most. My freedom. We could not just kick over the traces and go to the beach and make it up the next rainy day or whatever. The road would also worry me. Yes your house would take a beating, does this actually matter? For some it does for others it doesn't. The other thing to consider is the end of the day. Somedays you would just want them GONE, no matter how much you love them. ;) Get that sorted in advance, unless arranged in advance you exchange any necessary notes and GO HOME. Willow.

Thats great! thank you for this bit of insider knowledge. I often skipped school, and therefore did not get the grades etc I needed...hard to do if you are not there! However I did live above my parents antiquarian and second hand bookshop, and two doors along from the town library. Nobody ever, even once, regulated my reading, and I read and read and read, everything from classics and great books to trashy novels and comic books. We had no TV, the gramophone was not allowed to be on when the shop was open (until 8pm in the evening most days so people could call in on the way home from work) No computers in those days either. I skipped school and stayed home and read. When, later I decided to go to school and get my degree, all that reading stood me in great stead. Could unschooling work better if we binned the computer and TV? Willow

Here in NZ we were inspected by ERO (Educational Review Office) every three years just like schools. The law states we must teach 'at least as regularly and as well as public schools'. Last year they decided to drop the inspections because we all pass with flying colours and it is a waste of time and money. The few who don't are normally reported by concerned neighbours etc and never came through the regular review anyway. We still have to register and in doing so state what we intend to do and what curriculum we intend to use (when we are stating out at any rate) and this is quite a process that cuts some hopeless people out as they cannot be bothered jumping through the hoops. But i just thought I would mention that our government reviewers think we homeschoolers are so great they don't want to check on us anymore! Willow.

I am really enjoying this thread. I don't think I or ds have the right attitude to go the unschooling route...or the money! I don't think I have the courage (or maybe the faith in my child ;)) and I don't think ds would actually do anything he didn't want to. I regret wasting my own education,I was rarely there, I played truant most of the time, which is one reason I homeschool. However I think we can compromise. When asked again he feels he doesn't have enough time to pursue his own interests, and he is really really interested in film making. Here is my plan. (9th grade) Maths Science LA all as planned by me (roughly one hour each per day, maybe a bit less if he stays on task.) One mutually agreed academic elective. (eg history, geog, a language, logic etc) this may rotate each term. This means about 4 hours of work, which could be completed in the mornings thus leaving the afternoons for.... A 'project' which is allocated school time to pursue any project of his choice, at the moment film, but could be anything (and if script writing, for example....or film costing or whatever.... flows over into LA that is OK but we would also do other types of writing in LA too) Plus a mini co-op class at my house on Tuesday afternoons with his 2 best friends to actually 'study' aspects of filmaking, or to work on their latest film project. We don't have to keep a score of credits here, and he will be doing correspondence at 16 years of age (2 years time) to get NCEA if he wants to go to college, so I don't need to worry about that side of things. Also it looks like the Hobbit is going ahead, we could maybe visit Weta studios etc whilst all this is going on.......

Has anyone used the McGraw Hill "demystified' series of books either for yourself or for a High Schooler? e.g. Biology Demystified, Algebra Demystified. Any comments, reviews? I thought they looked great for an introduction to a topic, or for me to start catching up with the kids. ;) Willow.

I think I mean radical unschooling. I had one dd (now an adult) who asked to design her own High School programme. It consisted of Japanese, Italian and French, Algebra, Apologia Biology, Ballet, Formal Logic, Music and her own writing studies which resulted in her being published several times during her High School years (short stories) I said 'carry on'! My job was to provide curriculum, tutors and cheer her on. Ds starts High school next year (Feb) and I asked him if he wanted to plan his High school studies. He asked to unschool, but had no idea of what he would do. He pointed out his acquaintance, through HS sport, S, radically unschools and only does what he wants, if he wants. I see 'S' regularly and he seems a pleasant enough lad but woefully ignorant unless we are talking about popular music or video games etc. I cannot comment on his maths or writing ability but I know he reads at a low level. His mum was bragging about unschooling saying 'S' reads History for fun. Turns out he reads the 'Horrible History " books (this boy is 15) I said Ds needed a plan to unschool, and he could bring me a list of what he wanted to study. Ds said unschooling doesn't work like that, but it meant he only did anything if he wanted to. The only plan he had was to make a movie with his friends. :tongue_smilie: But it got me wondering is 'S' representative of the breed 'unschooler' or not?

This is a great idea, this I can cope with! Big envelopes and a nice list of what goes in it! I'm going to start this next school year (I am almost at the end of the school year here, new school year starts early Feb, although we will start mid jan I think)

Well I would have chosen d because privacy was the only thing that came near concealment but I cannot make cache and showcase match at all! I have to say i hate analogies though......;) I can never make them fit, I keep going "yes, but, its not really even close is it...."

Just curious here. Does anyone know of anybody in real life who unschooled their High School kids, and it was a success? I know of a number who unschooled successfully in the early years, and I have read of stories in books about kids who all seem to be mega geniuses, but does anybody know of real kids in real families where this has worked? I ask because ds asked......:tongue_smilie: Willow.

Stupid.

Everybody tries it on sometime or other. Think about it, if your toddler never threw a tantrum or your teenager never tested the boundaries then what sort of adults would they be...someone who just did what they were told all their lives. Do we really want that? I told my older crew a password. If they phoned and used this password (it was a message from Auntie Pat who does not exist. The kid would say "Mum I've a message from Auntie Pat...) then i would pick them up from wherever they were...regardless of if they were supposed to be there or not...and no questions asked, no reprisals. Good kids have died because they were too scared to call mum or dad for help. Because they might be in trouble forever. Oldest used it once. She had gone to a party instead of a sleepover, it was crashed by loads of older kids who brought loads of alcohol, after txting around to each other that a party was taking place. DD and friend were terrified. Dh extracted her and got her and friend home safely. We kept our part of the bargain. No reprisals. Dd has never forgotten this and has been totally reliable since (mind you she is an adult with a flat of her own now! I mean during the rest of her years at home with us) Yes ground her, yes explain why, but she is not a bad kid, and she merely went to a party without permission, she is not on drugs, you did not have to collect her from jail.....I'll not go on, you get the idea. But remember, if you ground her forever and tell her there is no way back to redemption and trust, she might as well spend her life climbing out of the windows at 4am because she is obviously beyond all redemption so what has she to loose? Consequences, forgive, forget, move on. Willow.

Gosh, conventions in America sound much more fun than the ones in NZ! :tongue_smilie:

I attended all big events with dd (anaphylatic) and all food events until she was old enough to understand and inject herself (about 11 years for the injecting) This was one reason we homeschooled. However i did also tell people and ask them to ask their kids not to share food with mine. You cannot simply stay at home, not good for you or your kid, but I didn't do big co-ops etc, only little groups. ETA. Kids with contact allergens should wear gloves (of a type they are not allergic to!) in group situations. Other kids should be reminded to wash hands after eating.

I also have given up wearing makeup and my 21 year old dd doesn't wear it either. I didn't give up with any great intentions but I just found it was more trouble than it was worth...somehow I never had the skills to keep it on/in the right place/or even look how I wanted it to. So I stopped, just like that. And i love it. The freedom, the feel, and the better skin I now have. and before you ask...I am 48 and not blessed with any great natural external beauty! Now my girls question their friends automatic use of the stuff. DD21 doesn't wear it. Dd 19 does on occasion, the younger ones are not yet at the age.