staceyneil Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Hello all- We lived on our boat and home-schooled 3rd and 4th grades. It was fantastic; DD came home even further ahead of her peers in public school than she was previously. Now we're planning a really long trip, hopefully around the world, during the years corresonding to public schools 8th-11th or 12th. Right now DD is in A.G. classes for reading/writing and doing math a grade ahead. She'll have one more year of public school (7th grade) before we leave. I have so many questions I hardly know where to begin! 1) Since space and weight are an enormous councern aboard a small boat, we;re hoping to bring as much material on CD-ROM as possible. To that end I'm looking at a lot of the Glencoe texts on CD. (We want to use secular materials if possible, so that really narrows the field). Also, although we have email, we'll only have sporadic internet access, at internet cafes when we;re in more developed areas. So we can't count on doing online courses. 2) DD is very bright and motivated and will definitely be applying to extremely selective colleges. So we want to be sure her transcript is excellent. I'm a little concerned because I want to do some HS stuff in 8th grade (like Algebra 1, American History, etc) so that we will have more time later to devote to classes that are tailored to where we will be travelling (e.g. Marine Biology, History of Africa, History & Cultures of the South Pacific, stuff like that). 3) Does anyone have any experience trying to take PSATs, SATs, and AP tests while travelling????????? 4) WE're going to try to enroll her in 2 semesters of public school when we're in New Zealand so that she can get some socialization, team sports, drama club, and as much science lab experience as possible. Any other ideas on labs we can do on board a boat without special equipment (no space for a microscope, unfortunately!) 5) Here's where I am so far with planning a possible curriculum. Please feel free to offer any criticisms, advice, input or suggestions!!! 8th grade- -MATH: Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 (which will be just a quick review) and begin TT Geometry -SS: Glencoe "American Vision" and begin Glenoce "World History" (both high school courses); also a unit of in-depth study of the culture, history, arts and economics of the Americas, since we'll be in Central America. Possible use a Teaching Company CD lecture for this. -Science: Glencoe Physical Science with Earth Science, and at least start Glencoe Biology (high school) -Foreign languages- 1/2 year Spanish 1 (Rosetta Stone) AND 1/2 year French 1 (since we'll be in French Polynesia) -L/A- to be determined, she's very strong in this and I'm a writer, so not too concerned yet about this part. Lots of reading classics and other material, writing in various genres, etc. -Art History- (The Story of Art), 1/2 year, plus 1/2 year Art of the Pacific including some studio art time 9th grade: -Science: finish Glencoe H.S. Biology; Chemistry (have not chosen a program yet); maybe also begin something like Marine Biology or Environmental Science (have not chosen a program) -MATH: Finish TT Geometry, complete TT Algebra II (how will colleges feel if we complete Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 in just 2 years? Will they care?) -SS: Finish Glencoe World History, study the South Pacific, start Glencoe World Cultures and Geography - Spanish 2, art, L/A continue as before 10th, 11th -Science: AP Biology (or atleast Honors Bio and hopefully she can take an AP test), Physics, any other interesting classes she wants -MATH: TT Pre-Calculus and THEN WHAT??? I have Saxon Advanced Math, would that count as Trigonometry? or straight to Saxon (or other) Calculus??? -SS: With the basics out of the way, we can focus on where we are (Africa? Geometry? etc.) plus anything else that would be good for college applications... suggestions? Economics? Can that be just a 1/2 year? U.S. Gov't? -Spanish 3 and 4, art, L/A, continue as before 12th grade: either continue as above or graduate early or we might be back so she could take some college or on-liine courses... Thanks for any input you have!! Stacey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threetreasurs Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 I think you can get most textbooks on CD-Rom - not just Glencoe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 You might want to check out Chalkdust math or one of the other video math programs rather than Teaching Textbook. There is a lot of controversy about whether Teaching Textbook is rigorous enough to prepare you for college if you want to go into math or science or something technical. I know nothing about the Glencoe textbooks, but you might want to look around and make sure that you like them and there isn't something more interesting out there. On the other hand, maybe "interesting" isn't what you want. Maybe what you want is quick and adequate, to make room for all the travel-style learning you'll be doing. Rosetta Stone has the reputation here of being inadequate for college prep, also. You might want to do a search of the boards or ask specifically what is good for learning Spanish or French. We have Rosetta Stone French and it didn't get us very far. Hope this helps. -Nan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 A comment on foreign language. I would try to take the opportunity of traveling for your daughter to really master a language through speaking. I'm not sure where in particular you'll be, but it strikes me that between French Polynesia and Africa that French may be a better choice than Spanish. However, I would aggressively seek out opportunities for her to speak and listen to other languages. Curriculum can help with grammar, but it is frequent speaking which will allow a student to learn enough to communicate well. Spending three years traveling will give your child a unique life experience. Mastering a language (at least to a conversational level) will make that experience richer. Being able to speak to people from another culture in their own language is very rewarding. It will also be an asset for college--most high school students study years of a language, and can really speak very little. AP and SAT tests are given at standardized times. I would make arrangements with an American school in a more developed nation that would offer the tests, and plan to spend a couple of weeks there. These, more than anything else, will determine college placement at higher levels, particularly for a home school student with a non traditional education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 2) DD is very bright and motivated and will definitely be applying to extremely selective colleges. So we want to be sure her transcript is excellent. I'm a little concerned because I want to do some HS stuff in 8th grade (like Algebra 1, American History, etc) so that we will have more time later to devote to classes that are tailored to where we will be travelling (e.g. Marine Biology, History of Africa, History & Cultures of the South Pacific, stuff like that). ... -MATH: Finish TT Geometry, complete TT Algebra II (how will colleges feel if we complete Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 in just 2 years? Will they care?) On your question concerning finishing Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II in two years: First, most students applying to "extremely selective colleges" will probably have had Algebra I in 7th or 8th grade so it is not necessarily listed on the high school transcript. Secondly, with the block system, it is not unusual for students to complete three math courses in two academic years. A young lady in my neighborhood is doing precisely that at our local public school. Because your daughter is "very bright and motivated" I would certainly find a more challenging mathematics curriculum than TT. It has been noted on these boards that the scope of TT's Algebra II course does not align with a typical program, namely that what TT calls Precalculus is Algebra II by most standards. Now there are many who embrace TT and I do not wish to slight them. I think though that anyone who uses the program needs to do so with open eyes. I would look at the colleges to which you think your daughter is applying. Will they allow you to list American History from 8th grade as a high school course? Some schools require that you may only list those courses taken in high school as high school work--period. Check with the specific college for their last word. I agree that you have some wonderful opportunities to study marine biology, oceanography, ocean engineering, nautical science, etc. There may not be standard high school curricula in the marketplace, but you can certainly supplement some basic books to create your own. The Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, MA, has some great lesson plans online: http://www.sea.edu/academics/k12.asp Have fun! Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb in NZ Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 The PS system in NZ is very different from American PS. Math & sciences do not follow the normal US format (i.e. algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2, etc.) Each year's math is made up of all strands of mathematics, from arithmetic to statistics, & science is general science in the first 2 years of high school, with biology, chemistry, & physics offered as optional courses the last 3 years. It isn't unusual for a student to be taking chemisty & physics in the same year. If you're goal is for your dd to apply to "extremely selective universities", you'll want to continue with the US maths & sciences. As you're dd is already ahead in most areas, a year in NZ PS won't hurt her & the cultural education she'll get is very valuable. NZ PS are very social, but at the same time teach to the test. Some schools offer the Cambridge Exams or International Bacalauriate Exams, but most only offer the NCEA certificates. Where in NZ are you planning to holiday? We get a number of yachties residing in the city I live in, as well as American doctors here on a year's working holiday. You can take the SAT's at the American Embassy in Wellington or the American Consulate in Auckland. I'm not sure of the procedure, but it's easy enough to contact the embassy to find out. JMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS mom Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 If you decide you need a tutor, call me. ;) Your ideas about geography, history, biology are great. Your daughter's experiences will make her a stand out as an applicant. Keeping a journal (written and photo) of daily life will help you to gather documentation for courses you might not realize you're living until after they're completed. You can compile a portfolio from your experiences and then name the course(s). For books and ideas for non traditional courses, check colleges. MIT has open courseware. The syllabi are a great source for ideas, information, and resources. I think they link to other colleges with similar set-ups. Stanford has courses recorded for iTunes. I think several other schools do this, too. About labs: there are so many things you can do for labs that don't require laboratories. You might talk to a biology professor about lab work in the field. They may be able to recommend a book with guidelines for setting up labs, observations, and for writing such reports. Seeing what fish you sight, net, which birds, water temperatures, changes from day to evening, weather... so many possibilities. Astronomy is another option for science. About Math: if you're interested in a program that is mostly self teaching, you may want check into Math U See. The publishers are available via e-mail for any help, should you need it. They are one of the courses recommended in The Well Trained Mind. We have used MUS for high school. My daughter understands concepts inside and out, and remembers the information. The teacher has a unique ability for explanation. Lots of success stories about SAT's and college math after using the program. I have no experience with TT, and many say it's a great program. I had considered it myself, but the math is taught in a non-traditional sequence, and the courses were not complete when we began HS. The idea of trying to find what was left out and backtrack if we needed to switch to another curriculum was off-putting. Another consideration - posts from parents who used the program and said their children had problems with retention or transferring what they learned to other math problems. There were several such posts on these boards (inclucing the old boards). If I were looking into TT now that curriculum is almost complete, I'd investigate that a bit. Could be the children had difficulty , for one reason or another, and weren't ready for the level of math, TT, or any other program. But it was a compaint that surfaced often enough that I'd look into it before deciding. I haven't checked into this for a while- probably many more families with experience with TT by now. I hope you keep us posted with news from your trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 My son travels for some of his education, too, and we're doing lots of non-conventional things like natural history instead of biology. I keep/kept track of it all by taking a notebook and dividing it into traditional subjects. Each time we do something, I decide which subject I want to count it towards and write it in under that subject. In the end, I may move things around a bit, but all the diverse activities we've done are at least recorded in an organized way. When I made the transcript, I gave everything very descriptive labels to show off his unique education. He has things like Native American Studies for the three months he spent on a sacred run, rather than just calling that Social Studies 2. I took the ancients we read over the course of high school and lumped them together and called it Classical Literature and Analysis, the medieval ones and called them Medieval Literature and Analysis, etc. Instead of biology on his transcript, he has a year of natural history, half a year of ham radio, and half a year of human anatomy. We could have done natural history all 4 years and covered all the things covered in the normal bio, chem, physics, adv bio sequence. Natural history makes a great lab science, too, because your lab is outdoors. Whatever you do, you want to make sure that the transcript reflects the uniqueness of your daughter's education. I found the book The Homeschooler's Guide to Portfolios and Transcripts (Transcripts and Portfolios?) helpful for seeing how to present something unique in the best way. If you are aiming for highly selective colleges, it probably would be very helpful. It did a great job of explaining what colleges were looking for during the application process and how to reassure them that a less than traditional education met their requirements. I don't know that you want to devote your precious space to it during the trip, but you might want to read through it before you go and then refer to it when you are actually making up the transcript. Are you getting rid of all your possessions, or do you have storage someplace? Can someone send you things? -Nan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staceyneil Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 I have lots of things to investigate now. This is a great forum. I appreciate you all taking the time to think about this with me. Nan, we will be able to leave a few boxes of books, etc. to be mailed us along the way, with the caveat that such packages often get lost, or weather forces us to continue past the port we had it shipped to, or whatever. Deb in NZ: My daughter won't be in NZ public schools for a whole year; it would be the last term of one year and the first on the next, or basically from early October through April-ish. Hopefully we'll have work visas set up so she can attend for free (otherwise we won't be able to afford it; international student tuition is pretty high!). Do you think that if she is ready, they would let her take one of the advanced courses like Chemistry? Forgive my hazy grasp of NZ geography, but we'll be in the north: probably in or near Whangerei but it really depends on where my husband can line up work (yacht systems repair). Stacey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Well, yes, I do mean to pry:tongue_smilie: But do you happen to own chickens? Your post brought to mind a poster on Backyard Chickens who spent time sailing and did a great job in getting her town come to the "light" on chickens :). Just wondering. I'm Moselle, on that particular board and there are several other chicken obsessed homeschoolers who spend time on these boards as well. Welcome, at any rate. I don't think you'll find a better homeschooling resource! Edited to add - ...and what a fantastic opportunity for your family! I have often told dh that if his company ever wants volunteers to work for a year or two in their headquarters overseas (in Germany or Japan) that he is most welcome to jump up with his hands waving wildly, shouting "Me! Me! Me!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb in NZ Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Stacey, I live in Whangarei :) How old will your dd be when in NZ? Term 4 (Oct.-Dec.) is mostly exams for years 11-13 (ages 15-17/18) with some schools having year 11-13 students on "study leave" most of the term & students in class only ~10 days. Term 1 (February-April) is a fun term with school camps, sport days, etc. Sports, music, etc. is offered through clubs here as well as schools. My dc are involved in Sea Scouts, Young Mariners (like sea scouts for only girls), sailing, gymnastics, play soccer, swim lessons (with our HS group), dd plays flute in the Youth Music concert band, ds#1 plays drums in the local pipe band, ds#2 takes violin. Other things on offer in Whangarei are drama clubs, circus clubs, archery, fencing, many types of martial arts, cricket, baseball, tennis, badminton, competative swimming, surfing, summer leagues of soccer & field hockey, BMX, rollar hockey, hiking clubs, athletics (track & field), St John's ambulance, surf patrol (life guard training at the beach), folk music club, irish & scottish dance, ballroom dancing, rock & roll dancing, & heaps more.... Whangarei is a great town for yachties, as the marina is in the middle of town in easy walking distance of shops, the library, the swimming pool, etc. Let me know if you have any questions about Whangarei. HTH, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staceyneil Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 Yup, we're SeaChick on the chicken board!! Small world...!!! It was actually my DD who started the whole chicken campaign last summer. She made a presentation to the city council. I ended up getting heavily involved as it turned out to be a tougher sell than anticipated, but Olivia stuck with it and spoke at all the Council meetings and the press, etc. It was a really great lesson in civics and she now feels really empowered to make change, which is great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staceyneil Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 DD will have just turned 14 when we're there.... would that be year 12? ....so does that mean that terms 4 and 1 will be "normal" school or will term 1 still be a fun term? It sounds like things won't be as simple as I expected! Are the clubs and activities you mentioned free, or paid activities? Not to sound cheap, but we will really be living on a shoestring in order to do this trip, so we have to excruciatingly careful where every penny goes. Thanks so much for offering your insights about Whangerei. I am sure I'll have more questions as the time gets closer!! We're really excited about visiting New Zealand. The Kiwis we've met out cruising are some of our favorite people. And it looks so beautiful, too! My DH is hoping to be able to line up a job offer (he's a marine systems specialist) before we arrive, which HOPEFULLY will get us enough "points" to get work visas. It's kind of scary not knowing if we'll qualify or not, though. Thanks again! Stacey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne/Ankara Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Stacey, you might also want to look at the Teaching Company's DVD sets, which you can pick up rather inexpensively on sale, or on ebay. They have wonderful, in-depth lectures on a huge variety of subjects. Perfect for on-board learning! Even if you only do a couple of courses, you could stretch them out by having your student learn to outline the material, write a paper on the topic, or respond in some way. My kids have found them very informative, and we have listened to many of the series, in history, math, science, literature, economics and more. Do consider them! http://www.teach12.com/teach12.asp?ai=16281 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb in NZ Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 Stacey, If your dd will have just turned 14 in Oct, she would be in year 9 for term 4 & year 10 for term 1. Exams don't effect years 9 & 10 as much as they aren't working towards NCEA at that stage. PS would be enjoyable for her, but please realize that PS isn't totally free. Families are expected to pay a school "donation", stationary fees, sport fees, extra fees for certain courses, as well as making sure that their dc are wearing the correct school uniform to school. We are looking at putting our 14yos in PS next term (if he continues to refuse to work for me) & I shudder to think what it will cost just to outfit him with a very basic school uniform. For only 2 outfits (shorts, shirt, socks), shoes, PE shirt & shorts, jacket, & sweater it will add up to over $300! Most activities are reasonably priced compared to US prices. I pay $100 / 10 week term for my dd's highschool gymnastic class (2 hours / week), Youth Music costs $30 / term, Young Mariners costs $35 / term + camp fees ($15-50 / camp). Music lessons run ~$15 / 30 minute lesson. Venturer Scouts is $30 / term. Archery is $5/session & swimming at the wave pool is $4/ session. I'm not sure of the costs of organized summer sports, but I just paid $60 for ds#2's soccer fees for the season (April-September). We paid a yearly fee of $132 for the family to join the Onerahi Yacht Club & my dc get to sail every tuesday afternoon in their race training Oct.- April. We do have a very active HS/ing group in Whangarei, that organizes weekly activities during the school terms. Summer holidays are from mid-December to 7 February & most activities aren't happening during this time. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staceyneil Posted April 20, 2008 Author Share Posted April 20, 2008 Anne- I am starting to look for Teaching Company lectures on eBay, etc. That does seem a great resource. Deb- Lots to think about! Thanks for such specific information. I haven't considered the school uniform expense. It may be that we will end up skipping that and instead doing other activities. Maybe we can join your homeschool group for a little while! I think we'll probably have to wait and see what finances are like. However, the possibility of not NEEDING to enroll her in public schools does remove some of the stress of getting work visas set up before we arrive. Do you know what the work situation is if you arrive without a work visa but are offered a job? Would they let us stay & work for 6 months, do you think? Thanks!! Stacey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb in NZ Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 and do look me up when you arrive in Northland. Our HS/ing group is very affordable ($20 / year to join) & most activities are free. We have a multinational group of families, including some Americans, other than myself. If you intend to work, it is easier to start the paperwork before you arrive as it saves multiple trips down to immigration in Auckland (~3 hours drive from here). We do have a number of companies in the Whangarei area that work in the boating area, from yacht maintainace to multimillion $ yachts to Naval vessels. My dh works in construction, but we have friends who work on boats. Have fun planning your adventure. Are you planning to stop in the Marshall Islands on your way south? Or Fiji? We lived 4-3 years in each island nation early on in our marriage. Blessings, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahli Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 You may want to look into A2 accelerated achievement. I don't think I'd use it exclusively, but they have supposedly over 800 books on one CD and other curriculum items which could be of use if you have lack of access to libraries and internet. http://www.accelerated-achievement.com/800books.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 You might want to read up on transcripts and portfolios before you go and then have someone try to send you more info at the end of high school. Whatever you do, make sure you have transcripts for any high school or college classes that your daughter does before applying to college because colleges are going to want to see both those and your own transcript. They also are probably going to want a letter of recommendation from someone other than parents who has taught your daughter, so you might want to keep that in mind if she goes to school in NZ for a bit. At least, that has been our experience. Quite a few highly selective private colleges are willing to take applications without SAT scores, but I don't know if that applies to homeschoolers or not. We found Pimsleur language tapes more useful than Rosetta Stone. The best is supposed to be the foreign service ones. If you do a search of this board, hopefully you can find the recent posts by Reya about how to get hold of the program. I agree with the comments about concentrating on French at first, if that is the language you will be able to use first. We have Encyclopaedia Britanica on a CD for the computer. Nice and compact! It comes with an atlas, too. And I think you can get all the past National Geographic magazines on a disc, too, which might be fun for learning something extra about the places you go to. National Geographic also has geography project suggestions on their site, including a list of what you should learn in high school. That might help you put together a customized year of geography. Fair weather! -Nan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 (edited) I think you can get most textbooks on CD-Rom - not just Glencoe. Holt was also selling textbooks via CD-Rom I also think that there are many available from Pearson (which has several different publishing imprints, including Prentice Hall). ETA: I've got to learn to look at thread dates before I reply. I wonder how things went with this family. Edited July 17, 2012 by Sebastian (a lady) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Besides materials that are available already in an digital format, you should consider scanning in regular texts. There is a service this does this: http://1dollarscan.com/ Or you can do it yourself: http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/24835-book-scanning/ This way you can take whatever you want and not be limited to material already available as digital. You'll want to make sure that you don't rely on cloud services, but download some things to your local computer if you will be out of internet range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Ladies, this thread is over four years old. I think they are on the boat by now.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I think they are on the boat by now.:D On the boat ... off it... dry docked it ... sold it... and used all the proceeds for college by now! :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 On the boat ... off it... dry docked it ... sold it... and used all the proceeds for college by now! :tongue_smilie: Actually I found some other posts that indicates they weren't able to go after all. Too bad, I would have loved to have followed their adventures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Ladies, this thread is over four years old. I think they are on the boat by now.:D :blush5::laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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