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Lori D.

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Everything posted by Lori D.

  1. In case it helps with brainstorming ideas of activities for peer interactions and esp. for hopefully making friends, these are all linked on PAGE 5 of the big pinned thread, "High School Motherlode #2" at the top of this board: Advice for extracurriculars (lots of ideas in the posts) What extracurricular activities for the high school years? High school socialization (activity ideas) DS is so, so lonely (activity & social suggestions for teens) Best recreational level extracurricular opportunities (suggestions for all ages)
  2. You have 31 credits. That's great! If you are worried that looks like too much, you're fine. Many students--homeschool or public school--have 28, 30, 32 credits, or more, when they graduate. For example, public schools that use a block credit system have students completing 4 credits per *semester*, so a total of 32 credits by the end of high school. And homeschoolers who heavily use dual enrollment in 11th & 12th grades are earning 1 credit for each 1 semester college course completed often end up with a total of 35-40 credits on their high school transcript. A typical "blend" of college admission requirements + state board of ed. graduation requirements for public schools looks like: 4 credits = English 4 credits = Math (Alg. 1, Geometry, Alg. 2, + a 4th math, often with Alg. 2 as a prerequisite) 3-4 credits = Science 3-4 credits = Social Studies 2-4 credits = Foreign Language (same language) 1 credit = Fine Arts 4-8+ credits = Electives (ex: Logic, Computer, Health, PE, Vocational-Tech, Bible/Religious Studies, personal interest, "Academic Electives" (credits above the required in English, Math, Science, Soc. Studies, For. Lang.), additional credits in Fine Arts, etc.) 22-28 credits = total From your list in your post above, you certainly fulfill all of the 5 academic subjects (English, Math, Science, Soc. Studies, For. Lang.), and you have enough extra for 6 "Academic Electives" + 4 "general electives". Again, looks great. I would just make sure your student has plenty of time for extracurriculars to explore interests, as well as "down time" to rest, enjoy hobbies, and social activities, and do all of the usual outside of school teen things for practicing a balanced lifestyle. 😄 You asked "What do your credits look like?" IMO, comparison is often a bit useless 😉 as your student's abilities, interests, and future goals, will be different from anyone else's on this board. BUT, in case it helps, below is how I determined our graduation credits, and what DSs ended up with. We also live in a low-regulation state for homeschooling. Our goal was college prep, and I also wanted to keep options open if our life circumstances changed radically and for some reason DSs needed to return to a brick & mortar high school. As a result, - I blended the list of typical college admission credits with the state board of education's high school graduation requirements - and then added any courses/credits that followed any special interests of DSs - and also added any courses/credits that were important to DH and I for our sons to have Our DSs are pretty average, and not "driven" academically. DS#1 graduated with 25 credits. DS#2 graduated with 24 credits. Each had 2 of those credits from DE. It was the right amount of credits for them at the time they were in high school. They had enough time to explore a lot of extracurriculars which provided them with rich experiences, maturity, skill development, and opportunities that wouldn't have come out of academic credits. Both have gone on to work in the fields they love (see my signature), and both had a solid foundation from homeschooling. BEST of luck as you wear your administrator hat in homeschooling! 👩‍🎓
  3. That is so interesting that Classical Conversations is still big in some areas, even after the major legal issues with CC started to come to light back in 2016, and then really became more widely known since 2018-19. We had several levels of CC levels start up in our city about 15 years ago. Since the legal issues came to light, CC has really died down here. While there is a director name listed for our city, I haven't heard of anyone actually participating in CC here for the last 3-4 years. Our city does have a "university model" school that continues to do well. But that is a school option, not homeschool, since there is an administration that facilitates all of the grades and records, and chooses all of the materials. Parents just oversee work sent home by the teachers on the 2 days/week that the students are at home; all of the teaching happens at the school on the other days of the week. The cost is NOT cheap -- 2/3-3/4 the cost of private schools here. The homeschool co-op I teach at (just one of MANY activities that the homeschool support group offers) is totally "ala carte" and mostly enrichment. So, pick and choose what you want, which may be one class for one child. Not a drop-off, though, as parents must stay on campus. But also not a "true" co-op, as it does not require all moms to all teach/assist in at least one class. In fact, several who are leading classes are former homeschoolers whose kids have all graduated, or are non-homeschooling people from the community who are good at teaching/sharing their skill or subject. The more I hear about what is/isn't available in other parts of the country, the more grateful I am for this group! It's been running for 30 years, and really is all about supporting parents as they homeschool their kids--as their kids' primary instructor. The best of "old school homeschooling" still going strong! 💜
  4. Big homeschool support group of over 170 families here in a low-regulation state. Not that I know everyone, but no, I don't really hear of anyone using an all-online "academy". Most are doing their own selection of a variety of materials, or may be using "box" curricula such as Tapestry of Grace, Sonlight, Abeka, etc. At the high school level, many do use a few individual courses, usually to sub out courses that would be hard for the parent to manage overseeing for various reasons -- typically that is Math, Science, Foreign Language, or Writing. Even more families in our homeschool support group outsource a few classes to dual-enrollment at the local community college. But again, a few selected courses, with the majority of coursework done as homeschooling at home with carefully selected materials.
  5. It is by Lesha Myers who also wrote Windows to the World. I only used WttW. From past threads, some people liked this Writing Research book, and some did not. Negative comments that I recall were that it was dry. (But, I teach the research paper some years in my co-op classes, and I just don't know how you make it exciting -- believe me, I try... 😉 ) I'm seeing both the Student Book and Teacher Book available used and sold separately in different places: teacher book -- Ebay, Abebooks student book -- Ebay, Amazon, Abebooks It looks like 7 Sisters have some resources for teaching the research paper. You might also check out the short section of articles on writing a research paper at the OWL at Purdue website... Absolutely yes! And creative writing is absolutely an ENGLISH credit! I would not relegate it to general elective. If I had a student interested in Creative Writing, I would want to encourage them in that interest, and find solid resources -- quality curricula, or online class, or tutor, or even a local serious writing group, to nurture that interest and make that a terrific learning experience. Depending how much you schedule her to put into it, YES, it absolutely can be the very legitimate writing part of her English 10 credit. (Or if already having something lined up for English 10, It can be 0.5 or 1.0 full English credit of Creative Writing. If you already have 4 full English credits planned, and this would be on top, then list it under English, and she would have 5 English credits.) It would definitely make her transcript stand out, having more-than-required amount of one of the academic subjects (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Foreign Language). Some schools call that an "Academic Elective" -- so clearly more rigorous and advanced than "General Electives", which may be anything from PE or Driver's Ed to Woodworking or Career Exploration. 😉
  6. I agree about that being "off" for introducing essays. Way too young for the vast majority of students. Just from my experiences with teaching writing to homeschool students, being able to develop a thesis and then build an argument of support requires solid abstract thinking skills that don't usually start maturing for most students until about 9th grade. Yes, I do have some 7th graders already clicking with it, but they are unusual and advanced. I have a lot more high schoolers who are 10th/11th grades and JUST starting to click with how to think through what they are trying to say, and how to support and structure their thinking. 😉
  7. Agreeing with above suggestions of: Windows to the World 1 semester for gr. 9-12; covers 6 short stories; teaches annotation, then how to use annotation as support in writing a literary analysis essay; the rest of the program covers 8-10 of the most common literary elements and how they develop depth in a story/novel; has some helpful exercises and additional essay assignments Writing Research Papers: Essential Tools 1 semester for gr. 9-12. And @ScoutTN has a great idea to also get familiar with the major style formats likely to be encountered in college -- MLA, APA, esp. and then possibly Chicago. Other ideas: - Creative Writing (but only if she enjoys that -- it would be great to give her an opportunity to explore writing fiction or poetry) • Adventures in Fantasy (gr. 5-9) -- since it's geared lower age range, could easily do in 1 semester • How to Write a Story (gr. 9-12) -- 1 semester program under IEW • The Creative Writer -- 1 semester programs, WTM press • One Year Adventure Novel (gr. 9-12) -- a year program - Journalism - High School Journalism -- can probably schedule to be 1-semester or 1-year - Byline (gr. 9-12) -- looks like it is 1-semester - Journalism Basics (Cathy Duffy review) and, link to the Book (gr. 9-12) -- 1-semester Or, real life writing Every year, with my co-op classes, I include a few of these assignments, and always have one or more students tell me how much they appreciated us doing it because it was at the exact time they needed that type of writing. 😄 Ideas of types of real-life writing (and you can do internet searches for "how to" on these -- I don't know of a writing program that covers all of these; Jensen's Format Writing covers some of the business letters -- but it is OLD/dated, and is dry as dust 😉😞 - college admission essay - scholarship application essay - oral presentation with accompanying powerpoint/slides (MANY college classes now include assignments that are oral presentations, so this is good to learn in advance) - create a resume - business/formal letters: • cover letter (for the resume, or for applying for a special program) • letter of thanks; request for info; complaint; commendation of someone, etc. - formal email -- to a college professor, boss, or potential employer - news article, or an objective report - letter to the editor, or an opinion piece
  8. McGraw-Hill History and Geography Student Suite??? Two separate texts, but from the same publisher?? Power Basics World History (gr. 5-adult) + Power Basics Geography (gr. 6-adult)
  9. What grade is your DD? I was guessing 10th grade, because I assumed the W&R numbers correspond with grade levels, and she's finishing W&R 10. BUT, apparently that is not the case if each W&R level is one semester long... So what grade levels are W&R 10, 11, 12 designed for? And what grade is your DD? I would recommend different options depending on if, next year, she is going to be late middle school (gr. 8), vs. early high school (gr. 9-10), vs. late high school (gr. 11-12).
  10. A single woman I know has lived in a tiny house for a number of years, and it seems to work for her. It is the type of tiny house that can be relocated, which she has done twice, in order to first be on her married daughter's property, and now on her married son's property. I don't know the size, but I would guess no larger than 250-sq.ft. if it was easily moved. Another single woman I know, with 2 medium-to-large sized dogs,lives in a 660-sq.ft. home that has a tiny tiny yard. It is not the moveable kind of home, but instead looks like a house that has been sub-divided into a sort of duplex. It has 2 bedrooms, so she has a room that can be her office / craft room / guest room. She just purchased it a few months ago and seems very happy. It certainly greatly reduces the amount of time required for house cleaning and yard work. 😄
  11. Welcome to the WTM boards, and welcome to homeschooling! My first suggestion would be: Use this summer to not just research what specific curricula/programs you want to use, but to really think through your answers to the questions of "WHY are we going to educate at home?" And, "what are our overall/long-term GOALS we want to accomplish by educating at home?" Goals would include not just academics (example: "we want to include Latin and Logic as subjects"), but would involve overall character development for your children (and family dynamics), as well as specific needs and strengths of each child, and how you, as the parent, want to nurture and grow your children, as well as help them develop into adults who can fit into and function in society. "Classical education" is just one of a number of methods of how to present academics, and "method" is not really an answer to the "why" and the "goals" for YOUR family. Not every method is going to be a good fit for your student -- or for you or your family as a whole. So method really needs to be considered after you figure out your "why are we homeschooling," and your overall long-term goals -- a kind of mission statement, if you will. 😉 Then you can think about each child individually and what "method" or programs/curriculum will be a good fit for them as students, and of course, a fit for meeting your "why" and your "goals." After that... my second suggestion would be: Give yourself time to make the adjustment to homeschooling. Transitioning into what homeschool looks like for YOUR family will take time, and will take the longest with the 12yo since he was in a traditional school setting up to this point. I'd also be looking for opportunities for the 12yo to be engaged in extracurriculars, which will also likely help with the transition from a school setting to the setting of home/family for education. The middle school years (and esp. the high school years) are prime time for not only developing friendships and social interacting with all ages, but to also explore interests. Some ideas: - homeschool support group that does field trips, a weekly PE, social activities for teens, etc. - local public/private school, if allowed -- sports team or music/orchestra, or after school club like robotics, etc. - after school youth bowling league - community youth theater, choir, or orchestra - local parks & rec class / public library program for pre-teens -- pottery, video/film making, jewelry making, etc. - lessons from a provider -- art, horseback riding, fencing, martial arts - club sports or community sports team -- NYS or YMCA sports, swim team, Little League baseball, soccer league, etc. - Scouting - Sea Cadets (age 10-18), or Junior Civil Air Patrol (age 12-18) - 4-H -- animal husbandry, but also: dog training, ham radio, archery, public speaking, + many other non-animal programs - all-ages community group -- orienteering, Community Gardens, rocketry club, history recreation, etc. As far as homeschooling 8th grade -- middle school years are usually geared towards: - making sure foundational academics are solid -- math and writing especially - as the student is ready, working on study skills (reading to study/learn, reading deeper for thinking/discussion, note taking, test-taking skills, memorization techniques, time management and "stuff" management, etc.) - move towards some independent work (if appropriate) - if the student is advanced in an area, start moving into high school level work Your 6yo / 1st grader will not need a tons of time of formal academics -- likely about 60 minutes a day to cover core subjects (reading, handwriting, math) and then another 60 minutes for read alouds, plus reading and supplements for your "content" subjects (History, Geography, Science, etc.). And you can include other short time periods for solo reading and/or solo discovery activities / kits / educational videos, etc. Your 3yo / pre-schooler will not need formal academics -- instead, lots of opportunities for imaginative play, discovery/exploration, and lots of outside time are what are developmentally appropriate and what will best "feed" your pre-schooler's brain development. Lots of read-alouds, nature walks, and informal exploration activities. If your 3yo has expressed interest, consider a Letter of the Week approach. You will likely want to develop a routine so you will be able to work uninterrupted with your 12yo and 6yo while your 3yo either naps or enjoys a tub with sand or water or bubbles with toys to go along, or has his/her own special "blanket time" educational activities -- and you'll want to rotate through a variety of activities each day, but also have enough activities that you can have a box for each of 4-6 weeks, and rotate through the boxes, so activities stay "fresh." And as you have more specific concerns, post each as a separate thread so you can get great specific experience and thoughts and recommendations. Again, welcome! Enjoy your homeschooling journey as a family. Warmest regards, Lori D.
  12. Hmmmm.... Maybe the aliens are testing out how a monolith in your front yard might go down by first checking out the reaction to a summer sausage in your basement... 👽🗿
  13. This is really what I was going to respond, but then tried to flesh out different paths and it just got so long and complicated I deleted, and stuck with answering about my own DC -- even though I don't think that ultimately hearing about "what everyone else did" is going to help the original poster. 😉
  14. You will have way above the average # of credits, and way above avg. working level if doing DE. Congrats! 😄 It has been years now since both of our DSs graduated, so I don't know that our experience will help you. Also, at that time, for comparison, our state Board of Ed. only required public school students to graduate with a total of 20 credits -- they now require 22 credits for public school graduation (4 each = English, Math, 3 each = Science, Social Studies, 1 = Fine Arts or CTE, 7+ = additional courses). Not that what we did so long ago will be of any help to you, BUT, since you asked: - DS#1 = 25 credits - DS#2 = 24 credits - both DSs had 2 courses of DE each (1 in each semester of 12th grade) which was their 2 credits of Foreign Language Neither DS did any AP courses. Both DSs enjoyed participating in a number of extracurriculars, which were SO worthwhile and caused both DSs to grow and learn so many very valuable skills (leadership, responsibility, networking, teamwork, organizing, etc.). Our experience was that those extracurriculars, plus having the ability to have DOWN time were absolutely some of the most valuable things we did in homeschooling high school for DSs' mental and physical health, and especially to give them exposure to a lot of interests and activities. It also helped us in making those choices between competing possibilities for the limited time of high school that neither DSs was gifted, advanced, excelerated -- and esp. NOT driven. Neither was interested in selective/competitive or top tier college. They were vey ordinary teens, who enjoyed doing a lot of different things during their high school years. 😉 You can see in my signature what each went on to do after graduating from homeschool high school. 😄
  15. polyethylene, that is restaurant thickness --> meats/poultry large-size bamboo --> processing a larger amount of fruits, veggies, or chopping nuts small-size wood --> slicing cheese, cutting up a small amount of fruit or veggies Wood is better for the knife blades. The polyethylene can go in the dishwasher.
  16. The main concern I see would be if he has already officially played a season (or part of a season) of high school sports. My understanding is that a student only gets 4 years of high school sports eligibility, so if a student does 5 years of high school (a "super senior year), they would likely have to be "red shirted" (sidelined) from competitive play for 1 year of those 5 years of high school, in order to maintain eligibility for college sports. That could potentially interfere with 11th and 12th grades when most of the videos are sent out to colleges for college recruitment interest of the students, if the student is having to sit out 11th, 12th, or 13th (super senior) grade year. From what I can see from a quick online search, it looks like: In most states, there is a 4-year athletic eligibility rule that student-athletes must abide by, which means that students can only participate in high school sports for a maximum of four years. This rule applies to all student-athletes, regardless of the sport they play. The four-year athletic eligibility rule typically starts counting from the first day of a student’s freshman year of high school. This means that any participation in high school sports during their freshman year will count towards their four-year limit. Even if a student-athlete chooses not to participate in sports until their sophomore or junior year, those years will still be counted towards their eligibility. Key exceptions that allow for 5th year participation in high school sports: - Injury/illness rule - Transfers and residency requirements - Held back academically - Extenuating circumstances (student has had to take time off from school due to personal or family reasons, or if there are extenuating circumstances that have affected their ability to participate in their sport) From what you describe, "held back academically" might be the only exception the student would be eligible for in doing a super senior year -- and that could potentially be really rough on a student's self-esteem. Good luck as you research to determine what your options are (or aren't).
  17. Rather than letting the program "drive the bus" of your time and schedule, 😉 you can drive the bus of the curricula and just pick and choose what to cover each week so that it fits YOUR time slot of 1 hour a day. It looks like a lot of the time in the program is spent on English-based activities (reading literature and a weekly writing assignment), and since you don't want to use the Notgrass material for your English, if you drop most of the literature and writing, and just do the Geography articles and if there are any mapping activities or supplemental projects, that should easily give you a mostly-solo-working Geography that fits your schedule. And if you want more physical Geography topics, or more History topics, to go with the countries studied in Notgrass, that allows you the time to add in some supplements of interest, and just use the Notgrass as a basic "spine". And by picking and choosing your way through the program, you can just skip awarding any high school credit for Geography, and not worry about it (see note #1 below about "bringing up" credits from middle school). And, 2 quick FYIs for planning for high school credits 😉 : 1. Typically only the following credits are "brought up" from 8th grade onto the high school transcript: - Math -- Algebra 1 and up - Science -- Biology and up - For. Lang. -- that is high school level AND the student continues into the next step level of the language while in high school The subjects of English, Social Studies, Fine Arts, and Electives are not "brought up" from middle school except in rare exceptional cases. This is likely due to the fact that unlike Math, Science, and Foreign Language which have a standard progression of difficulty of material and build on previous levels, English, Social Studies, and Electives are less regimented or structured in what is covered or when. So that frees you up to adapt the Notgrass Geography to fit your schedule, rather than feeling you *must* complete everything in order to have a high school Geography credit -- which typically wouldn't be "brought up" on the transcript anyway. 😉 2. Some colleges only accept credits for core subjects of Math and especially English (and sometimes Science and/or Foreign Language) that were completed in the 4 years before starting college as meeting their admission requirements. So that frees you up to devote the time to getting the high school level Math and Science courses done well in prep for the high school years.
  18. Decades back, when I worked at a radio/TV station, the engineers there talked about one physical side effect experienced by those who worked on the towers frequently enough was that they (all males at that time) became sterile.
  19. So very very sorry, Kathy Jo and family. Lifting you all in prayer.
  20. AP may start moving to digital format, like the SAT and the PSAT are doing. Which might make it easier (or not, depending on how they decide to do it) for homeschoolers to participate. With the number of homeschool high school students increasing a bit, I can't imagine College Board being willing to leave money on the table from homeschoolers because public schools can't or won't accept them. 😉
  21. This chart from National Center for Educational Statistics, with data from 1985 through 2021, indicates that overall enrollment in K-12 grades in public schools has been trending upward: "Total enrollment for private elementary and secondary schools was 6.2 million students in fall 2000, then 5.3 million students in fall 2011, and projected to be 6.1 million students in fall 2021." Meanwhile, the total percent of school-aged children being homeschooled is hard to get an accurate read on, but 20 years ago, the estimate was that 3-3.5% of K-12 students in the US were homeschooled. Current estimates place that amount at about 5.22%. So yes, a bit of an increase in amount of homeschoolers. And when you compare total amount of school-aged children from 20 years ago to know, it's only an increase of about 1 million students. So homeschoolers are a slightly larger piece of the educational pie. I found these statistics interesting: . . . . . . children 6-17yo . . . total population . . . % of pop. = age 6-12 1950 = 28.2 million . . . . . 148.2 million . . . . . 19% 1960 = 40.2 million . . . . . 176.1 million . . . . . 23% 1970 = 48.9 million . . . . . 200.3 million . . . . 24% 1980 = 44.1 million . . . . . . 223.1 million . . . . 20% 1990 = 41.7 million . . . . . . 248.0 million . . . . 17% 2000 = 49.3 million . . . . . 282.4 million . . . . 17% 2010 = 49.1 million . . . . . . 311.2 million . . . . 16% 2020 = 50.3 million . . . . . . 335.9 million . . . . 15% ETA -- In answer to OP-er's questions... I live in a low regulation state with a lot of homeschoolers. I do think the # of homeschoolers has increased a bit since the pandemic due to dissatisfaction with the quality of academics/teaching. Homeschoolers here are allowed to participate on public high school sports teams, and take AP / PSAT tests (if there is room). I don't know of any schools (elementary or high school) that offer single classes to homeschoolers in my city. That may be an option in other school districts in the state.
  22. Post a new thread with your questions or with the topic you want to chat about, and use the @__[insert poster name]__ feature in the thread to alert a specific board participant that you are hoping to hear from that person. But, you'll also get the benefit of others who have many years of experience in homeschooling as well, from many different perspectives. 😄 Also, welcome!
  23. In answer to your bolded question -- Yes. I would think he could be done now. It looks like he already has 3 high school Soc. Studies courses (US Hist, World Hist, Econ/Gov't) -- and they are all the ones that might be possibly required for admission to a future university. I don't know as though I've seen any college require more than 3 Soc. Study credits for admission, so that looks to me like he has completed what he needs for that subject area. I would guess that doing History of Mathematics would be fun for him, and it would make a great "Academic Elective" (credit above/beyond the required in one of the core subjects of English, Math, Science, Soc. Studies, or For. Lang.). The only potential snag is that some colleges only accept for their admission requirements credits completed in the 4 years prior to starting as a college freshman. But, after Fine Arts, Social Studies is the subject that colleges tend to be the most flexible about their required credits for eligibility.
  24. Oops! Above, I linked the WRONG thread by @Nan in Mass (also a good one, but not the one I meant 😉 ) I fixed that in my post above. The one I meant is: To all you with 8th graders (or thereabouts)
  25. You also might find some of these threads to be helpful. They are all linked in the big "High School Motherlode #1" thread pinned at the top of the WTM High School Board. (Which, BTW, 8th grade is a great time for YOU to start reading, researching about high school, so you have an idea of what you need/want to accomplish in grades 9-12 -- and that in turn helps you think about what you might want to do in 8th grade to prepare... 😉 ) To those of you with 8th graders (or thereabouts) -- wonderful old thread from @Nan in Mass GENERAL TOPICS Preparing for high school (looking ahead from middle school) If you knew then what you know now (what would you do differently for Logic stage years) High school parents: looking back what would be your ideal for 7th/8th grades 8th grade goals: What skills do your kids need to practice before high school? Hypothetical question: What to do for the 4 years before public high school? How best to prepare for high school?
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