What are your favorite resources for planning high school?

[Savermom]

We'll be starting 9th grade next fall and I'm petrified and overwhelmed! I would love some recommendations for books or dvds that will help me plan and provide some guidance. (I have WTM) My library has limited selections so I wil probably have to make some purchases. I'd like to spend my money wisely! Thanks!

[JennW in SoCal]

Welcome to the board! High school isn't as daunting as it appears and there is a plethora of good advice to be found on this board.

 

Here's some links to threads that might have answers to your questions:

 

advice to parents of 8th graders

 

planning resources

 

name one favorite book for high school planning

 

a single post with lots of great titles

 

For me, the greatest tool is the internet. I refer to my WTM and Well Educated Mind, but these boads and google are my biggest helps.

[Miss Marple]

I refer to my WTM and Well Educated Mind, but these boads and google are my biggest helps

 

:iagree: Also, the HSLDA website has some good recommendations on their homeschooling high school site. But this board is the best, by far, for me.

[Nan in Mass]

I wish I had had The Homeschooler s Guide to Portfolios and Transcripts earlier. It isn't just about how to write a transcript. It has directions on how to decide on your eduational goals and philosophy. That is the part that I would have found nice early on, when I was planning high school. I also found some of the books from NARS useful because they list out lots of ideas for building a course. Do this, this, this, and this and it will count for blank credits of this. In an effort to tailor my sons' educations, I have made up courses, and this gave me some idea of how much and what sorts of things to do, something other than the standard number of hours per credit. And of course if I could only choose one book, it would TWTM. : )

-Nan

[Mary in NJ]

I think that this high school board has some of the best information out there. Ask any question and you will get answers from several different perspectives.

[laughing lioness]

I also like Barb Shelton's Home School Design Form+u+la. She has tons of forms in there and shows you how to design your own class. She does a lot of out of the box thinking about traditional high school (her oldest didn't go to college) but I found it very helpful in seeing the variety and breadth of experiences, educational opportunities around for older kids.

I also just read a book that I found helpful "Global Student" - which I reivewed here https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3165152289947787094&postID=3970669314147276990

I found The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Llewellyn interesting to read as well.

These are not scope and sequence books and we do follow a traditional academic high school load. That being said, I've appreciated what the above books offered- my kids have traveled extensivly, been very involved in politics, including but not limited to TeenPact, gone on internships, performed in plays, learned languages, etc.

[Nan in Mass]

I read the Llewellyn book as well, and I'm just finishing up Global Student. It is good to think out of the box and take advantage of the flexibility that homeschooling offers. The Llewellyn book points out some of the possibilities and Global Student helps ease fears that you will ruin your child's chances if you do something unusual. One thing to avoid (ask me how I know-sigh) is trying to do both the standard thing and the unusual thing. Make sure you are substituting, not adding. Otherwise, you will overwhelm your student. Studying something in an academic way and studying it in a non-academic way each have their advantages and disadvantages. It helps to think about which subjects you want to study which way. For example, my youngest learned French by non-academic means. The advantage is that he can read a book in French, understand a movie, and have a conversation, none of which I could do after four years of high school French. The disadvantage is that he can't take the French SAT II because he hasn't learned grammar and his French spelling is horrendous. (French was rather an unfortunate choice in this way because every word has silent letters at the end and you have to know the grammar to know which letters to add.) I, on the other hand, managed to do ok on the French SAT II. Neither of us would trade his ability to actually use his French for the ability to test well in French, but it is something to consider. If I had to prove to colleges via testing that he had indeed worked on French, it would be inconvenient - he would have to go back and cram grammar. ...Just something to consider.

-Nan

[laughing lioness]

As always, Nan, excellent points!

[Mom2boys]

I'm new to high school planning too, but so far have found "College-Prep Homeschooling" by David and Chandra Byers to be helpful. :001_smile:

[Savermom]

You all have given me much to think about. The information on Global Student and doing some "unusual" things as Nan pointed out are totally new concepts to me.

What is NARS?

[Brindee]

Two other books that I found helpful:

 

"Homeschooling: The Teen Years--Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the 13-18-Year-Old" and "Homeschoolers' College Admissions Handbook--Preparing 12-18-Year Olds for Success in the College of Their Choice"

 

Both books are by Cafi Cohen, and I found some great info. in them!

[Nan in Mass]

North Atlantic Regional School

They are a cover school that lets you design your own courses. We don't belong to them, but they have several books with guidelines and ideas for designing courses which I have. The books were helpful to me because they let me see how much and what sort of work one school considered a year's worth of work. You can also search online for syllabi.

-Nan