The following from the article struck me: "The University of Miami, however, awards merit scholarships averaging more than $23,000 a year to almost a quarter of its freshmen, while Tulane promises an average of more than $20,500 annually to a third of its new students. The University of Southern California offers 100 full-tuition scholarships, more than 200 half-tuition scholarships and more than 250 awards equal to one-quarter of its tuition to freshmen each year. The University of Chicago, which often competes with the Ivies for students, gives scholarships that average $10,600 to 16 percent of its freshmen. Even public universities, despite state budget cuts, continue to offer merit aid to try to build an accomplished student body." Those percentages seemed higher than I would have guessed for merit based aid.

It looks like a great Freshman year. The logic and the co-op Speech and Debate should go well together. Dd is also starting her 1st high school year. I wonder if your stress is like mine. I am comfortable with the materials, content and expectations. I am not all at ease about whether she will rise to the occassion :001_unsure:. Age/stage may be the hardest challenge in the plan.

The way we have seen the schools handle mid-school courses: 1. They are shown on the transcript, but not calculated in GPA 2. They are not counted toward credit hour totals a given school requires toward graduation 3. They advise parents that if a college specifically requires x numbers of years in a given subject area, those credits must be done in the high school years. So if a student took Alg.1 and Geometry in middle school and the college requires 3 math credits in high school, the student would need to take three more during the high school years. It is as though the courses are "recognized" for completion but not allowed to impact GPA (class rank), college specific requirements and often not allowed as credits completed toward the given schools total credits required.

I am actually opting to do exactly that in two areas. World History and Biology. She will get one credit for each, but will have spent two years on them. We simply wanted to go deeper than a year would allow. I guess I feel that is part of the beauty of homeschool. I would not give more credit, but being able to really explore fuller is a nice luxury. I talked to some local high school teachers and they said they often don't finish the text in Biology in a year. I know many World History classes don't manage to cover past WW2 really well. So, I figure there is nothing wrong with spending two years to really dig in, but only get one credit.

Oops, forgot to say if we went econ instead it would be McConnell/Brue as spine with some other materials worked in to the mix.

This would be done with a textbook. Actually the text is Government in America AP Edition, Edwards. She would also be reading and watching some some discussions about DeToqueville, The Federalist's Papers (and responses). The course was actually planned for the full year, then we realized she would have this eight week block stuck in town for the theatre/dance stuff but a block of time each day. She likes the idea of doing it and then using the time in the year to prep for the AP exam. I often took classes in the summer sessions in college. They were some of my favorites, because it was intense/focused for a short time. Just didn't know how that might translate high school wise...so figured I would tap the experience here.

We have homeschooled year round, but I am pondering some sort of more clearly defined school year (36 week), with summer school. What I have in mind is something to knock out one credit over 8 weeks. If counting credits on a time basis, it would be 3.5 hours a day/8 weeks = 140 hours. This would be for either an economics class or a government/civics class. Time otherwise during this 8 week stretch would be in the theatre/dance/music for intensives for local programs only offered in the summer. Anyone tried something like this? Upsides/Downsides? BTDT type thoughts?

Phew, glad to know it isn't just me. Why is it they can make such effective verbal arguments for things like...being able to wear makeup, being allowed to go to a party...and completely fumble the ball at times translating those skills to a logical piece of composition? I have considered having all protests of parental decisions put in writing and counting it in some way as credit :tongue_smilie:.

We chose to use 8th grade to do a very focused study in ancient history and corresponding literature. This allows us to enter 9th grade at the middle of the Middle Ages. I could not imagine trying to do World History/Literature from "pre-history" thru Y2K in one year, and do cover it as we wanted. Frankly, it will be more rushed than I would like to cover what we have remaining, even with the other now done. When I looked at Biology, I had a similar reaction. "There is far more here than I want to tackle in one year." We spent a good bit of time this year (8th grade) on cellular processes, biochemistry topics and will spend the summer on anatomy/physiology. It was having those texts on hand that gave the wake up call and led me to plan in this manner. Dd would not have been ready in 6th/7th to really do this, but by 8th she was. I could not have planned it exactly this way when looking a couple of years ago, but having a general roadmap exposed what might be possible. On the other hand, I found composition to be a whole lot harder to "plan". Maturity has been such a huge factor in her development as a "writer". I am not sure how to really plan backwards for it. It is one thing to know that ultimately they need to be able to contstuct short answers, essays, concrete descriptive writing and communicate research effectively. It is another to methodically do it.

With one beginning 9th grade next year, I can offer the perspective of being on the threshold but not thru the door. I am thrilled we emphasized physics in middle school. It was fun, it fit well with logic stage thinking and it encouraged Dd to pick up the pace in math a bit. She saw the utility as she wanted to understand and solve. We still did some chemistry and biology along the way, but phyics was the dominate theme. Formally doing chemistry and biology next year comes with a much higher comfort level. The thing I pat myself on the back for doing is buying really cheap used copies of college/high school subject text when we started middle school. It helped to have them at arms length, as I weighed which choices year by year. As it turned out, we both used them a good bit here and there for reference along the way. Dd often read them just because. I spent $110.00 on 10 subject areas, but I know I saved a great deal along more the way, by being able to weed out what wouldn't build the foundations we wanted. (Regentrude's idea of using the problem sets from them to create tests for our "real" materials makes them continue to have a use). I don't know what value to place on just having a general sense of where it all was leading gave me as we worked thru middle school, but it would be a high value. There is so much that we can't control the timing on along the way. Who can accurately predict when all the "becoming" parts of teenagedom will enter the scene? Oh, wouldn't it be nice to have an accurate pacing guide for life? The other bit I am glad for is that we made lots of time to try new things, even ones that didn't seem immediately interesting. It really helped Dd to choose some areas she would her focus energy and effort beyond academics as she is entering high school. Some were predictable, others not so much. As it turns out, many high school extracurricular type activities need (or benefit from) pre-req's and it helped to have the groundwork in place.

One of the best tidbits I received before attending college involved peers. At a four year university, those occupying seats next to you are likely to be just a driven, just as accomplished and just as well prepared. Some may be far more experienced and accomplished. Unlike being the first in a high school class, those whose work will be compared to yours were the tops for their schools as well (or may have served in the military, traveled extensively abroad, been from foreign countries, already earned some other post secondary degree or have worked professionally for years). I have known kids who were truely rattled by finding their work compared to those hailing from equal or better prepartion for the first time in their lives.

I wonder if it is the school part or the teenager part that makes it so much of a challenge....

Mine three! She will simply be doing more work than might otherwise be a credit, but I think it will benefit her to do so. I would much rather put the extra time in for 9th grade, than wait and try to conjole/pry/force the same out of an older teen. English as a 9th grade course may well wind up taking two credits worth of time. I would just rather see it early in the high school game, than later.

Same here, except I tend to have the time to listen/watch more so than Dd. Thus, I often select particular lectures within a course for her to use. One very useful aspect is the opportunity to learn to take notes from a lecture. Dd's skills in this area have greatly advanced along the way. I use the courses to plan Dd's courses. The bibliographies in the guide book are rich sources of additional information. Often the professors will suggest a text to accompany the course. Listening to a course and reviewing a text helps me feel more comfortable dealing with scope, sequence and pacing. We also love that the courses allow us to engage areas of curiosity we might otherwise not jump into independently. An example would be Meteorology or Astronomy. Having a course all neatly presented allows us to explore more areas. It is an expensive addiction. However, given the price of going out for dinner and a movie it is not so bad. We often opt for microwave popcorn and a lecture.

Dd will be taking a locally offered composition course. I wanted her to have the opportunity to write for another audience, with another view and another set of expectations. Until we are into it I am not sure what to expect. I wanted to try this at 9th grade to help me know where to go for the following three years.

Out of curiosity I just read the article and was left with the same :confused: I often have when trying to really understand unschooling. He describes having a class of 12 students ages 9-12 enthusiasitically ask him to teach them. Then he explains he went to the library and found an old text, set strick attendance rules, devoted 20 hours to direct instruction and assigned homework. He even said they were required to memorize their multiplication tables. If that is "unschooling", perhaps I am more radical than I ever imagined myself to be. I choose a text, dedict time, insist on good respectful work habits, sometimes teach directly and sometimes assign homework. Wow, who would have guessed, eh? I probably shouldn't mention that I occassionally don't exactly follow the text, sometimes use other media to convey information/processes and don't care whether math is done at 11:00 am or some other time (as long as it is done). Seriously, I do struggle with how "unschooling" ultimately winds up being something so different from taking into account a students particular strengths and weakness. If it is about waiting until a child is ready to learn, then I will confess that sometimes happens as well. I guess I just don't understand. Now if it boils down to never insisting a student learn a particular subject (or progression thereof) over 13 years, then I am not a unschooler in any sense of the word because I do believe there are core areas of knowledge and skill a student needs. I also recognize that the goals my Dd has require sometimes meeting someone elses standards. I may not agree that a formal credit in "Health" is needed for my child, but if a college she wants to attend expects it, so be it. I suspect what will ultimately matter with those 12 students is whether they continue to employ those lessons as they progress. If they did the 20 weeks and then didn't look at math again for a couple of years, I suspect they may be doing a few more. But, that is just a hunch.

Many professions I think about in terms of 10 years from now seem vulnerable to significant change. Take teaching for example, I see a trend in schools for dual enrollments and online/distance learning. Law--more and more the processes are automated and the research is done entirely differently than two decades ago. Medicine--apps and various monitoring technologies plus a trend in policy toward more standardization mean changes to the profession. We are in a time of change. I wonder at times if this is how families who had farmed for generations felt as they poured into the cities and became part of the urban classes at the end of 19th/beginning of 20th century. I have had two different seniors graduating from high school this year tell me their younger siblings entering high school this year will have a much harder path to trek. They base this on all the changes they see in their schools that they just barely grandfathered out of. It is a tough time to be making the decisions high schoolers are having to make. I can't remember where I heard it recently, but one speaker noted that they trend is strongly toward people having multiple (and often vastly different) careers in their working life. All that said, I am trying to provide a solid but diverse experience, opening as many opportunities as possible for a changing world. The only thing that does seem certain is the trend toward more and more education beyond high school. One other note, is the statistics that show how many hold a BA often don't account for whether it was done on a traditional 4 year schedule. I remember reading somewhere that a big surge of later in life degree earners has been in place over the past decade.

I can't offer a tried and tested answer, we will be doing this for 9th grade next year as well. But I can share what we are planning and why. The consistent response I hear/read about assigning credits is 130 to 180 hours work time and/or completion of the text/program. I found in planning this guideline flies out the window for 9th grade Lit/Comp (English) for us. I can foresee easily exceeding 180 hours and we don't intend to use a single curriculum. This is the year to firm up areas Dd will need over the following three years (strong composition skills, grammar, vocabulary, literature providing the fodder of allusions, a bit more spelling reinforcement and so forth). Although it will be more time (7/8 as opposed to 5 hours a week), I see this as a chance to solidify skills earlier in the process to make the later years refinining/practice years. Thus, I sat down and pretended that time or book completion was not the question and asked instead what do we need/want to accomplish in composition and literature this upcoming year. Doing so it was clear time in the schedule to meet the those goals was needed. It meant postponing an elective, but for us it felt worth it to really beef up this skill area early in the process. Math, Lit/Comp and Science will dominate the time schedule for the year. History, Spanish and Latin will be done, meet either means of measuring credits, but in terms of time I have been much more reserved in the goals for them for this particular year. Hopefully you will get lots of responses from the experienced/btdt posters.

Dd had a chance to look at lessons from each of them and chose Art Reed's. If you go to the website, sample lessons can be viewed. Her choice was based on liking his manner/personality. I wondered if the same presenter might grow old, but after two years Dd still likes him and we have already bought next year's. One note (I don't know about the others), if you do go with Art Reed's make sure your editions of Saxon match.

A few other considerations that come into the mix: 1. A particular teen may be entirely academically ready for college content, but not ready for the college environment in terms of social/emotional issues. Thus, online or intensive self study may be a great compromise to continue to challenge appropriately. 2. Scheduling can play a huge part in many ways. A class may be cheaper and more rigorous, but not fit the overall schedule comfortably, and decisions have to be made. 3. The world is increasingly digitally interactive and the experience of taking an online class may have value in the doing and process sense.

My head spins watching college admissions become more and more competitive and simultaneously seeing constant reports from colleges that students are entering underprepared. It is like a race where everyone is running further and faster to arrive and find out they should have been sailing, not running.

Having a child who loves the performing arts is special treat. Those moments when I overhear the latest song written, or see the smiles that come with finally mastering the accent for the current play are priceless. (Sometimes hearing the same few measures of a tune over and over and over while the dance steps are being mastered or the chords are being practiced can be tedious.) It is hard not to clap far too loud when you see the finished product polished and executed and know the work and effort that went into it. Dd is also entering 9th grade next year with a passion for the performing arts. The decisions are so wrenching. If this, then not that…it is hard to compromise when doing it all has been such a great experience. For years she spent at least 15 hours a week in classes for dance, theatre and music plus conventions, competitions, pre-performance rehearsals, performances, master classes, intensives, auditions and about 5 more hours weekly practicing independently. Averaged over the school year it works out to about 28 hours a week (a part time plus job). Summers just mean more. As much as she loves it, she looked around her at her peers in each area and accepted that if her goal is a post high school professional program or selective conservatory she would need to focus heavily in one area and abandon some academic goals. Dd realized about a year ago that was not a compromise she was willing to make. She isn’t abandoning her passions in doing so, just coming to terms with where they may take her. As she worked through her decisions, we used this year as a trial. She carried a high school course load with the associated expectations and maintained her p-arts activities. She/We learned a lot. Some minor adjustments included: eating dinner one weekend night per/week as a family on tv trays watching the Tivo version of the two shows she likes to follow, going to bed an hour earlier, reading more in the car, not taking pet or child sitting jobs and doing less community service. We found traveling for any extended trips/vacations would be very difficult. Dd learned that every choice impacts others, time is finite, eating well/sleeping well is mandatory and procrastination hurts. I learned to spend time in lobbies chatting less and preparing more to sort the fluff out of some subject areas. The trial year has gone well. However, it has also made it very clear just how intense the commitment by those in a given performing arts area are. While we experimented this year, the ones who really focused have built in home studios, won awards/earned accomplishments, found agents, completed certification training in dance, added credits to their resumes and so forth. Dd has chosen to take it one year at a time moving forward. She will take a rigorous academic load but it may be “validated†with far fewer AP/SAT II results. She will not graduate early like many of her homeschool same age friends. She will not be competitive in the arts with those who are focused. If test scores are not what she hopes, she will drop from arts activities to focus on improving them. As much pleasure as we have had over the years watching her do her things, we have had some grieving this year recognizing even dreams must be tempered at times.

A subscription to Nat Geo for kids was a huge hit at that age with mine. Not so much a curriculum, but she looked forward to them coming.

A slightly different suggestion... Take a simple spiral notebook (or theme book) and create a writing journal. Each day have her write for about 15 minutes. Instead of wordy prompts select pictures from the newspaper or magazines. Example: Photo of a box of crayons: Ask her to describe what she could do other than draw a picture with a box of crayons. or Example: Photo of a woman shopping: What mood do you think this woman is in and why? or Example: Photo of man walking on beach with dog: Where do you think they might try to go. Her one guide as she writes is to try to use vivid and concrete words like she would if she tried to describe the picture to someone over the phone (someone who can't see it). One great thing about starting this way is you will have a chance to see what she might be struggling with grammar, spelling, organization wise to know what sorts of programs to select. You can cut articles from childrens magazines and staple them in for her to read and answer questions related to the content and context clues. Short children's poems also work. The more varied, the more information you will gather and she will have practice writing, while you have a chance to see where she may need work. I wouldn't "grade" it.

Locally, the high schoolers public and private are in school 7 hours per day. Those hours include class changes, lunch, homeroom, assemblies and so forth. The two biggest differences I see are 1. Block schedules for the public schoolers 2. Huge differences in homework from one track to another and from one school to another. At the light end it amounts to an additional 5 hours a week. On the heavier end, they are doing an average of 3 hours of homework a day. We anticipate a fairly consistent 6 hour daily schedule (based on our trial run this year). However, it is not uncommon now/not anticipated to be uncommon going forward to need to do a bit of finish up in the evening or on weekends. While we go year round, summers are often the time when great opportunities (camps, intensives, jobs) are available so we try not to plan for having summers to complete work. There never seems to be enough time to do everything we would like to do, but we figure we are not alone in that.