Linda (Australia) Posted March 28, 2010 Share Posted March 28, 2010 OK, so I have a question for all of you 'planners' out there! What if someone was to withdraw her highschoolers from school, to bring them home (she's had enough). She needs curriculum suggestions for her children, in grades 8, 9. 10 and 12 (yep, jumping in totally at the deep end!). What would you suggest? Remember, there's no 'credits' to worry about, as we're in Australia, so it's just a matter of making sure the basic subjects are covered. They are a Catholic family; doesn't mean all curriculum needs to be Catholic, just good, solid, programs - and mostly self-teaching, as obviously, it'll be a whole learning curve for both parents and children! Can anyone offer some brief, to-the-point curriculum suggestions? Or at least, if you were in this situation, what subjects you'd concentrate on? Ta! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted March 28, 2010 Share Posted March 28, 2010 I'd recommend some blogs for her to look at... mine has some info on it and links to a lot of other home schooling blogs and lots of catholic curriculum options I don't know the needs of the person you reference, so it's hard to just state curriculum because there's a lot out there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted March 28, 2010 Share Posted March 28, 2010 Here's a link to just one good Catholic curriculum: http://www.reginacoeli.org/ They offer online classes, etc., which are all very expensive, of course. But just to go through their website and read their course descriptions, see what texts they are using, etc. is good. I think you can also order books from them even if you're not doing a class with them. Do they seem behind in any particular subjects? Those are the ones I'd concentrate on first. Are there any glaring, huge gaps? I'd try to fill those first, particularly for the older two. Does the twelfth grader need to complete the same subjects that he/she has been doing all year? If so, let us know what those are so we can give specific suggestions. Where are you in your school year? Are you at the halfway point? I know your system is different than ours. If you have time, I think I'd let at least the youngers decompress with just reading great books and discussing those, watching great history/science programming and discussing, etc. for a little while. You already have a ready made discussion group! Where are you with math? Saxon is always a stolid standby. Lial's is good for algebra. Forester's is good. I personally like Brown, Dolciani. If you need a ready-made instructor, there are the VideoText, Teaching Textbooks, and Chalk Dust curriculums available. Where are you with spelling/vocab? If more spelling is needed, I personally like Spelling Workout's last two levels, which really seg into word study. I did use Vocabulary from Classical Roots with my older son, but after much discussion here, I ended up buying Vocabulary for the College Bound to begin next year with my younger. Another spelling program that parents of many have liked in past is Spelling Power, I think. It has word lists for all grade levels, so one book can suffice for the entire family. What time period do you want to study for history and lit? Will you keep them all together? It would help provide them with critics to read their writing, as well as a discussion group, if you do so. I personally like SWB's History of the Ancient World and now she has out her Medieval book, too. Will you use a text or just living books? Likewise, for lit, I like SWB's Well Educated Mind, choosing books from several of the areas to study. I believe some here are already using these and can give you an outline, perhaps, of how they've broken down the work. Again, for science, will you keep them together? If so, does it matter what area of science they study (i.e., is there an area that the senior needs to do work in that the others could follow along with)? If so, I'd go with that. For chemistry or physics, I might look at Conceptual Chemistry or Conceptual Physics, unless they are really into those areas, in which case you might want a more technical text. I'm not sure what I'd use for a biology or earth science. (It might be Nan who had at least one who has done a nature study. And I can't recall right now what site this is listed on, although I've looked at it longingly, many times, LOL - so if interested in that you might talk to her about it.) Do they need work on specific writing skills? Grammar skills? Do you need/want a foreign language? Is any sort of civics, government, or economics required of them (or wanted)? I'm not sure what a high school course of study looks like in Australia. Can you tell us what sort of subjects they've been studying? That might help us think of more ideas...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted March 28, 2010 Share Posted March 28, 2010 OK, so I have a question for all of you 'planners' out there! What if someone was to withdraw her highschoolers from school, to bring them home (she's had enough). She needs curriculum suggestions for her children, in grades 8, 9. 10 and 12 (yep, jumping in totally at the deep end!). What would you suggest? Remember, there's no 'credits' to worry about, as we're in Australia, so it's just a matter of making sure the basic subjects are covered. Linda, If they are in the middle of the school year, I think I might be tempted to see if I could continue with whatever they are doing for math (and possibly science). Depending upon the mom's availability, I think with that many kids so close in age, I'd be tempted to group them all together and do history and/or lit together. They could each read the selected books & texts and each write assigned papers, but they could meet as a group a couple of times a week to discuss what they are reading. Mom could read just one set of books and be able to "keep up" with what everyone is studying. If they want to cover religion at home, I think I'd use the same approach -- have everyone studying the same topic(s). If they want classical & Catholic, you might steer them to Mother of Divine Grace (http://www.motherofdivinegrace.org) where they could purchase lesson plans. If they want more structure and still a Catholic approach, they might want to look at Kolbe Academy. If they want a really structured, traditional Catholic program where you send in papers & tests to be graded, they might want to look at Seton. However, with something like Seton, all 4 of the kids in different grades would be working on different courses/books, and I know that I personally would go crazy trying to oversee that many different subjects at once. HTH, Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted March 28, 2010 Share Posted March 28, 2010 MODG! That's it! That's where the nature study curriculum is..... see? I'm old but I can still recall a few things occasionally, if people just prod me..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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