Considering afterschooling with ds15

[mommy4ever]

DS15 is a great kid, drives me crazy some days, knows what buttons to push most :lol: Welcome to teens.

 

As we are learning more and more about the school system, with dd11 who has just gotten home from Catholic school.... and some serious 'lackage' (as ds would say). He is in a really good school, I have to say it is fabulous, but they can't make up for the substandard curriculum the gov't dictates.

 

In a couple years he graduates. He is an honor student. He works HARD to get those grades, and in most areas, he is taking courses in high school now that were college level in 'the day'. Although lots of drivel has replaced some very good solid foundation work in the current curriculum.

 

In about a year and a half to 2 years he will have to write 2 major essays that will affect 50% of his grade. I have found out dd11 didn't get taught grammar beyond noun, verb, adverb and adjective, lots of frustration in starting homeschooling.... to find out dd13 hasn't learned these things either... and tonight ds15 told me he hasn't either. Yet his final marks of his 12 years of schooling will be based on his ability to WRITE. It's not just content, it is QUALITY.

 

SO, I have approx 18-24 months to help him learn the art of writing well, and how to write an essay. Let me tell you this when the 2 youngest(dd6 and dd11) get to be 17, they will write a wicked essay. And I want to give him as much opportunity to improve on this!

 

What curriculum should I consider using? We have approx 10 of those months where he is NOT in school, he'll be in an apprenticeship program working, so schooling after work with no other homework will be tremendously successful and keep his brain working.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I don't really have any advice because I only have elementary kids right now, but I wondered if you had posted this on either the Curriculum board or the High School board. They might have some good suggestions on either of those boards.

[MBM]

SO, I have approx 18-24 months to help him learn the art of writing well, and how to write an essay. Let me tell you this when the 2 youngest(dd6 and dd11) get to be 17, they will write a wicked essay. And I want to give him as much opportunity to improve on this!

 

What curriculum should I consider using? We have approx 10 of those months where he is NOT in school, he'll be in an apprenticeship program working, so schooling after work with no other homework will be tremendously successful and keep his brain working.

 

I afterschool my son who is in seventh grade at a Catholic school. Grammar was decent in the early grades but deteriorated in the junior high. (Writing is a joke.) We're working through Rod and Staff Grammar 7 at home, which would probably suffice for your son. The material is logically presented, explained well, and offers sufficient exercises for practice. Not counting the writing exercises, there are about 88 lessons which your son could finish in ten months. Get both the teacher's manual and the student workbook, neither of which are expensive.

 

You might want to ask about a writing program on the high school board. Maybe Lost Tools of Writing?

 

Good luck!

[Carmen_and_Company]

Hmm.

 

You could work through Analytical Grammar over 12 months along with working quickly through Writing Strands levels 5,6,7 & Writing Exposition. You could also use IEW products in the following order: Student Writing Intensive, The Elegant Essay, and IEW's Classical Rhetoric through Structure & Style. To add in literary analysis, you could add in atch Teaching the Classics DVD & begin Windows to the World .

 

Then read and work through SWB's article on Writing the Research Paper.

 

Check out Home2teach.com online writing courses for the 10 months your son does not have classes.